“Rastering leaves a frosted image behind. looks good, even better with LED edge lighting”
This is one of my projects! Am I better off on 1/4" or 1/2"?
I’m thinking 6x12 or 8x12 with edge lighting
1/4" is pretty standard for these projects.
bases with LED edge lighting are available. I don’t know where, only hearing “from china”. But I bet Johnsons Plastics, JDS Supply, and Amazon also carry them.
1 Like
If you choose to use 1/2", you will get a better edge if you cut it with the table saw (plastic blade) and then edge polish it. Obviously this isn’t possible unless you have a rectangular item. Although 1/2" acrylic is in theory within the range of what the lasers can cut, I think you will have a lot of trouble at that thickness. And due to the conical nature of the laser beam, you aren’t going to get perfectly perpendicular edges (relative to the bed).
You will also likely want to try flipping your image and etching it from the back side. And I know that somewhere there is a setting so you can control which direction it rasters, so that the soot doesn’t blow into the already rastered image.
1 Like
Wow! This is a particularly salient point. I’ve added the cast vs. extruded info to the wiki, at the end of the “Safe Materials” discussion.
2 Likes
Joining the party a year late, but just to add from experience. I prefer extruded because you can get that “clean” look after rastering. As long as you get the paper-backing (plastic film works okay but is messier) I cut 1/4" as deep as I can without going through on the back side, then spray paint with a high gloss white (or go fluorescent if you can find the right LED lighting), remove the paper and the lettering REALLY pops. Another trick, I’ve used a color paint (bright green) in front of a dark blue background without lighting and it turned out really nice. I have pictures somewhere.
2 Likes