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pleased to have found this board.

joostio

New Member
I am currently getting started with glass sand blasting. I am looking into to vinyl cutters to make my work easier. I did a door for my parents tha turned out awsome, mostly laid out with 1/4" masking tape and an exacto knife. I did some text last week for my brothers wedding, I had a stencil made by the local sign maker and got really stoked when I saw the vinyl cutter. I need on. I also have past experience with silk screening. but now mainly doing work with glass.

I am pretty interested in the Roland gx-24. any other thoughts or suggestions. I know I don't want a crappy Chinese cheapo. I have used many other boards before, 4x4 and trials boards, they can be a wealth of info, from the bit of browsing I have done I can see there is lots of knowledge and help here. thanks.
 

Ken

New Member
Same..welcome..where is Union Bay?
Blasting glass is something that interests me also. The GX 24 should suit your needs . I think it has the pressure needed to cut blast mask material. My Chinese cutter will also do that.
Ken
 

joostio

New Member
Thanks for all the welcomes. Union Bay is on Vancouver island, British Columbia Canada.

For glass sandblasting I use vinyl. I only etch the glass so far, not working in 3d yet with any depth. Gotta walk before I can run. But just because I get along alright for now doesn't mean I shouldn't think ahead a bit and get a machine a bit more capable then my minimum needs. I have been through this same senerio before with tools and metal fabricating equipment. It doesn't take long before you are using your equipment beyond its intended uses. Dam budget! The gx 24 sounds good to me.

If I want to cut a vinyl sign or make a stencil for blasting from vinyl that is larger then the 24" the machine accecpts can I do it in a few passes. make 3 lengths at 24" each to make a 6 foot sign? can the software split up the design? I know there would be a splice but for larger stuff I imagine it would still look acceptable, most larger stuff is view from farther away. I hope I explained the question well.
 

Air Art Girl

New Member
Welcome from another Pacific Northwest member. Not sure what software you will be using but you can panel the image to cut.
 

joostio

New Member
been a while since I posted. I have been reading on this site for a while now, mostly encouraging. I am starting to understand this site a bit better now. I thought this was a bit more of a "learner" type site with a name like "signs 101" but as I read more I see this is a proffesional meeting place. Before I started doing glass blasting I have always workied in the trades, I am a second year RV tech with a gas fitters license. I know trades people don't like to waist their time answering stupid little questions so I hope to avoid that here. I have always found that with a bit of effort and research that most simple questions can be answered, then often this leads to more specifi questions. I hope you guys can help me with those.

I have downloaded the sample version of Corel draw 3x, I only have 8 days left in the trial version. the learning curve has been steep. Not an easy program if you have little back ground wiht this type of stuff but I am geting better with practise. so far I have been working with single colour stuff because the glass blasting only requires that. I have re-created a crest for the Union Bay Fire Department, I am a fire fighter there and am hoping to etch/blast some beer mugs with our crest on them for the guys. I am planning on sending the design to the local sign shop to have them cut it for me as I will be waiting a while before I can afford a plotter/cutter. I have asked them to leave the masking and weeding to me, I hope this will give me some more experience and ease my self into this line of work. I will be doing some mugs and coasters for my other work too.

I am at the point where I am ready to invest in some software. my corel demo is almost over and I want to buy it. The program retails for close to $500 new. I have checked out ebay and notice they have it too. Some are the full retail version and some are the accedemic version. I know the accedemic version is no good to me as I am not a registered student anywhere. I am a bit nervous that some of these advertised "full retail versions" may be miss represented. anyone have any experience with this? I have found the program from $79 and up.

can i post pics on this site? or do I have to contribute financially before I can do that? I would like to post picks of my door I blasted for some feedback. bye for now.
 

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