Answers to the questions we are asked most often about glass sandblasting equipment, masking film, abrasives, and buying from us. If your question is not here, ask us — we usually reply within one business day.
Equipment
What is the difference between a vertical and a horizontal glass sandblasting machine?
Both produce the same range of frosted finishes. The difference is how the glass is held: vertical machines keep panels upright, horizontal machines support them flat. Choose based on how glass already moves through your shop — upright on A-frames suits vertical, flatbed handling suits horizontal. Vertical machines also occupy far less floor area for comparable capacity.
What size glass can your sandblasting machines handle?
Vertical models run from about 1500 mm to 2500 mm working width. Horizontal models run from AD1200 to AD3100. Common glass thickness range is 3 to 28 mm, and minimum workable size is around 200 x 500 mm. Check the minimum as well as the maximum — a conveyor cannot grip pieces below its minimum.
What compressed air supply do I need?
The machines operate at 0.6 to 0.8 MPa, roughly 87 to 116 psi, and consume air continuously while blasting. An undersized compressor causes pressure to sag mid-cycle, which appears as visible banding on the finished panel. Send us your compressor output and tank size before ordering and we will confirm whether it is adequate.
How much can a glass sandblasting machine produce per hour?
Reference productivity on a vertical machine is around 25 m2 per hour, but this varies substantially with pattern complexity, abrasive choice, working pressure and travel speed. Treat it as a planning figure rather than a guarantee, and size your machine with headroom above your real volume.
Do I need a plotter and laminating machine as well?
Only if you do patterned or partial sandblasting. Full-surface frosting needs only the blasting machine. Patterned work requires a stencil, which means a plotter to cut masking film and, for anything large, a laminating machine to apply it without bubbles.
Masking film
What thickness of sandblast resist film should I use?
Five thicknesses are available: 0.09, 0.13, 0.15, 0.18 and 0.22 mm. Thinner film cuts and weeds more easily and suits fine detail; thicker film has more body for longer blast cycles and coarser abrasive. 0.13 mm is the common working thickness for most decorative glass shops.
Is the film thickness measured with or without the release liner?
Our thickness figures are the PVC face plus dried adhesive, excluding the release liner. Suppliers do not all measure the same way, so confirm the basis before comparing two products — a figure that includes the liner reads thicker than it performs.
What widths and lengths does the masking film come in?
Standard widths are 450, 600, 900 and 1200 mm. Standard roll length is 50 m, approximately 164 feet or 55 yards.
What colours is the masking film available in?
Yellow and white, ordered as separate SKUs. They are the same material in different pigments. The choice is about visibility against your glass at the weeding table — shops working on mirror or dark glass often prefer one over the other.
What is the minimum order for masking film?
30 rolls per SKU. A SKU is a specific combination of colour, thickness and width. Volume pricing applies above 50 rolls of the same SKU.
Do you publish blast-resistance test data for the film?
No. A figure such as “withstands X minutes of blasting” is only meaningful alongside the abrasive grit, working pressure, nozzle type and distance, glass type and conditions used to produce it. Presented without that context it looks like a specification but behaves like marketing. We supply free sample material so you can test under your own conditions instead.
How should masking film be stored?
Preferred storage is 18 to 25 degrees Celsius. Avoid sustained storage above 30 degrees. Optimum-use period is 8 months and maximum is 12 months. Heat is the main enemy — film stored through a hot summer in an uncooled space can lose adhesive performance well before its date.
Can I get a free sample of the masking film?
Yes. We supply sample material free and you cover shipping. Tell us which thicknesses you want to try and what you produce, and we will send material to test on your own machine.
Abrasives
Which grit size should I use for frosting glass?
Coarser grit cuts faster and produces a rougher, more granular frost; finer grit cuts more slowly and produces a smoother, more uniform result. For architectural glass viewed up close, 90# to 120# is typical. For general decorative and patterned work, 60# to 90#. For deep carving, 24# to 46#.
Should I use brown fused alumina or garnet?
Brown fused alumina is harder, cuts faster, and fractures into fresh cutting edges as it degrades, so it lasts longer in a recycling system and usually costs less per panel. Garnet generally produces less dust and a slightly softer surface character, and makes sense where dust control is a binding constraint or where you are not recycling media.
Can sandblasting abrasive be reused?
Yes, and production economics depend on it. Media is recovered, separated from dust and fines, and reused many times. Particles round off with each cycle and cut more slowly. When cycle times start creeping up at unchanged settings, the media is spent and should be replaced rather than compensated for by raising pressure.
Can I mix brown fused alumina and garnet?
No. Different densities and breakdown rates make separation and consistency unpredictable in a recovery system. Choose one as your production default and purge the machine if you need to switch.
Buying and shipping
Why do you not publish prices?
Machines are configured rather than picked off a shelf. Working width, thickness range, dust collection, abrasive recovery and voltage all change the build, so two shops asking for the same category of machine can need equipment that differs substantially in cost. A single advertised figure would be wrong for almost everyone reading it.
How long does delivery take?
Machine production is typically 10 to 30 days depending on model and configuration. Ocean freight to the United States is typically 20 to 30 days depending on destination coast and port.
Who handles customs clearance?
We do. We quote the duty rate applicable at the time of quotation. Import duty rates on this category of equipment have changed more than once in recent years and can change between order and clearance, so we recommend building a contingency into your budget for this rather than treating the quoted rate as fixed.
What does the warranty cover?
Core components — motors, control system and drives — carry a five-year warranty. New machines ship with approximately three years of wear parts included. Wear parts are industrial standard components, so beyond that period they can be sourced locally rather than only from us.
Do you hold stock in the United States?
Not at present. We are building toward single-roll masking film orders shipped from U.S. stock, and we will open that once the first stock lands. In the meantime, if you can commit to a regular reorder rhythm we can hold stock in the U.S. matched to your purchasing cycle.
How quickly do you reply to enquiries?
We usually reply within one business day.
Still have a question?
Tell us what you make and how much of it, and we will give you a specific answer rather than a brochure. Request a quote or request a free masking film sample.