Plexi Questions...

BlackTigers91

2[H]4U
Joined
Nov 4, 2005
Messages
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Okay, so for a mod I'm working on, I plan to use painted plexi and to etch my school logo into it.

This will be on the bottom of my case, and I was thinking of etching the logo into the black paint, so it will have a haze on it when I have it backlit. But I was wondering, should I etch the top of the sheet and paint the bottom, or what?

I plan to:
etch and paint bottom
back light it

There's 8 ways I could do this, and I'm unsure of which method will achieve the best looking result. I don't have any spare plexi to test this on, so I'm hoping for some help from you guys.
 
Don't touch the front side. You want the backside to have all the work done to it.

Get your logo made from someone with a vinyl cutter machine. Basically you'll want two sets of graphics cut.

The first set would be one that you can use as a template for painting the surrounding area. Think of it as just masking off the area. Then paint, then very carefully peel off the vinyl so the only thing that remains is your clear logo in the plexi.

Then the second vinyl graphic should be cut from the frosted glass looking clear vinyl. It should be exactly the same size what the interior of the overlay was. Very carefully stick it in the unpainted portion.

Or better yet.. forget about painting it and just use two separate pieces of vinyl. One would be the frosted glass style, and the other would be your solid color. Cut the solid color exactly the size so the frosted one fits inside it.
 
Why bother with shaped frosted bits. If it's all on the back side, just cover the whole area with frosted plastic - only the clear areas will let it show and there's no need to worry about placing it perfectly.

I agree that a vinyl cutter approach is an easy way to make a mask. I don't know what the vinyl costs these days - the last person I know who had something like that done payed about $50.

If you find vinyl too expensive, you could do it with a steady hand and a hobby knife (like a sharp X-acto) with any decent masking tape too.
 
holy shizzle.. $50? lol? There are local people that will do it for super cheap. I've had BIG vinyl graphics made for under $20. (4ft x 1ft)
 
This isn't very different from a project I am working on for a trade show. Basically I am applying our company logo to the underside of a glass conference table via a printed sheet of vinyl and using hidden under mounted lights to create and ambient glow. I am curious about the light transmission qualities of the vinyl. I am hoping to have our logo be semi-transparent, so the light glows through it. I am shooting for a very subtle effect, not an "in your face illumination". Quotes I have had on vinyl range from $104 to $135 for 8 sq ft. If anyone knows a cheaper place in the SF Bay area, that would be awesome.
 
There are different grades of vinyl. If you're using colored vinyl and you want the light to come through or illuminate it, get the thinnest stuff you can, and use some bright white cathodes. Even then it doesn't light up that bright. The coolest stuff IMO is the frosted glass look vinyl. Then you can light it up with different color cathodes or LED's, and it lights up bright.
 
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