Edge lit sign

[highpockets]

I've been playing with edge lit signs and with the help of some friends from the board I've made some progress. The only problem I was still having was the cross hatch wasn't going all the way to the edge of the outline leaving a small area not engraved. After doing some fulling around I figured out the feed speed was too fast causing the deceleration to stop the drag bit short of the outline. Now I need to figure out exactly where the sweet spot is....

[highpockets]

I'm going to call this a success.

[LittleGreyMan]

I'm going to call this a success.

Well, it seems difficult to pretend it's not. Well done.

[Mobius]

Very much a success! Nicely done.

[martin54]

Doesn't look to shabby to me John so your probably right

What's the base on this piece ??

[highpockets]

What's the base on this piece ??

There's a pretty tight budget on the materials cost so I opted for MDF with Rust-Oleum Stone Accent paint. It's a fast finish that covers the laminate seam with no sanding. And it looks nice.

There will be brass plaques on the front with the wording "This Candle Lit By:" and then the name of the person who purchased the plaque.

[martin54]

What's the base on this piece ??

There's a pretty tight budget on the materials cost so I opted for MDF with Rust-Oleum Stone Accent paint. It's a fast finish that covers the laminate seam with no sanding. And it looks nice.

There will be brass plaques on the front with the wording "This Candle Lit By:" and then the name of the person who purchased the plaque.

2018-04-28 17.31.26.jpg

That comes as a bit of a surprise, Obviously you have done your homework John but from what I have seen a lot of these special effect paints are a bit more expensive. I would have thought that the cost of the MDF with the primer & topcoat would be more expensive than a piece of wood

At first glance I actually thought you had used a piece of corian for the base.

[highpockets]

Did think long and hard about using wood for the base. I've made the plaques for the past 3 years out of wood. In order to achieve the 1 1/2" thickness I needed (using a battery pack) the wood started getting more expensive and Corian was just out of the question. The finished price for the base is coming in at $2.00 per and there is very little labor.

[woody53]

That sure looks like a success to me. Very nicely done. I will keep trying to do more too.

Dave

[Xxray]

I've used the stone finish before, love the look but it is a bit pricey and takes quite a bit longer to dry than paint - Prone to clog up the nozzle too, but worth the bother for one off projects.

You need to luck into a load of corian, I got a near lifetime supply a year back for almost nothing on craigslist.

[highpockets]

I thought about Corian, I've used it in the past and it mills great, but I needed 1 1/2" height, I'd either have to find 1 1/2" thick Corian (not cheap) or glue up 3 pieced, no way to hide the seams.

Way before my CNC hobby I used Rust-Oleum stone to create a bunch of wood plaques I bought at Hobby Lobby. I had real good luck with that project. I used a heat lamp to speed up the curing process on the plaques. That was back in 2003 and they still look good.

Hope my luck continues.....

[Xxray]

Oh I missed the 1.5, that is thick indeed.
I recall fiddling with a battery operated model but lost interest quick, so I have never really routed out base pockets for any of my signs, and have never used any material thicker than .75.

[highpockets]

Yea, they specifically wanted battery operated so they could be placed around the town center square without running a lot of extension cords for people to trip over. Took a bit of fiddling with the design for the battery pack and wiring, but I'm really happy with the results.

There's a black acrylic plate to cover the battery pack and wiring.

LED control switch

[martin54]

Don't know what sort of life you get out of that battery pack John but something you might want to experiment with for the future is a single 12v battery rather than 8 1.5v batteries

Can't remember what brand I use but will check, I use a single 12v battery which is smaller than a AA battery, found them & the holders for them on an electrical factors website, think it was RS Components.

I made a couple of portable Edge lit signs to take to network events & meetings where I could just put them on the table in front of me

None of the bases are thicker than 19mm or 3/4" if you prefer

[highpockets]

Don't know what sort of life you get out of that battery pack John but something you might want to experiment with for the future is a single 12v battery rather than 8 1.5v batteries

Can't remember what brand I use but will check, I use a single 12v battery which is smaller than a AA battery, found them & the holders for them on an electrical factors website, think it was RS Components.

I made a couple of portable Edge lit signs to take to network events & meetings where I could just put them on the table in front of me

None of the bases are thicker than 19mm or 3/4" if you prefer

Martin,

I'd really like more info on the battery packs. Are they rechargeable? The reason why I went with the 8 1.5v batteries is these will eventually be given to individuals and they will have to replace/charge the batteries.

Would like to get the base height down to 3/4", but considering the battery pack is almost 3/4" I'm not sure how.

As to battery life, I set up a strip of LEDs in demo mode and they were still going strong after 48 hours. Don't know exactly how long they lasted because we left on a short trip. I can say when we got back 5 days later I was amazed to see the red LEDs were still dimly flashing in the demo. Blue and green were not (difference in voltage requirements).