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Thread: What material will do this?

  1. #16
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    Make it three piece.....
    Use solid black acrylic say 1/16" thick and make open rectangle border around the laserlights. Adhere to the clear acrylic. I would think that would keep light from shining around the laserlight/acrylic intersection. (If I understand your problem)
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  2. #17
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    I think I follow... a border of black acrylic around the clear, then stick the laser lights on top of it all. That would work except for they want drilled and countersunk holes in the face for mounting, that's the real issue, you would end up with a light ring around each screw hole.

    The current brainstorm from them is to use clear and paint with a layer of what and then black on top of that. Then I'm supposed to laser of the black leaving the white behind... not sure how reliable or durable that will be... but hey, I'm only responsible for the laser work.
    Brian Lamb
    Lamb Tool Works, Custom tools for woodworkers
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  3. #18
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    Actually somewhat inset the laserlights. Use 1/16 black and laserlights is what .020 or so? use o-rings around the screws....
    I doubt you are going to laser only thru one layer of paint consistently. And it sure won't be durable.

    I know they want white, but get a sample of a Colorhues EHX in Black/Pacific. Light blue or a Yellow (lemon zest or citron) Yeah, that's their color names.....
    Shame there isn't a pure white, but the blue is pretty light color and might work.
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  4. #19
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    have you tried engraving as a mirror image so the black is on the bottom

  5. #20
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    Dredging this thread back up. Laserlights works great, but customer wouldn't use it because of numerous holes and such through the part that would allow for light leaks. by the way, it's .004" thick, a .002" black layer with a .002" white layer underneath.

    So, the customer has decided to attempt several coats of white paint under several coats of black. I have successfully gotten a useable result, but I'm seeing a bit of "banding" that I would like to eliminate if possible. Given that the black paint is thin, and the white paint is thin, I can't just blast with more power and get a cleaner engrave, that would take me through to the clear plastic and eliminate the white colored text.

    I tried going out of focus in .050" increments to enlarge my spot size and see if I could get smoother results... which worked to a point, .100" higher than usual seemed to be the best. Any suggestions to get rid of the raster lines in the text?

    This is a sample piece backlit with a flashlight so you can see the issues.

    IMG_1889.jpg
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    Brian Lamb
    Lamb Tool Works, Custom tools for woodworkers
    Equipment: Felder KF700 and AD741, Milltronics CNC Mill, Universal Laser X-600

  6. #21
    Universal laser? Going from memory here -- You should have a halftone section in your print driver, on mine there was like one button to click that would then reset slider bars for brightness, contrast, etc. based on the graphic-- it always worked near perfect for me- If your does this, paint your lettering 70% black and let the driver choose halftone settings. The engraving will automatically dither, and may take care of the banding--
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  7. #22
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    Brian if you are trying to just cut thru black and not the white basecoat, why paint white to begin with? Just cut well thru black paint and then colorfill white?
    Woodworking, Old Tools and Shooting
    Ray Fine RF-1390 Laser Ray Fine 20watt Fiber Laser
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    PM2000, Delta BS, Delta sander, Powermatic 50 jointer,
    Powermatic 100-12 planer, Rockwell 15-126 radial drill press
    Rockwell 46-450 lathe, and 2 Walker Turner RA1100 radial saws
    Jet JWS18, bandsaw Carbide Create CNC, RIA 22TCM 1911s and others

  8. #23
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    Kev, I will give that a try and see what happens.

    John, the customer wants white for daylight visibility and then still thin enough to backlight it with led's to have nighttime visibility. It's an instrument panel component for an airplane.
    Brian Lamb
    Lamb Tool Works, Custom tools for woodworkers
    Equipment: Felder KF700 and AD741, Milltronics CNC Mill, Universal Laser X-600

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