Why a Quality Rubber Stencil for Sandblasting Makes or Breaks Your Finished Look
When you finally step back and examine your finished sandblasting project for the final inspection before handover to the client, there’s no way of telling the vast number of hours and amount of planning that has gone into getting a professional grade look. Indeed, each of your clients is only ever worried about the end product, and while they know that they pay you for the time and effort to get to that stage, they will only judge you on the finished look that you give them. That’s why anyone in the sandblasting field needs to make sure that they have the highest quality rubber stencil to make the difference between a good finish and a great one.
How a Quality Rubber Stencil Makes a Difference
The overall finished look of each of your sandblasting projects will be somewhat dictated by the substrate material you’re blasting into. Most of the time, however, you don’t have control over this as the client will specify the kind of stone, metal or glass that they want you to work with. What you do have control over is the rubber sandblasting stencil that you use, and choosing the right one can make all the difference for a variety of reasons.
Crisp Details
First of all, you’re always going to be looking for ways to keep the intricate details of your design looking crisp and sharp. Sandblasting has the capacity to be a somewhat inaccurate art form, so you need a stencil that is strong enough and thick enough to preserve the shape of the design, even under longer periods of pressure.
Image Precision
Another issue that faces sandblasters on any substrate is making sure that the image that you weeded from the stencil liner roll is the image that is etched, without any displacement or distortment. In terms of the quality rubber stencil, this means that you’re looking for a stencil with the right level of flexibility for the curve (if any!) of the surface, and a level of adhesive that matches the needs of your target substrate.
Surface Protection
Finally, a high quality rubber sandblasting stencil shouldn’t let any of the sandblasting media show through on the protected areas of your substrate surface. This will be especially true for situations when you’re going to be running the sandblaster for extended periods or with higher than normal pressure. You need to look out for rubber stencil with high thickness and durability ratings to keep the unblasted areas smooth and unmarked. A high quality rubber stencil will also make sure that the stencil adheres with a tight seal, which means that it won’t slip around or move during the sandblasting process.
How U-Blast Stencils Change the Game
There are plenty of sandblasting stencil companies out there for you to choose from, but we feel that the stencils that U-Blast provide are game changers for any engraver for a variety of reasons:
Next generation rubber compounds – we’ve been hard at work, listening to client feedback and constantly refining and perfecting the rubber compound that we use for each of our stencil rolls. We’re proud to roll out our next generation rubber stencils in our UB and 7 series stencil liners that will provide a high level of blast resistance as well as going easy on your blades during the plotting process and easy on your eyes during the weeding process.
No hassle adhesive system – any sandblasting project relies on adhesives but that also means cleaning up at the end of the sandblasting process to make it look like the stencil was never there. We have updated our adhesive range to provide a consistent level of tack while the sandblaster is on but then to remove quickly and easily. We’ve also designed it to have a low odor so you have one less thing to worry about as you’re going about your engraving business.
Anti-Shift Mesh Surface™ technology – finally, one of the most common questions we get asked is how our stencil holds up when there is a time gap in between when a stencil gets cut and when it gets applied to the substrate surface. In response, we’ve designed our proprietary Anti-Shift Mesh Surface™ technology, an integrated structure that keeps a stencil in the desired shape with high levels of precision while you’re getting everything prepared for the engraving.
Working With You and For You
At U-Blast we take customer feedback very seriously. It’s not about checkboxes or sounding good for our bottom line; we continue to refine and improve our product lines from the rubber compounds to innovative market leading practices because we know it makes each project easier for you to get a professional finished look every time.