Some friends of our have a rather popular small business, and asked if I would be able to make a sign for them. Everything about what they wanted, I’d been wanting to make for some while, so this was a great opportunity for all of us.
25 inches
17 inches
Protective film still on
Magnetic end to remove plexiglass panel
As you can see, this is a double sided sign, a shadow box, where one side lists their offerings, and the opposite will house pictures of some of those items. As for the building, I used 1x2 for the frame, painted, slots cut into them for the wood and plexiglass, then glued and screwed, with magnetic inserts for the one end. The yellow panel is painted MDF, cut to size, and the opposite side is plexiglass, also cut to size. A hidden addition is a tiny sliver of leather as well, where when I cut the plexiglass I deviated just a little bit, so one end needed to be raised slightly. Cut the sliver of leather, super glued it into the slot, and now the plexiglass fits much better.
As for placing and aligning the words, I used double sided 3M adhesive, similar to what comes on Proofgrade Veneer, on painted MDF and did the following:
Added spacers to the top and side edge for the box jigs I did for the lettering and to those boxes I made cross style puzzle joints to help align and space everything according to the original design.
Quite time consuming to peel the 3M protective layer, place each letter, and then also have to remove the masking, but man, does it make for a good looking sign, and one where I’m confident the letters will not fall off of. I’ve wanted to make a shadow box since the very beginning of owning my laser, and I’m happy to report that it was as fun as I’d always hoped it would be.
