Engraving polystyrene

[Pete Thomas]

Hello all,

Is it possible to engrave on a clear polystyrene??? I've been asked to quote engraving a 6"x12" area on clear polystyrene. After doing a little research I have read that CD jewel cases are polystyrene and I've tried these in the past. I seems to work but I was not really impressed with the result.

I've requested a sample to try.

Just wondering if anyone has done this.

Thanks,
-pete

[Joe Pelonio]

I never tried clear, but have found that black does a lot better than white.

Those cases seem a lot harder than the polystyrene that I have used, so you may find it to be a different formulation (harder and more brittle).

[Gary Hair]

I have lasered a little bit of it and although you can get some depth, it doesn't show very well. Unlike acrylic it seems to melt instead of frost.

Gary

[Bill Cunningham]

I engraved some text into some type of styrene control boxes, the engraving went ok, but I'll be damned it I could find anything in the form of paint that would colour fill it AND stick to it.. Most of the fill, would come off with the low tack masking tape.. The only thing I didn't try was 2 part epoxy paint..

[Bill Morrison]

Bill, they have some spraypaint at the Borg that preps material so that paint will stick to it. It is supposed to work even on metal, but I don't know what it would do to styrene itself, just wanted to mention it. It's in amongst the spray cans.

Bill Morrison

[Bill Cunningham]

Krylon fusion is usually the paint that sticks to plastic.. But no luck with this stuff..