Making ground glass w/ sandblaster?

[Ishotharold]

Has anyone ever used a sandblaster for the ground glass? I am curious if this would acomplish the same thing as the corbidium (sp?) grit method. Thanks.

 

[Robert Hall]

I have several screens from sand blasting. I had them done when the already fine grit was well used to make it even smaller.

They are bright, but lack detail. This is a typical trade off, brightness for the ability to fine focus.

One real problem is getting the blast to evenly remove glass from the image side. If you get impressions in the glass from blasting too much, you don't have a perfectly flat surface on which the image may be focused.

 

[John Bartley]

The short answer is yes. A "useable" GG can be made with a sandblaster and I have done this myself. When I bought my 8x10 Agfa, the GG was horribly poor. It wasn't just dull and scratched, but the edges were chipped and it was almost dangerous to my fingers. While waiting for Dave Parker of Satin Snow to make and ship one, I sandblasted a chunk of window glass with 24 grit silica sand and it made a suitable short term substitute.
Satin Snow's GG when it arrived was far and away a better piece and I wish Dave was not only still posting here, but was also shipping to Canada (I don't think he is).
The only change that i would make if I had to blast another one would be to blast with a much finer media, possibly as fine as 100 grit if available.

cheers

 

[Mike Kovacs]

I have my 3rd satin snow screen from Dave ordered right now. His site even has a paypal quick link to buy a screen with international shipping included. Its only a couple of bucks more.