Have any of you tried to take acrylic, engrave / cut it, then heat / bend it? My buddy and I are talking about doing a piece of art that has some curved acrylic, we'd like to edge light.
Anybody ever tried this?
[OP]
Member
Have any of you tried to take acrylic, engrave / cut it, then heat / bend it? My buddy and I are talking about doing a piece of art that has some curved acrylic, we'd like to edge light.
Anybody ever tried this?
Epilog Helix 24 - 50w
Kern HSE 50x100 - 400w (rated at 479w!)
Friend of The Creek
Yes - it can be done.
If there are cutouts within the piece that will be bent, then you need to think carefully about how to get these to bend at the same rate as the main part.
The piece shown in the photo was bent around a warmed steel tube and wrapped tightly with cloth to hold all the bits in the right place.
This was presented to the Queen of England!
Member
My main sales come from a product I make that is laser cut and sometimes engraved then bent.Originally Posted by Michael Hunter
Redsail x700, 50watt & Shenhui 350, 50 watt
Friend of The Creek
Show us a picture then!
Member
It should work okay as long as your bends are smaller than about 40° (the critical angle for total internal reflection in acrylic). If you need a bigger bend then that and don't want the light escaping at the bend, you'll need the radius of the bend to be at least a few times bigger than the thickness of the material. Some of the light will come out at any sharp bend due to the divergence of the light.
Center for Experimental Nuclear Physics and Astrophysics - University of Washington
Kern 400W 4'x8' HSE with metal cutting add-on and rotary stage
2-axis CNC mill, 2 manual mills, 3 lathes, other standard shop tools, . . . and a 7.5 MeV tandem Van de Graaff particle accelerator
Member
I've done ghe engrave and bend, but have not lit it up. One questions. Will the bent part be visible? Reason I ask is if it's not then I would place a reflective material on the back side to direct the light. Does that make sense?
Redsail x700, 50watt & Shenhui 350, 50 watt
[OP]
Member
That's really cool looking.
Was it edge lit?
Epilog Helix 24 - 50w
Kern HSE 50x100 - 400w (rated at 479w!)
[OP]
Member
Yes, it'll be visible.
I'm making 3d graffiti / lettering.
Epilog Helix 24 - 50w
Kern HSE 50x100 - 400w (rated at 479w!)
Member
This is why I modified my laser to cut at 45 degrees, so I can turn light around corners.
It will be interesting to see what you come up with. I do like seeing edge light experiments. This is my current experiment (without any 45 degree stuff)
Dark100_7655.jpg
Cheers
Keith
Universal Laser VLS6.60, Tantillus 3D printer, Electronic design
edns Group, Mairangi Bay, Auckland, New Zealand
Very cool effect Keith!!
Dave
900x600 80watt EFR Tube laser from Liaocheng Ray Fine Tech LTD. Also a 900x600 2.5kw spindle CNC from Ray Fine. And my main tool, a well used and loved Jet 1642 Woodlathe with an outboard toolrest that helps me work from 36 inch diameters down to reallllllly tiny stuff.
Member
Hi Jay
there is acrylic bending machine special for bending acrylic
Jinan G.WEIKE laser
[OP]
Member
Do you have a link you could share?
Epilog Helix 24 - 50w
Kern HSE 50x100 - 400w (rated at 479w!)
[OP]
Member
How'd you modify your laser to do that? sounds interesting.
Epilog Helix 24 - 50w
Kern HSE 50x100 - 400w (rated at 479w!)
Member
Jay you can see the thread here, it is still work in progress. It turns led light 90 degrees really well.
mirror_fixture.JPG
I read somewhere you can use hair straighteners to bend acrylic. Apparently you can add teflon tape so it does not stick.
Cheers
Keith
Universal Laser VLS6.60, Tantillus 3D printer, Electronic design
edns Group, Mairangi Bay, Auckland, New Zealand
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