From Camry to Scion. Here we go.

[Jscoyne2]

As fucking cool as this would look. I'd need around 3-4 of these to fit the amp rack. $700 or more for plastic is way too much. WHY ARE COOL THINGS FUCKING EXPENSIVE

[Jscoyne2]

This is going to be WAY harder to build around and light correctly than i first thought.

[geolemon]

Well my idea would have been easier
BUT you'll be rewarded.
Plexi gives that truly awesome edge-lit effect. It's going to be killer.

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[Jscoyne2]

Well my idea would have been easier
BUT you'll be rewarded.
Plexi gives that truly awesome edge-lit effect. It's going to be killer.

Sent from my LM-G710 using Tapatalk

Price wise. Your idea woulda been way more expensive. Unfortunately 2 layers of 1.5 mm is WAY more $$$ than 1 layer of 3mm when you consider the laser cut costs. Plus the $80 vinyl cut quote i got.

However doing it the way i did means that lighting will be Significantly harder. I am gonna have serious trouble getting what i want dont right. But we'll see.

[geolemon]

Price wise. Your idea woulda been way more expensive. Unfortunately 2 layers of 1.5 mm is WAY more $$$ than 1 layer of 3mm when you consider the laser cut costs. Plus the $80 vinyl cut quote i got.

However doing it the way i did means that lighting will be Significantly harder. I am gonna have serious trouble getting what i want dont right. But we'll see.

Well my thought was no laser cutting...
Instead, bottom layer of plexi (bottom frosted)
Vinyl shop cuts your pattern out of vinyl [sticker] - color of your choosing. They even have some faux metals...
Then, top layer of plexi.

The top layer really transforms it so it doesn't look like a circuit sticker.

The bottom layer being frosted and only having the cutouts in the vinyl for light to come through - it diffuses it well.

I did that for one of the Buffalo Bills players, a long time ago. Backlit their autograph in custom door panels, we had our own vinyl plotter so i weeded out the autograph as a negative. Just used a shop DA sander to frost the rear and stuck the autographs on there. In that case I used smoked plexi for the top layer, so when the door was closed, it just looked like a glossy black glass panel, framed in the saddle color leather we matched to the interior.
But when you open the door, the autographs seemed to appear by magic, in white.
Definitely cheaper than laser cutting.

But like I said - I like the laser cutting. Plexi + edges + light = great effect.

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[Jscoyne2]

[Jscoyne2]

Well my thought was no laser cutting...
Instead, bottom layer of plexi (bottom frosted)
Vinyl shop cuts your pattern out of vinyl [sticker] - color of your choosing. They even have some faux metals...
Then, top layer of plexi.

The top layer really transforms it so it doesn't look like a circuit sticker.

The bottom layer being frosted and only having the cutouts in the vinyl for light to come through - it diffuses it well.

I did that for one of the Buffalo Bills players, a long time ago. Backlit their autograph in custom door panels, we had our own vinyl plotter so i weeded out the autograph as a negative. Just used a shop DA sander to frost the rear and stuck the autographs on there. In that case I used smoked plexi for the top layer, so when the door was closed, it just looked like a glossy black glass panel, framed in the saddle color leather we matched to the interior.
But when you open the door, the autographs seemed to appear by magic, in white.
Definitely cheaper than laser cutting.

But like I said - I like the laser cutting. Plexi + edges + light = great effect.

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I wont be able to edge light this as well.. all the edges are encompassed by black so it'll have to be under glow. Not the biggest fan but no other way. As of right now. I just got some Rustoleum frosted spray paint and sprayed the clear acrylic. So far it works well. I really dont know if the frosted acrylic will show the trailing effect that i am after. Gonna need some experimentation.

[geolemon]

I wont be able to edge light this as well.. all the edges are encompassed by black so it'll have to be under glow. Not the biggest fan but no other way. As of right now. I just got some Rustoleum frosted spray paint and sprayed the clear acrylic. So far it works well. I really dont know if the frosted acrylic will show the trailing effect that i am after. Gonna need some experimentation.

Right -
When you back-light plexi that's cut, all the edges glow.

You might need to ensure you get your backlighting coming in from several angles to keep that edge glow uniform - but it looks slick.
Sanding in the frosting effect seemed to better diffuse the light INTO the plexi than when I tried to use a frosted vinyl I the back side rather than etch it, but maybe a sprayed-on frost will be at least in-between the two.

The laser cut will be a different look than what I was pitching, but I think better.

I don't want to add to the expense, but you might even still think about putting a thin plexi layer over that cut layer - it does add to the class if not give a more finished look, and also will make it wipe-easy to clean.

And I am just talking about a cheap thin layer, but you can decide on that later - after you are all done.
It's going to look killer regardless.

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[Jscoyne2]

A year later. Gorilla tape and rockwool worked just fine. No rust. No mold. Unfortunately. Rockwool does look like it holds water. Maybe i got the wrong kind but thats all the home depot had. Its water resistant but not water proof.

Drained pretty quickly tho and like i said. Didn't cause any issues. I actually pulled it out and wrapped it because when i rolled down my window and rolled it back up. Id get rockwool dust on my window.

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[Jscoyne2]

Slight change of plans..an expensive one.

I had never really worked with acrylic so I didn't understand the materials properties. Thought i could really get the glow effect i wanted with frosted clear acrylic. Turns out. Thats more of a poor diffusion effect than the light up that I wanted. So i ordered the same design but this time with Opal White acrylic. Lights up exactly how i wanted. Don't have to bother with expensive etching.

Also last time i bought 4 large pieces of acrylic (2 clear, 2 black)and took out the negative of one to put into the other.

This time i saved abunch of money by simply buying 2 pieces. Leaving the factory laser cut tape on it and peeling off the tape where i wanted it black. Then i painted it all black. Peeled the rest of the tape off and had the designs i wanted in white.

I got some gloss black paint from walmart. Gave me dead black. Not even close to glossy. Slightly sad but still looks fantastic. Doesn't compare to the factory black gloss acrylic from before but thats okay.



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