Did anybody try to mark a carboy from outside with a dremel and a diamond bit? I would like to make something like a ruler with quarts and gallons marks, but I am not sure how safe it is. I am talking about a 6.5 gallon Italian glass carboy purchased at AHS. Thanks for any ideas!
Marking a carboy
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Oooo. frosted lines and numbers.. that would be awesome:rockin:
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Alright I found the old link. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/marking-your-carboy-63174/
The possibilities are endless. I did some beer bottles and growlers with custom logos.
The possibilities are endless. I did some beer bottles and growlers with custom logos.
Thanks for the great thread! Considering the price and my overall dislike of chemicals, I'll probably use a dremel. I did a few letters on a glass mug today, and it seems to be all right - doesn't go anywhere deep.
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My wife picked up a 5 gallon carboy at a yard sale. The guy was a wine maker. Looks like he took the Dremel approach to mark it. At first I was worried about cracks spreading, but been using it for a couple of years now with no problems.
That said, I put Bobby's stickers on it and most of my other carboys. The engraved numbers are difficult to see when there's beer inside.
Besides, the decals look nicer.
shafferpilot
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I've done the glass etching trick with pilsner glasses. I like doing them in positive though. The trick is to use masking tape for lines and stickers for numbers and letters... and little doggies or music notes, or whatever they have in the scrap-booking isle that suites your fancy... and then spray cheap spray paint over all of it... then when the paint dries, peel up the masking tape and stickers and apply the etching gel. Try to get the gel on all at once rather than brushing it on thin. Give it plenty of time to etch and rinse the gel off. Then use paint thinner to remove the paint. It's more steps than etching around the masking, but I think Positive etching looks nicer than negative etching. Two advantages are that you can touch up the paint when you remove the masking and the gel cant creep under the paint, so you can get a cleaner result.
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Sounds interesting. Got any pictures of your results?
A cut with a Dremel tool would make a stress riser. This may not induce a fracture, but it would weaken the carboy at that location. A bit of careless handling which would ordinarily be forgiven might cause a failure. Glass carboys are tough enough to handle without adding an additional risk. I would strongly advise against marking in this manner.
shafferpilot
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found one pic of my first glass. I didn't leave the gel on for nearly long enough so the etching is pretty thin... and I didn't put much effort into the photo either. But, here it is... Yikes, and "clearly" the glass was a little dirty too. FML
I did a much better job with one I made for my SWMBO. She loves singing and such so it has her name and about 100 tiny little music notes and clefs and staffs on it.... I can't tell you how long it took to peel all those stickers off! hahaha
I did a much better job with one I made for my SWMBO. She loves singing and such so it has her name and about 100 tiny little music notes and clefs and staffs on it.... I can't tell you how long it took to peel all those stickers off! hahaha
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Nice! Not sure I'd do this to a carboy, but for glasses or gift bottles it could add something special.
shafferpilot
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Think about making a classic bar mirror with your own brewery's name on it.....
capcrnch
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How well does the vinyl hold up to cleaning? ie oxyclean or starsan?
I ask because, well if it removes the label from beer bottles, wouldn't it do the same for those?
shafferpilot
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I used to work for a local artisan. He taught me to work metal, weld, mold making, raw fabbing.... god i can't even begin to list all the skills he used to make art. Glass etching was one of his specialties... Imagine using the system I just told you... but doing it in 100 to 500 steps... in some cases over years. He did it like an artist paints a picture. first layer, the deepest etch, next layer, wipe off a tiny bit more paint and etch some more.... etc etc etc etc. Gives the whole thing a total 3d effect and it's unbelievable when a real artist does that. Unfortunately we lost him a few years ago at the young young age of 53. I have no doubt he's gettin a good chuckle out of me talkin about him right now
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I use both oxyclean and starsan and so far no problems. I haven't soaked the outside of the carboy, but have rinsed and wiped down. I think I read somewhere where Bobby did some testing where he soaked in these solutions when deciding which adhesive backing to go with.
Maybe he'll see this thread and chime in.
etching cream was about $5 at the hobby store, another $2 for vinyl numbers, and some electrical tape.
Once it was etched, I hit it with some white paint and wiped most of it off. Brightened up the etching quite nicely.
B
Once it was etched, I hit it with some white paint and wiped most of it off. Brightened up the etching quite nicely.
B
The vinyl is made for vehicle wraps, tractor trailer signage, and boat names etc and has a 9 year outdoor lifespan. I put some on a growler and did an overnight oxyclean soak and a 2-week star san soak and they are still stuck really well. I think bottle labels come off easily because it's paper and usually a water based adhesive.
capcrnch
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Excellent. Thanks!
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