This is my first shot at designing an “edge lit sign” type of thing for Acrylic.
Wanted to keep it simple, so it’s 3 layers of (probably 1/4") acrylic. The outlines will likely be cut out of some kind of translucent colored acrylic, with a similar lighting color. The center layer will have the design engraved on it and will be made out of clear acrylic - (cause that supposedly reflects the colored light better).
(And please forgive the render…it was taking longer than it took to create the file, so I cut myself off. Obviously you can make it with whatever colors suit.)
Notice the clever phrase that pops up in the image…that is because I had the brilliant idea of using the word “idea” in the engraving, until I took a quick look online. (Not quite so bright an idea to use “idea”. Me and everybody else in the known universe!)
(I’ll take that file down @dan if it’s not allowed to use the GF logo that way.)
Down the road, the idea is to create some sort of light base for it, with a slot to hold the standardized prong at the bottom, so cool nightlight type things can be swapped out at a whim.
Anybody got any idea what kind of glues you’d use with clear acrylics?
It’s actually a solvent. It causes the two layers to fuse together vs. gluing them. It’s clear. I use Weldon. It’s serious nasty stuff (methylene chloride) so definitely use eye protection and don’t let the kids do it.
The problem when you edgelight acrylic is that the translucent colors don’t edgelight… The clear would, but it’s not touching the light source and the light won’t travel though the other color very well.
This is only 1" worth of translucent red. See how much less it lights up the clear? and with several disconnected parts within the color, I doubt the clear bulb will light up at all in your design. Plus, as you see, the clear will take on what ever color is closest to the light source… so It won’t be white…
I actually considered that if you had two layers of color and 1 layer of clear - say red/clear/red - that you’d put the lights inside the frame around the clear bulb shape layer so you’d get a continuous edge light all around.
Probably want a narrow cut of the outline in the color too - that way the middle layer is actually (coming in from the side) color piece, light strip, clear piece. From the edge it would look like a solid colored shell. The light strip lays in a well between the middle narrow color piece and the inner clear piece.
Then you just run the wires down to a power supply that’s either part of the base or comes off the base to the floor.
Make more sense if I drew it out in Corel I guess.
What I was thinking of was having the center clear layer recessed so a strip of surface mount LEDs would tuck in. The extra rim of colored acrylic would be just to finish the edge so you weren’t seeing the back of the light strip. That way you’d get 360 degree lighting of the clear layer
Definitely - especially for larger things. It’ll give you a more even spread of light. The SMD LEDs (also battery powered) are flat not like the little tiny bulb type of LEDs you see in a lot of flashlights. Check these or these.
The strips can be cut between lights so you can customize the length to the project. I used the latter linked ones for a color changing acrylic pyramid table in Joseph & the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat this spring. The remote allows you to pick colors, strobing effects, flashing, etc. Fun stuff.