LED edge lit acrylic signs

[sdudley]

Question: What do you get when you try and laser etch one side of clear plexiglass?

Answer: A really cool (slightly burned) 3D glitter effect inside the plexiglass!

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Lately I have been messing around with making some edge lit acrylic signs and I have been sandblasting them to get a frosted look on the glass. Unfortunately my air compressor is small and doesn't produce the real frosty look I am going for. The most recent sign I made is a prototype for the marketing department where I work (TriQuint Semiconductor). For this one I thought I would take it to work and see if I could use our laser marking machine to etch some really sharp lettering into the glass. I guess I need to experiment a little and find out how to make it work right. The good thing is, I didn't totally destroy the sign and it gave me a few ideas to experiment with.

They are relatively easy to make so maybe I will attempt to do a short tutorial or maybe even an instructable. The instructables I found for making them are not very well done, but they do show the basic concept.

Below are some pictures of this sign and another I made for a friend's band.

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unlit...

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By the way... They make AWESOME night lights!

Stacy

[brad]

excellent! I'm glad you did a bit of a write up on these, Such a simple way to achieve such a cool effect

[sdudley]

Yes,

I am working on multi colored signs now. Hopefully I'll have something posted in a couple weeks (have to work on them when I get time).

Stacy

[brad]

How will you seperate the colors? or will the flash different colors at different times?

[sdudley]

Ahh...

That's an ancient Chinese secret!

[brad]

Well it's a good thing that you're an ancient China man

[sdudley]

I just posted an instructable on this edge-lit acrylic stuff. If interested anyone can find it here:

http://www.instructables.com/id/Edge-Li ... ght-Light/

I just thought I would mention it here because Brad's website will show up in the "stats" and it's always cool to promote this site whenever possible!

[brad]

Thanks Stacy!

Nice instructable by the way

[sdudley]

...Nice instructable by the way

Ahhh... but I am yet a rookie. Someday I will master the art of the Instructable!

Although, I have only posted two instructables and both have been featured! WhooHooo!

Stacy

[brad]

What do you mean someday? I think that day has been and gone!

[sdudley]

What do you mean someday? I think that day has been and gone!

See there... I already missed my chance. BUMMER!

[brad]

No no, What I mean is - YOU'VE made it! you're the MAN!

[Chuckt]

Stacy, Nice work. With your experience in acrylic, do you think you can make a game pad that would hold up to some hard playing action? I think these buttons might work well with a thick game pad but I don't know how well acrylic would hold up. What do you think about it?

Push Button 33mm - Blue
http://www.sparkfun.com/products/9178

Push Button 33mm - Green
http://www.sparkfun.com/products/9179

Push Button 33mm - Yellow
http://www.sparkfun.com/products/9180

Concave Button - Red
http://www.sparkfun.com/products/9336

[brad]

Hmm, perhaps some pretty thick acrylic would do the job?

[sdudley]

Hey Chuck,

I am curious when you say game pad, do you mean like a hand held or more like a full size arcade?

Either way acrylic should work great though. I work a lot with 1/4" acrylic and I am sure it would work fine for what you have in mind.

It will definitely hold up to the pounding but if it is a large area like a full size arcade, it may need to be thicker or have some support behind it.

Stacy