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sal shepherd
12-06-2009, 1:58 AM
Last year we went to Disney World for vacation. We stopped in on some flea markets. They were making mirror plexi lic. plates. The main piece was clear mirror an words was cut out, than in a different color mirror the words were cut than applied [inlayed]. I searched till I was seeing double, I read about the acrylic glues weld on. I could do this with wood no problem, but for cars I can't figure how they made them.If I was smarter I would have taken a picture.
I give up, can anyone direct me in the right way of achieving my goals.

thanks,

Mike Null
12-06-2009, 8:27 AM
Sal

Brian Robison is a master at this. You might pm him.

Dan Hintz
12-06-2009, 10:47 AM
No magic involved. Cut the background portion of the design out of mirrored acrylic, do the same with the foreground (lettering) using whatever color acrylic you want. Depending upon thickness of the acrylic and how tight you want the letters to be, you may have to account for kerf. Glue everything onto a 1/16" acrylic backer plate.

Stephen Beckham
12-06-2009, 12:12 PM
Sal,

I make them here, $25 for a 2' X 4' sheet of 1/8" mirror acrylic (enough to make 16 - making the cutout's about $1.60 each). For ease of manufacturing, I do not inlay them. I use the acrylic glue to put the wording or letters right to the surface of the mirror - leaving it whole in the background. I've got some photos at the store of some I've done, I'll post one or two later.

Lee DeRaud
12-06-2009, 1:08 PM
There is also the one-piece method where you engrave off the mirror backing and paint the resulting clear areas, all from the back-side. The colored areas won't be mirrored though, but there's more flexibility (and less cost) in selecting paint colors than in stocking many colors of mirrored acrylic.

sal shepherd
12-06-2009, 2:16 PM
Thanks Mike I pm Brian.

Steve what about the excess glue around words, is that a problem for you? What kind of money can you get for them. The auto an bike shop are more of a up scale shops

Lee, That is how they came about me Saints Helmets an flure de lis mirror gold an paint fill black. SH SH Sh!!!!! With the Saints people are really getting crazy. They are taking slate roofing off houses Katrina houses an spray painting flure de lis or saints an getting 20.00 each. Free material an .99 black paint. UNREAL!!!!!

Dan I'm going to pm you

Thanks

Stephen Beckham
12-07-2009, 8:57 AM
Sal - normally these can go from $12 to $25 depending on how much work you put in to it. I usually settle for around $18 when I'm making personalized ones - not really on the high end of what you could probably get from those S-fans...

I uploaded three photos of some of my past ones. The M-wave is our local high school logo and it's cut in three colors then glued back in. The excess glue is not an issue when I use JDS's Better Plastic Bond (several others out there like it). It's a evaporative glue that melts the two pieces into one as it evaporates (I'm sure some chem-freak will correct that statement). It does take practice using because a single drop in misplaced location will ruin whole piece.

On the two clear, it's the same concept, but this one was one of those that the customer new best for about a week and a half then came back to get the suggested re-work. He wanted the silver pieces to look as if they were floating in air - great effect when going down highway. But from certain angles, you lost them completely so I remade the whole thing with the black behind the letters. I wanted to show you this one because as you start making plates, you sometimes will need a seperator of colors and car paint.

sal shepherd
12-07-2009, 9:53 PM
Steve, great work. Now I have a standard to work to.I see what you mean with the color selection,kind a blends in.Thank you for posting your pict. As they say a pict.is worth a thousand words. Well I got a qoute for my color mirror all 4x8 180.00 And I can p/u myself. Is this a good price???

sal shepherd
12-07-2009, 10:01 PM
Don't mean to drag this along. When spraying the back of plexi how do you keep it from getting on the car? Do you use the thin 1/16 plexi or could I laminate the back? Does the glue react with the paint if I do it in layers?

Stephen Beckham
12-08-2009, 6:04 PM
Steve, great work. Now I have a standard to work to.I see what you mean with the color selection,kind a blends in.Thank you for posting your pict. As they say a pict.is worth a thousand words. Well I got a qoute for my color mirror all 4x8 180.00 And I can p/u myself. Is this a good price???

Less than $.04 a square inch? I think that's fair - I pay $120 for my 4X8 clear - but the mirror is usually higher...

Steve Clarkson
12-08-2009, 9:12 PM
Those are really nice Steve. Does KY require plates on the front and back of cars.....or just one plate?

Brian Robison
12-12-2009, 2:28 PM
Sal, I sent you an e mail.

Stephen Beckham
12-14-2009, 9:36 AM
Those are really nice Steve. Does KY require plates on the front and back of cars.....or just one plate?

Just the back, so the front is wide open.