Lighted Control Panel Overlay Surface

[whynotpizza]

Ok, bunch of questions lately on lighting.

Anyone know what would workk best to try and get the lightning bolt in my control panel overlay to "light-up" in the dark?

http://www.mamemarquees.com/blue-lightning-control-panel-from-p-194.html

Should I paint the surface with luminescent paint? Use a black-light?

Any way to get light to be trapped (and light-up the bolts) between the overlay surface and the lexan which will be placed on top?

Any ideas are welcome.

  David

[Missile]

My car has a tiny little LED on the rearview mirror to light up the shifter area.  I'm thinking about putting a couple of those hidden by the bottom of my overhead marquee on the build I'm working on to accomplish a similar effect.  My car doesn't require more than a 1/4" hole for its shifter light.

Just a thought.

[fixedpigs]

My car has a tiny little LED on the rearview mirror to light up the shifter area. 

odd...does your car have a light to illuminate the clutch/brake/& gas pedals too...?

who looks at the shifter to shift...?

 

[Ginsu Victim]

My 08 Honda CR-V has the same blue light thingy.

[erictrumpet]

David, you may have answered your own question - if you got some special white paint from here http://www.blacklight.com you could paint it on the lightning bolt with a tiny little pinstriping brush, and in normal light it would appear normal but under a blacklight it would glow like frickin crazy! I've thought about putting a blacklight in the speaker areas of my cab (in the underside of the marquee overhang) - at that website, they also have many different blacklight bulb types, so I thought of making a recessed "spot" light blacklight to shine from above and bathe the cp in spooky glowiness.

Eric.

[Sardu]

I wonder if 3/4" or 1" thick plexiglass like the stuff found here:
http://www.estreetplastics.com/

could be used as a CP.  Then you just add a light inside like a lightbox.


Or get your overlay printed with glow in the dark paper or ink

[Ginsu Victim]

Sardu - Maybe you should have a signature that says, "Not THAT Sardu"

If you don't know what I'm talking about, look up NESticle, Genecyst, and Callus. (Oh, and Bloodlust Software)

[whynotpizza]

Good suggestions guys, although I was thinking along the following lines and using a lighted ON or OFF system.

Check this stuff out: http://www.elbestbuy.com/2hibrperfo.html

It would require me cutting a 2.3mm groove in the lightning bolts using some sort of dremel or router (very careful is the word!)    but then I could turn ON or OFF as needed. I also like the fact that I am not using a BLACKLIGHT - those things get into your eyes and bother you I seem to recall, but maybe not.

Ah the choices are endless and will certainly take time to work thru testing the options!

As a side note, the link above also sells this LIVE TRACK system which really looks cool to add around the cabinet for detailing.
  http://www.elbestbuy.com/newlwimosy.html

[Sardu]

Sardu - Maybe you should have a signature that says, "Not THAT Sardu"

If you don't know what I'm talking about, look up NESticle, Genecyst, and Callus. (Oh, and Bloodlust Software)

haha, yep.. I remember him.  Wasn't it rumored that we went to work for EA or something?

Anyway, been using "Sardu" from "Bloodsucking Freaks" movie on various sites, games, etc, since '98.   

[Tim N.]

Good suggestions guys, although I was thinking along the following lines and using a lighted ON or OFF system.

Check this stuff out: http://www.elbestbuy.com/2hibrperfo.html

It would require me cutting a 2.3mm groove in the lightning bolts using some sort of dremel or router (very careful is the word!)    but then I could turn ON or OFF as needed. I also like the fact that I am not using a BLACKLIGHT - those things get into your eyes and bother you I seem to recall, but maybe not.

Ah the choices are endless and will certainly take time to work thru testing the options!

As a side note, the link above also sells this LIVE TRACK system which really looks cool to add around the cabinet for detailing.
  http://www.elbestbuy.com/newlwimosy.html

David, you may have better luck with EL Tape rather than EL line... Have a look at some of the work here-
http://electroluminescence-inc.com/howtouseEL.htm

The tape is going to be much flatter and would fit between the artwork and Plexi rather easily...

[fixedpigs]

did you see this...?
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=86893.0

[Missile]

My car has a tiny little LED on the rearview mirror to light up the shifter area. 

odd...does your car have a light to illuminate the clutch/brake/& gas pedals too...?

who looks at the shifter to shift...?

 

Just a standard feature on my vehicle, I didn't put it there or anything 

Hey whatdya know, I found a pic.  As I said the little LED is built into the rearview mirror so that part isn't visible, but you can get a good idea of the effect.