EducationFeaturesTips

Choosing a Glass Blaster for Your Sandcarving System

Ruth Dobbins, Professional Glass Consultants, says the best choice for a glass blaster is...

By far the best choice for a glass blaster is a pressure pot system. This type of blaster has a steel-welded container, usually round, that holds the abrasive. This container can be free-standing or mounted underneath the blasting cabinet. In general terms, it has an opening on the top for filling abrasive into the container, as well as a stopper with a seal, which assures the containment of the abrasive once set under pressure.

It also has an opening at the bottom of the container with an attached valve that allows the air and abrasive mixtures to be introduced into a hose that goes into your cabinet. With this valve, you can regulate how much abrasive gets into the airstream, which is important in executing various techniques of blasting.

Since the abrasive is set under pressure in the pot, much less air is required to operate the pressure system than the siphon system. As a result, you can get away with a slightly less powerful compressor (even though I don’t recommend that), but more importantly, you can use a much smaller nozzle on your blaster. You also do not need to hold a heavy hand piece, but rather blast with a smaller, flexible hose inside your cabinet that only wields a hose barb, a nozzle cap, and the nozzle, making blasting a lot easier on your hands.

To top the ease of operation off, the pressure system nowadays is operated by an attached foot pedal, which makes the on/off function of the whole system a breeze.

-Ruth Dobbins, Professional Glass Consultants

Ruth Jan 2018

Ruth Dobbins

With over 40 years in the glass business, Ruth Dobbins offers experience in all glass-etching techniques as well as in fused and cast glass. Ruth holds a master’s degree in art and has been a partner in an art glass wholesale supply and studio company in Europe, which also placed great emphasis on a training program, before joining forces with her late husband Norm. You can reach Ruth by email at ruth@etchmaster.com or by phone at 505-473-9203.

View all articles by Ruth Dobbins   Visit Website
Avatar of Charlie Fox

Charlie Fox

View all articles by Charlie Fox  

Related Articles

Back to top button