Help with ideas/Outdoor Plaque

[Tim Baude]

Hi, It always seems I am looking for the help. I hope to get and be good enough to help others here more.

What I am looking for is an idea for an outdoor plaque. It is a dedication plaque that will recieve direct sunlight and elements. It is all words (lots of them) and they would like it to be 11x14 and under $200. With just my laser does anyone have any thoughts on what would be a good material and long lasting. I thought of some of the rowmark products but not sure on sustainability. It will be hung so I don't want to go too heavy of a material. Thought wood and treat the heck out of it.

Any thoughts and ideas are greatly appreciated and reallly, I will be able to help others soon......I hope!!:D
Tim

[Steve Clarkson]

Hi, It always seems I am looking for the help. I hope to get and be good enough to help others here more.

What I am looking for is an idea for an outdoor plaque. It is a dedication plaque that will recieve direct sunlight and elements. It is all words (lots of them) and they would like it to be 11x14 and under $200. With just my laser does anyone have any thoughts on what would be a good material and long lasting. I thought of some of the rowmark products but not sure on sustainability. It will be hung so I don't want to go too heavy of a material. Thought wood and treat the heck out of it.

Any thoughts and ideas are greatly appreciated and reallly, I will be able to help others soon......I hope!!:D
Tim

Tim,

I had someone ask me for almost the exact same thing the other day. The best three choices I came up with were a sheet of anodized aluminum, acrylic painted and engraved on the back, and corian engraved and painted. My bigger problem was that it was a donor plaque and they wanted to add names in the future!

[Dee Gallo]

Tim,

A cheap, easy to get and durable option is coil stock... the stuff they use for roofing. The darker colors laser nicely like anodized. You'd have to deal with the edges somehow, but a simple frame should not be a big deal to come up with.

cheers, dee

[Larry Bratton]

This is what I have used in the past and it worked and held up well.
http://www.rowmark.com/laser/metalgraphplus/metalgraphplus.asp

You would probably want to bond it to something else if it's going to be a hanging application.

[Mike Null]

My first choice would be Corian with a color fill.

[Martin Boekers]

I use black acrylic with Krylon Fusion works well holds up nice.

Marty

[Dan Hintz]

Dee,

Picked up a 2'x100' roll of black coil several months back for around $100 shipped... I really like it for the high resolution work on the cheap. Though I was forced to purchase a new tool (electric shear) to cut it cleanly... it was tough ;)

[Dee Gallo]

Dee,

Picked up a 2'x100' roll of black coil several months back for around $100 shipped... I really like it for the high resolution work on the cheap. Though I was forced to purchase a new tool (electric shear) to cut it cleanly... it was tough ;)

Ooh - I wish I had one of those shears... hmmm, looks like the hunt is on! My shear can only handle 12" (well, really 11.5") which is okay once you gorilla it into that size, but my hand cutting skills are not great. Have you ever tried one of those things the roofers use? They work well on big stuff.

We had some coil stock left over from a roofing job and now I collect it whenever I hear of someone doing a roof. Comes in a lot of colors!

:) dee

[Gary Hair]

For the money, corian with paint fill will get you where you need to be. I have done more and more of them lately and really like the way Corian looks. It's easy to laser, easy to paint fill and easy to cleanup - what's better than that?

Gary

[TONG LI]

Hi, It always seems I am looking for the help. I hope to get and be good enough to help others here more.

What I am looking for is an idea for an outdoor plaque. It is a dedication plaque that will recieve direct sunlight and elements. It is all words (lots of them) and they would like it to be 11x14 and under $200. With just my laser does anyone have any thoughts on what would be a good material and long lasting. I thought of some of the rowmark products but not sure on sustainability. It will be hung so I don't want to go too heavy of a material. Thought wood and treat the heck out of it.

Any thoughts and ideas are greatly appreciated and reallly, I will be able to help others soon......I hope!!:D
Tim

For long lasting, it has to be black granite. Regular black granite tile is 12"x12"x3/8". We are in monument business, so we may have some 16"x16"x3/8" tile available. I know for sure we have 24"x12"x3/8" available. We also have oval plaque, but the largest size I think is 9"x13"x3/8", I don't know for sure, have to check for you when I get to the office.

The problem is that it is a little heavier.

Tong Li
(thanks Keith)

[TONG LI]

The black oval granite plaque is 9.5"x13.5"x3/8", it is precision water jet cut, edge is not polished, but the face is.

Tong Li

[Keith Outten]

If you use coil stock make sure that the coating isn't PVC, many brands use pvc rather than paint.
.

[Dan Hintz]

Dee,

Barbarous Freight has a $35 electric hand shear... use a 20% coupon and it comes up to around $30 after tax. Route a step into a piece of wood, clamp the wood onto the coil stock, and follow the routed step with the shears to cut a straight line.

[Terry Swift]

What are some good places to get the 1/8" Corian from? I've looked and got some samples; but they are all 1/2" or better.:mad:

[Tim Baude]

Thank you all.... I have decided to dive in with corian for the dedication plaque. Will post pictures when done....wish me luck.
Thanks
Tim