PVC in acrylic

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BDM
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PVC in acrylic

Post by BDM »

I made this for our director's retirement party. Thought it came out pretty good. The picture was made with a 1/16" ballnose with a maximum depth of .08" (in 1/4" plexi) and then used a 90 degree diamond drag bit for the lettering. The entire thing is on a 12"x18" piece of acrylic. When it was unveiled, there was a collective "oooooh" from the crowd so I felt like it was worth the hassle.
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sturgeon067
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Re: PVC in acrylic

Post by sturgeon067 »

this is just beautiful!

can you tell me....
1) how long did it take to carve?
2) how did you do the lights? where did you buy them? how much did it cost?

thank you in advance.

calgrdnr
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Re: PVC in acrylic

Post by calgrdnr »

Very nice . which diamond drag are you using ?

Kent

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Xxray
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Re: PVC in acrylic

Post by Xxray »

Crisp lettering, I am a big fan of diamond bits in acrylic - Why no periods in the sentences though ?

edit: On closer inspection, maybe they are there, but the double or triple space after them doesn't look right.
Doug

BDM
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Re: PVC in acrylic

Post by BDM »

sturgeon067 wrote:this is just beautiful!

can you tell me....
1) how long did it take to carve?
2) how did you do the lights? where did you buy them? how much did it cost?

thank you in advance.
The photo took two hours, and the engraving (from Cut2D) took just under an hour, and I don't run my machine too fast. The photo was at 50 ipm and the engraving was 20 ipm.

For the lights I used a strip from www.lumenedge.com I'm sure there are other ways to do it much cheaper, but for what I needed, it was simpler to order one precut to size with a power cord attached and then all I had to do was route a channel in the wood deep enough to hide it.

BDM
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Re: PVC in acrylic

Post by BDM »

calgrdnr wrote:Very nice . which diamond drag are you using ?

Kent
I used this one that Xxray recommended: http://www.ebay.com/itm/1-4-SHANK-DIAMO ... 3f22dec6e7

It's a really nice product and the guy making them does really good machining and it's about half the price of other commercial products.

BDM
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Re: PVC in acrylic

Post by BDM »

Xxray wrote:Crisp lettering, I am a big fan of diamond bits in acrylic - Why no periods in the sentences though ?

edit: On closer inspection, maybe they are there, but the double or triple space after them doesn't look right.
The periods are there, but they are literally a point. It might be due to using a single line font (Times New Roman 3L), but I didn't have enough time to test true type fonts with the diamond drag. I tried to tell the committee that there were way too many words to begin with, but couldn't convince them to do some editing. I'll agree on the spacing, I was trying the text box bounding in Cut2D for the first time and while it was a time saver, there are a few quirks like the spacing that need to be accounted for.

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Xxray
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Re: PVC in acrylic

Post by Xxray »

BDM wrote:
Xxray wrote:Crisp lettering, I am a big fan of diamond bits in acrylic - Why no periods in the sentences though ?

edit: On closer inspection, maybe they are there, but the double or triple space after them doesn't look right.
The periods are there, but they are literally a point. It might be due to using a single line font (Times New Roman 3L), but I didn't have enough time to test true type fonts with the diamond drag. I tried to tell the committee that there were way too many words to begin with, but couldn't convince them to do some editing. I'll agree on the spacing, I was trying the text box bounding in Cut2D for the first time and while it was a time saver, there are a few quirks like the spacing that need to be accounted for.
Looks great, a work to be proud of ,,, Don't get my criticism wrong, I tend to pick my own works apart, and that carries over to others. Fonts can be tricky, maybe if you spaced the sentences over they would have been too close ,,, But every project is a learning experience, no matter if you are a novice or a pro.
This thread http://www.vectric.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=17065 details some of my sources for led's ect, mostly on the 2nd page towards the bottom. I started out with luminedge strips, they are quality and convenient, but not very economical if you start producing dozens of cuts.
Doug

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Re: PVC in acrylic

Post by jerrywi »

Great job, I was thinking of doing a similar project using my children's photo's

I was wondering what the line spacing amount you used to get the detail?

Jerry

MarkJohnston
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Re: PVC in acrylic

Post by MarkJohnston »

Can you tell me about the photo you took of the acrylic, it's really nice. I can't seem to get the right combination on the camera, lighting etc to get anywhere near as nice of photo as you got.

Great job on everything.

Mark

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zeeway
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Re: PVC in acrylic

Post by zeeway »

That is one of the best I have seen. A great tribute.

Angie

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Ms Wolffie
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Re: PVC in acrylic

Post by Ms Wolffie »

Xxray wrote:Crisp lettering, I am a big fan of diamond bits in acrylic - Why no periods in the sentences though ?

edit: On closer inspection, maybe they are there, but the double or triple space after them doesn't look right.
It is common secretarial practice to have one space after a coma and two after a period.
Cheers
Wolffie
Cheers
Wolffie

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Xxray
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Re: PVC in acrylic

Post by Xxray »

Ms Wolffie wrote:
Xxray wrote:Crisp lettering, I am a big fan of diamond bits in acrylic - Why no periods in the sentences though ?

edit: On closer inspection, maybe they are there, but the double or triple space after them doesn't look right.
It is common secretarial practice to have one space after a coma and two after a period.
Cheers
Wolffie
Well, I'll tell you everything that I know about common secretarial practices in about 2 seconds, alls I know is what looks right to my eyeballs and what don't.
Doug

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Ms Wolffie
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Re: PVC in acrylic

Post by Ms Wolffie »

And I guess the manuscript was written by a secretary, not a sign maker :D
Cheers
Wolffie
Cheers
Wolffie

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BDM
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Re: PVC in acrylic

Post by BDM »

MarkJohnston wrote:Can you tell me about the photo you took of the acrylic, it's really nice. I can't seem to get the right combination on the camera, lighting etc to get anywhere near as nice of photo as you got.

Great job on everything.

Mark
Wish I could I say I'm some photography whiz, but it was literally a point and shoot camera (shut off flash), set the piece on top of a filing cabinet with an off white wall behind it and took the picture(s). One was with the lights on and the other was with the lights off using only the light from the LED strip. Used the auto setting on the camera. According to the camera, the setting ended up being 1/80 sec and F2.8. Probably more luck than anything :D

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