|
|
* To order products, scroll down to the bottom of the page...
|
| Abrasives
for Etching Glass, Stone, Ceramic and Metal |
| Etching abrasives
are particles of a hard, granular material that have sharp corners
and edges. They are hard enough and sharp enough that they will
erode glass and other materials if they are directed at the surface
at a high speed. When they hit the surface, they cause small chips
to be broken out of the surface. Over a period of time, the abrasive
can erode down below the surface and actually carve into the material.
If
you still think that a suitable abrasive for sandblasting is actually
sand, then you are living in the dark ages! There are so many
different abrasives available now for so many different applications
that you practically have to be an abrasive engineer to pick one.
Some of the
choices you may be faced with if you are etching and carving glass
include glass beads, beach sand (brown), white crystal silica sand,
garnet, aluminum oxide (white, brown or pink) and silicon carbide
(black or green).These materials
will vary in price from less than $4 per hundred pounds to over
$200 per hundred pounds. When you consider that in a given blasting
job you may be using as much as 50 to 100 pounds or more in an hour,
it becomes obvious that you need a little more information before
making your purchasing decision.The
best abrasives to use are the ones that are the hardest
and that have the sharpest, longest lasting corners and edges on
the particles. However, those are also the most expensive. In order
to make them worthwhile to use, you have to be able to recapture
and reuse them over and over. (Which is what most blast cabinets
allow you to do.) In recycling the more expensive abrasives, you
increase their cost efficiency to the point where they actually
cost less to use on a per hour basis than
sand or the other cheap materials.The following
chart and the additional information included in this page will
help make your decision. This chart only shows the uses for the
two most popular abrasives, since most people don't use sand or
garnet on glass. (Don't even think about using glass beads!) However
the cost effectiveness chart at the bottom does show why it is not
the cost per pound that is important,
it is the cost per hour of use.
|
| Abrasive
Types and Characteristics |
| Abrasive
Type |
Uses |
Other
Facts |
Aluminum Oxide
Grit Sizes: 12-1500 |
Glass etching,
stone & wood blasting, metal finishing; manufacturing sandpaper,
grinding wheels |
Very hard, tough
abrasive that cuts glass quickly. Major drawback: generates static
electricity which causes dust to cling to the the back of glass being
blasted. Makes it hard to see what you are doing if you prefer lighting
the glass from the back. Brown is most common & cheapest. White
& pink are available - higher purity & cost but no increase
in speed. No free silica. |
Silicon Carbide
Grit Sizes:
12-1500 |
Glass etching,
metal finishing; manufacturing sandpaper, grinding wheels, non-skid
surfaces (can be used on stone and wood) |
Harder than aluminum
oxide, cuts glass faster because it constantly breaks off small pieces,
exposing new cutting edges. No static electricity. No free silica.
Creates "flashlight effect" of small sparks where particles
hit glass, making it easy to see area being blasted. Black is most
common; green is sometimes available and is slightly harder but costs
much more. |
| Your decision
of which abrasive to use will depend on the cost effectiveness of
each abrasive for the job, and your blasting equipment and technique.
The cost effectiveness of an abrasive
is a measure of how much glass you can etch per dollar spent on
abrasive and labor. The more efficient (faster) an abrasive is,
the lower the labor cost to produce an etching. The more times you
can recycle an abrasive without losing etching speed, the lower
the abrasive cost (If the abrasive loses etching speed with continued
reuse, the labor cost necessarily goes up).The equipment you are using is important because
that determines whether or not you can recycle the abrasive.
If you have a good blast cabinet or blast room in which
to etch, you can use any of the abrasives which can be recycled. If you are using a leaky, poorly constructed cabinet
or blast room, or if you are blasting outside, you will lose a lot
of abrasive. You can't use the recyclable abrasives in those situations
since they are a lot more expensive per pound than the others. |
| Cost
Effectiveness of Abrasives |
Type of abrasive |
Etching
speed |
Number
of cycles |
Cost
per 100 pounds |
Cost
of abrasive used in 50 cycles (100 lb quantity) |
Approx.
cost per hour of use |
Brown
sand |
Medium
slow |
2 |
$5.00 |
$125.00 |
$1.25 |
White
crystal silica sand |
Medium
slow |
2 |
$5.00 |
$125.00 |
$1.25 |
Garnet |
Medium |
4-8 |
$25.00 |
$150.00 |
$1.50 |
Aluminum
Oxide |
Medium
fast |
60-80 |
$100.00 |
$63.00 |
$
.63 |
Silicon
Carbide |
Fast |
80-100 |
$150.00 |
$75.00 |
$
.75 |
| 1)
Cost figures are approximate and may vary with different suppliers.
Figures for number of cycles vary with type of blasting done and the
technique of person doing the blasting.
2) The number of cycles for all materials except
carbide depends how quickly the particles get dull (i.e. how hard
the material is). Carbide never gets dull, it just breaks down into
finer and finer particles (see "Other Facts" in table
#1). As the particles get smaller, more are sucked out of the cabinet
by the dust collector. With a stronger vacuum system, you get fewer
cycles per pound of grit (although there is less dust to obscure
vision).
3) Based
on estimated average of 2 hours per cycle, 100 pound quantity.
|
True
Grit
Size does matter! The size of grit you use has a lot to do with the
way your finished etchings will look. The size of the grit is specified
by number, with the higher numbers denoting smaller particle sizes.
A smaller grit size cuts slightly slower, but leaves a smoother finish
on the glass. Another consideration is that the larger grit sizes
cut faster, but not significantly faster if you are using an abrasive
like silicon carbide.
The most common grit sizes for etching windows and
architectural size pieces are 120 to 150. For a finer finish on
trophies and glassware, 180 to 220 is used. Micro blasting equipment
uses 220 to 400 grit. When exclusively blasting wood or stone, the
most common grits are 30 to 80.
Conclusions
As you can see from the table above, the abrasives which cost less
per pound to purchase, actually cost much more per hour to use since
they cannot be effectively recycled.
The really significant advantage to carbide or oxide
is the fact that they etch glass about twice as fast as the other
abrasives. So, in addition to savings on materials costs, the oxide
and carbide provide an almost 50% saving in labor costs as well.
There is so little difference in cost per hour between
carbide and oxide, your choice between the two will depend more
on whether you are willing to put up with the static electricity
of the oxide and how much benefit you feel the flashlight effect
of the carbide provides. Both of these considerations point to using
carbide, which is what we heartily recommend. As far as safety goes,
the Material Safety Data Sheets information on both materials classifies
them only as "nuisance dusts", and not as hazardous materials.
It is obvious from these facts that if you have
blasting equipment which captures the grit and allows you to recycle
it, you should be using either the carbide or the oxide. If you
don't have such equipment, you should seriously consider getting
it, because your savings in labor and abrasive could pay for the
equipment in a very short time.
Please note:
We only list the most commonly ordered abrasives here on the site.
If you have a requirement for an abrasive not listed here, please
contact us. We can order almost any silicon carbide or aluminum
oxide abrasive and have it shipped direct to your door.
|
Abrasives
| Code
| Name | Image | Price |
|
|
300111 | Silicon Carbide (120 grit) 50 pounds |
|
$95.00
|
|
300109 | Silicon Carbide (150 grit) 50 pounds |
|
$95.00
|
|
300110 | Silicon Carbide (180 grit) 50 pounds |
|
$126.00
|
|
300156 | Silicon Carbide (220 grit) 50 pounds |
|
$126.00
|
|
300000 | Silicon Carbide (80 Grit) 50 lbs. |
|
$89.00
|
|
300001 | Silicon Carbide (80 Grit) 300 lbs. |
|
$456.00
|
|
300186 | Silicon Carbide (100 Grit) 50 lbs. |
|
$95.00
|
|
300206 | Silicon Carbide (100 Grit) 300 lbs. |
|
$456.00
|
|
300003 | Silicon Carbide (120 Grit) 300 lbs. |
|
$456.00
|
|
300004 | Silicon Carbide (150 Grit) 300 lbs. |
|
$456.00
|
|
300188 | Silicon Carbide (180 Grit) 25 lbs. |
|
$76.00
|
|
300157 | Silicon Carbide (220 Grit) 20 lbs. |
|
$57.00
|
|
300005 | Aluminum Oxide (80 Grit) 50 lbs. |
|
$61.00
|
|
300006 | Aluminum Oxide (80 Grit) 300 lbs. |
|
$337.00
|
|
300007 | Aluminum Oxide (100 Grit) 50 lbs. |
|
$61.00
|
|
300008 | Aluminum Oxide (100 Grit) 300 lbs. |
|
$337.00
|
|
300183 | Aluminum Oxide (120 Grit) 50 lbs. |
|
$61.00
|
|
300009 | Aluminum Oxide (120 Grit) 300 lbs. |
|
$337.00
|
|
300010 | Aluminum Oxide (150 Grit) 50 lbs. |
|
$61.00
|
|
300011 | Aluminum Oxide (150 Grit) 300 lbs. |
|
$337.00
|
|
300012 | Aluminum Oxide (180 Grit) 50 lbs. |
|
$61.25
|
|
300014 | Aluminum Oxide (220 Grit) 50 lbs. |
|
$61.25
|
|
300138 | Abrasive Sifter 1360-16 |
|
$12.65
|
|
300111-100 | Silicon Carbide (120 grit) 100 pounds |
|
$190.00
|
|
300111-200 | Silicon Carbide (120 grit) 200 pounds |
|
$380.00
|
|
300109-100 | Silicon Carbide (150 grit) 100 pounds |
|
$190.00
|
|
300109-200 | Silicon Carbide (150 grit) 200 pounds |
|
$380.00
|
|
300110-100 | Silicon Carbide (180 grit) 100 pounds |
|
$252.00
|
|
300156-100 | Silicon Carbide (220 grit) 100 pounds |
|
$236.00
|
|
300156-200 | Silicon Carbide (220 grit) 200 pounds |
|
$472.00
|
|
300000-100 | Silicon Carbide (80 Grit) 100 lbs. |
|
$178.00
|
|
300000-200 | Silicon Carbide (80 Grit) 200 lbs. |
|
$356.00
|
|
300186-100 | Silicon Carbide (100 Grit) 100 lbs. |
|
$190.00
|
|
300186-200 | Silicon Carbide (100 Grit) 200 lbs. |
|
$380.00
|
|
300188-50 | Silicon Carbide (180 Grit) 50 lbs. |
|
$152.00
|
|
300188-100 | Silicon Carbide (180 Grit) 100 lbs. |
|
$304.00
|
|
300188-200 | Silicon Carbide (180 Grit) 200 lbs. |
|
$608.00
|
|
300188-300 | Silicon Carbide (180 Grit) 300 lbs. |
|
$912.00
|
|
300157-50 | Silicon Carbide (220 Grit) 60 lbs. |
|
$171.00
|
|
300157-100 | Silicon Carbide (220 Grit) 100 lbs. |
|
$285.00
|
|
300157-200 | Silicon Carbide (220 Grit) 200 lbs. |
|
$570.00
|
|
300157-300 | Silicon Carbide (220 Grit) 300 lbs. |
|
$855.00
|
|
300005-100 | Aluminum Oxide (80 Grit) 100 lbs. |
|
$114.00
|
|
300005-200 | Aluminum Oxide (80 Grit) 200 lbs. |
|
$228.00
|
|
300007-100 | Aluminum Oxide (100 Grit) 100 lbs. |
|
$114.00
|
|
300007-200 | Aluminum Oxide (100 Grit) 200 lbs. |
|
$228.00
|
|
300183-100 | Aluminum Oxide (120 Grit) 100 lbs. |
|
$114.00
|
|
300183-200 | Aluminum Oxide (120 Grit) 200 lbs. |
|
$228.00
|
|
300010-100 | Aluminum Oxide (150 Grit) 100 lbs. |
|
$114.00
|
|
300010-200 | Aluminum Oxide (150 Grit) 200 lbs. |
|
$228.00
|
|
300012-100 | Aluminum Oxide (180 Grit) 100 lbs. |
|
$114.50
|
|
300012-200 | Aluminum Oxide (180 Grit) 200 lbs. |
|
$229.00
|
|
300014-100 | Aluminum Oxide (220 Grit) 100 lbs. |
|
$114.50
|
| |
/ 
