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Hi everyone. Let me give you a brief on what this sign will (hopefully) look like. I'm chipping the whole thing, & afterwards I'm going to reblast the background, to give it a frosted texture. I'm going to angel gild the letters & the 2 rings. The glass will then be installed with stand offs onto an oval piece of teak, finished like a table on a yacht. We're going to put LED's behind the teak to make it look like its floating.
I put this sign in the "oven" on Saturday. The humidity in the box in at 30%, & its slowly (but surely) chipping. One thing though, I'm afraid the glue may be a bit thin in some areas, & are the ones where no activity is present. Are these areas going to chip? If not, what do I have to do? Should I pour more glue on top of it or take the glue off (somehow) & start over?
Hmmm, interesting. Well, obviously, you didn't use the asphaltum method for glue chipping, which leads me to believe you used the double cut method. But if you flowed glue over the whole thing, it should be quite even over the whole glass. That is unless you invented some new method... which I guess hasn't worked. It's a little hard to tell exactly what is what from the photo. But, if your glue layer is inconsistant, your chip will vary, ...all the way to, not at all. My suggestion would be to let it ride until it appears it isn't going to chip any more. Then, clean off (soak) any remaining glue, then, remask any sandblasted areas that aren't to be chipped, and reflow a new, consistant layer of glue over it. Cut the glue upon gelling, and remove any masking. Let it chip again for a double chip. Or you can try damming off selected unchipped areas and reflowing glue into just those areas. Trouble there is a chance for inconsistancies. Hope that helps. If you like, describe your glue application process. ...glue that's applied alike tends to chip alike...
Thanks for your response, Larry. No, I didn't flow the glue all over the sign, only on the areas to be chipped. (I can see this would have made the process much easier). I mixed the glue 1 part glue to 1.5 parts distilled water. Cut it around 6 hours later. I let it sit at room temperature for about 30 hours, & put it in the box at 115 degrees, 30% humidity. I didn't use all the glue that the "recipe" called for because I remember in a previous project the glass chipped very, very quickly with a very thin layer of glue (which obviously hasn't worked this time). I'll post a new photo in a bit.
By the way, I still have the remaining glue in the pot, covered with a piece of glass. Can I reuse this glue?
Felix,
I don't know what Larry means by double cut.After looking at your post I am thinking your formula might be a bit to strong and you might be putting to much on.I now put cardboard spacers all over the piece before pouring over the whole thing.It should be ready to cut and peel off the mask within 2 hours using a fan to blow warm air over the piece.At this time it go's in the box.At 130-150 I get about 10-15% humidity useing those Dryout plastic cups from home depot.about 10 of em.There cheap and last along time.Normally everything is chipped in the morning if it go's in the box in the afternoon the day before.I do have trouble with the glue not chipping if it go's on to thick.Due to pouring it on I don't have any trouble with thin spot anymore.As for useing used glue ,I have found a way to measure the water content of the glue but I would just take your old glue and add some water to it and it should work fine.
Hope that helps.
Roderick
Yo, Treece, double cut refers to the old style, when the sandblast mask was first hand cut, then the glue flowed over the whole thing. Then, after it sets-up, the glue is cut around the stencil and the stencil and overlaying glue removed. Hence the image having to be cut around twice, it's (perhaps only in my book) refered to as the double cut method, as opposed to the asphaltum method. Perhaps if you could register your glass in your vinyl cutter, you could get your computer to cut the glue. ...and, where is it you're from? Say, I'll give you a dollar if you'll put a space between your sentences on your posts. (That's one dollar, not a dollar for every space.) ...your friend, Whitey
Denver Chapter of the Letterheads