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Lighted Etched Plexi CP with Art Overlay - An experiment

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weisshaupt:
Hi all,

I finally had a bit of free time this weekend and so did an experiment with some scraps of 1/8 inch plexi in Preparation for the Fall ( when my wife says I am allowed to work in earnest on a new cabinet)

The Idea behind the experiment is to

1) Confirm that 1/8 plexi will work well with the etching
2) Confirm that I can "light-Pipe" the light from underneath the plexi, rather than by shining it on the edges (thus eliminating the doors I put on Ghost , and making it look more like a standard CP
3) Confirm that an Overlay will have the desired effect...


I think I was able to accomplish all 3 objectives...

With the room lights off



with the room  lights on



with the CCFL off...



The CP would be 1/2 MDF covered with White Vinyl (or other white surface-- in this case its just a sheet of paper)  For the experiment I just used a short piece of MDF -- a real panel would have a large hole cut in it to let the light through. 

On top of the MDF there is a sheet of 1/8 plexi with etchings. I tried a number of things to try and get the light pipe to work better. What I found is the light sources need to be approximately 2-3 inches away from the edge of the piece and that scuffing up the plastic on the top and then installing a bit of reflective tape (shiny duct tape)  on the top seems to work best to get light into the piece.  I also tried drilling holes i the piece and routing a slot, with unclear results. I think it worked a little better with the slot cut...

On top of the scuffs and duct tape, I would place a bands of arcade vinyl (in this case just a black pieces of scrap) to make it look better and give it a nice uniform line (otherwise the light source will shine up in your face and it would be way less cool)



On top of the etched plexi is a transparency I printed off of my laser jet. IN real life I would probably have this printed on clear vinyl and apply it to the top of the etched plexi. On tops of the transparency is another piece of 1/8 inch plexi. This will give it a nice smooth finish..

The pieces used are shown below...



If anybody has a brilliant idea as to how to secure the sandwich layers together I would love to hear it -- Right now I am think I will install a bolt at the top and bottom to hold things in place.

patrickl:
Quite cool. 8)

Lutus:
Very interesting use of the idea

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