Gray Scale Acrylic??

[Mark Sipes]

Customer sent me this image of a Black and White lasered image on clear acrylic. At first I thought the back of the acrylic was painted black but I can see the folds in the background drape. Any ideas.. Fiber Laser? (2007 date on base)


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[Scott Shepherd]

Just cast engraved acrylic. The Trotec JCX will do that with it's photo mode, at least that's how the one's I have done were done.

[Mark Sipes]

So the laser engraves the black also as well as the frosted. Wow!

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[Dan Hintz]

So the laser engraves the black also as well as the frosted. Wow!

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Noooo, the laser turns the acrylic white.. the black is coming from the curtain behind it.

[Mike Lassiter]

that picture was edited to remove the background behind the people. When I do those I have to have a black background for ULS 1 Touch Photo software. That is not engraved when the picture is done leaving the clear area around the subject. It doesn't happen automatically, it has to be edited manually. What I see is a black curtain or background that the engraved item is sitting in front of to give contrast to the white engraved onto the clear acrylic.

[Ross Moshinsky]

That photo is completely misleading. The black drape backdrop makes the item look correct. Take away that backdrop, and I'd question how the image really looks.

Probably the best way to tackle this so it looks right all the time is to front engrave the acrylic and paint the back black.

[Scott Shepherd]

That photo is completely misleading. The black drape backdrop makes the item look correct. Take away that backdrop, and I'd question how the image really looks.

Probably the best way to tackle this so it looks right all the time is to front engrave the acrylic and paint the back black.

I had a customer come to me with a "great idea". They had seen, and printed off, some photos done on acrylic similar to the above. They wanted us to make them and they were going to sell 100's and 100's of them, each with it's own unique photo (give us a photo and we'll customize this for you.....blah blah blah). I said "it won't work". They said "Sure it will, look at the pictures I brought, these are incredible, I'll sell these like wild fire". I said "No you won't, because that's not reality". I walked into the back, pulled out an engraved photo on acrylic and brought it back to them. They held it in their hands, with the floor full of darker carpet is, and said that's exactly what they wanted. I said "Now, watch this" as I took it and put it on a shelf in the lobby, a shelf that was up against a pure white wall. I put it there, said "Now what do you see?".

They said "I can't see anything".

I said "That's my point exactly. Now sell a couple 100 of these to people and let me know how upset they are when the only one's that look good are the one's sitting in a mahogany book case".

That's why I don't do many of those things.

[Clark Pace]

Not really misleading. If you have ever done cast acrylic before it would have been pretty obvious. When taking photo's on clear acrylic you need a dark background or wont be able to see the image unless lit up. I've done hundreds of case engraved images. Image 1 dragon case. Engraved you can see how it actually clear acrylic. 2nd pictures also done on laser. Reverse laser engraved. Plastic has black coating on the rear. You engraved that off and get a white image. So if you like that look you can get it done.

dragoncase.jpgskullcase.jpg