Whole bunch of Edge Lighting Questions

[Larry Robinson]

I am working on a project where I would like to use led edge lighting and I have a whole bunch of questions. I am aware there is edge lighting Acrylic that would improve lighting.

1: Is there an ideal thickness of Acrylic to use?
2: What is the maximum height of Acrylic material that can be edge lit when lighting from the bottom?
3: Is there an ideal number of led lights/wattage per inch?
4: What is the ideal depth of cut/engraving?
5: Would placing a background behind the Acrylic help with the lighting?
6: Does one color of led seem to work better than others?
7: Will the outer shape of the Acrylic have any effect on the lighting; ie, round versus rectangle?

Any additional input would be appreciated.

Thanks
Larry

[Douglas J Miller]

I second all those questions! Just got my laser last week and was going to ask all of that, but you beat me too it.

[rich santana]

so what it's worth. i have used flexible LED's from Oznium. they look sort of like legos, aobut every 1/4" there is a light. i like to use red because it really pops when used with red acrylic paint on backside of acrylic. i also use the million color RGB (red green blue), when you use a controller you can make it do all kinds of things, pulse, flash, fade, etc. the more you spend on the controller, the more your choices of action. typically i use 1/4" or more acrylic. the leds are like 1/4" so that works well. polish the edge (or laser cut is fine) where your light will be. the other edges can be scuffed or polished. i like scuffed because it will also use the light to form a nice border. so the red works well when back painting. white is good, brite green does well. i also will reverse laser frosted vinyl and apply it, looks fantastic. the cool thing about vinyl is you can remove later should you decide to change design. as far as wattage, i will check what spec i use at work tomorrow if youre interested.
if i can figure out how to load pictures, i will try to post them...any help on loading pictures??
RS

[Joe Kace]

I have been doing a ton of LED lighting projects. I make Pinball Toppers for Pinball Machines. Here are my answers to your questions.
1. It is really up to you and your project. I use 3/8" Acrylic for all toppers I do. Normal signs/ Displays 1/4"
2. I can only go 18" on mine and it does get dim at the top with normal LED'S ( Oznium ) I use 3528 8mm but mine have 600LEDS per reel ( 15ft ) I have no top issue.
3. Mine are 3 LED's per inch 12v
4. You don't have to engrave very much to get your image to pop. I use 100s 65p single pass to do mine just make sure it's cast not extruded.
5. No not really, but make sure you have flame polished edges though.
6. Blue and Bright White seem to be the best. Experiment with your designs
7. No, not at all.

Here are some pics of some recent projects I have done.

[Jim Good]

Joe,

Love the Aliens!!!

Jim

[Joe Kace]

Thanks Jim, it happens to be my best seller as well.

Joe

[Ron Hartl]

Joe, nice work!

[Joe Kace]

Thanks Ron, I didn't mean to hi jack this thread. I just wanted to show Larry some examples. Larry if you have any other questions regarding LED edge Light feel free to PM me anytime.

Joe

[Larry Robinson]

Rich,
Thanks for your input to my many questions. Please give it a shot and post some pics.

Joe,
Thanks to you as well for both answering my many questions and for posting those great pictures. You obviously have great handle on edge lighting. I may take you up on your PM offer in a couple of days or so.

Thanks
Larry

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