Is sandblasting worthwhile?
Our shop uses several lasers and rotary engravers which are busy nearly all of the time. About a year ago I came across a cheap sandblaster and decided to add it to our arsenal as I had heard that it could be useful. Because we are so busy I’ve only had a few opportunities to play with it, but at this stage it has not earned a penny for us, and my experience with it has been quite frustrating. Everything about the procedure is fiddly and time consuming, and the supplies are expensive. With the exception of glass, other methods produce a better result in less time, and with a degree of certainty that I haven’t yet achieved with the blaster. It seems that any minor problem with any part of the procedure results in a blown product; too much or too little exposure, too much or too little washout, accurate placement of the resist, too much or too little blasting time/pressure, stray particles hitting unmasked areas, laser print not dark enough….The problems seem to go on and on. I think I
