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Backlit Control Panel Idea

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Trimoor:
I came up with this great idea once, and as I was recently browsing through my old files,  I found it again.

It's fairly simple, just take the plexiglass for your control panel and sand the bottom surface of it.

-'What?!!? you want me to scratch up my nice new plexiglass that took me 4 hours and 6 tries to make? are you crazy?!'

Well, yes! (to both questions ;))

After you mutilate your hard work, place an LED or CCFL light next to the side edge of the panel. The result will be that the sanded surface reflects and scatters the light, creating a nice even illumination.

Give it a try on a scrap piece!

krion:
cool idea.  Was wondering if it would be possible to do this sort of this with a CP...

Krion

Xiaou2:

 I had thought of this before as well.  

 To make plexi strong enuff for a full control panel - it will either have to be really thick (almost 1"  )  or have several layers fused together to make it thick.   That or have some metal cross beams to add support...

  Another idea I had was to have like 3 to 5 layers of plexi... and inbetween each layer.. you would have different artworks.   This would make a cool 3d effect.

  BTW - if you really want a cool effect... try heating plexi with a heatgun or simular.  After a while... it starts to bubble inside.   When it cools... theres all these different sizes of bubbles all over the place - and when lit up - will be dazzleing. (especially if using switching multicolor led lighting
system)

Trimoor:
I just might try the idea of a CP made entirely from plex.
Hell, I'll probably try it with bubbles and multi layers too.

I found a great deal on plex at a weird store called Ax-Man.
You can get a 14"x12"x1/8" sheet for about 25

Sylentwulf:
Your best bet would be to make a sandwich 3 layers thick.

Cut out the middle layer with a dremel to make long grooves for the LEDS to fit in (you WOULD need at LEAST 5-6 three-led clusters for a control panel) and wiring, etc... You may want to also include a switch.

Sand the bottom of the top layer, the bottom layer is just there to keep everything in, but you would probably want to paint the bottom of the bottom layer blac, or tinfoil it, or something to keep the light shooting upwards instead of leaking out downwards.

glue the middle layer to the bottom, attach everything in the middle layer, hot glue it down, then glue the top layer to the middle layer, and you have a CP Sandwich that glows beautifully.

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