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!


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.






unlit...


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

Stacy

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

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

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

Ahh...

That's an ancient Chinese secret!

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

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!

Thanks Stacy!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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