A friend has a birthday coming up fast, and I spaced on the date. I needed something fast, and since he’s a pop culture fanatic, I thought I’d whip up a set of edge-lit acrylic displays featuring some of his favorite franchises.
I used scoring for most of these, so the cut time was under 5 minutes for each. (Jareth from the Labyrinth is the exception, at 35 minutes.)
There were a few hiccups. Some of the earlier attempts were fading out at the top, so I dropped the size from 6.5" to 5", which was perfect. I got a bit of flashback on some of the edges, so I may lower the power a bit and try those again. And midway through Doctor Who, one of the damned front carriage wheels cracked in half, so my neat vertical scores turned into a seismograph printout. Luckily, I have spares on hand from the last incident.
Next, I’ll pack these inserts and the LED base in a nice custom cherry box engraved his name, and voila! A birthday faux pas neatly averted.
Such a great idea to do multiple different ones that he can change out, and they are all so good! I really prefer scoring to engraving just because it’s so quick!
I was surprised at how well it turned out, and how quickly it cut. I tried horizontal and diagonal patterns, but they blocked more of the light. The verticals (spaced at 0.025") were perfect.
Select the lines and your shape. Pathfinder > Outline. Ungroup. This will clear the stroke on the objects, so you’ll need to reselect them and assign a stroke color to make them visible again.
Now your lines are split wherever they intersect another line. Delete the lines in the clear/black areas, and leave the lines where you want the acrylic lit.
If you prefer diagonal or horizontal lines, just rotate the blended lines after step 5. If you want higher line density, decrease the blend spacing, but be aware that this will block more light from the sides and top of your design.
And that’s it! It’s easier than I made it sound here, and the only tricky part is ensuring that you delete the right line segments and don’t overlook anything.
Wow, that is going to be the coolest gift ever! He’s sure to enjoy it, especially knowing it was made specifically for him. Great job! And great write up on how you did it too.
