Looking for Award Ideas

[Jim Good]

Need some help! My NASA customer needs some plaques. They will include a patch that flew on the last shuttle mission. The award will include a picture of a rack with hardware in it that is currently in the Space Station. There will be some text saying the patch flew on the last shuttle mission, blah, blah, blah.

I don't know of a good way to display the patch. I thought I could sublimate a plate with the color artwork and text and attach it to a wood plaque but it would look cheesy attaching the patch to the plate. I need some creative help!

I thought about using the JDS floating plaque where I could still use the sublimated plate for the artwork, reverse-engrave the text to the acrylic sheet, and still attach the patch to the plate under the acrylic piece. It wouldn't look near as bad that way. Any thoughts or better ideas!?!

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,

Jim

[Scott Shepherd]

Put it behind glass. One of those shadow box type boxes with the front pane of glass on them.

[Ross Moshinsky]

Why not put the actual patch on the plaque?

Get a 12x15 board, epoxy the patch on. Put the picture under a piece of acrylic. Engrave/sublimate a plate. That's a pretty traditional method of doing things. If you want to get fancy, you can add stand offs and things like that to give the plaque a bit more dimension.

A shadow box is another alternative. We do a lot of shadow boxes for organizations and they are always received well.

[Mike Null]

Jim

First, it's really good to have you pay us a visit again after so long.

I would consider using a process like the Magic Touch ORD1 or a similar process from the Acrylic idea Factory to make a substantial logo plate. http://www.aifawards.com/acryliprint-hd-plaques-and-paperweights

[Jim Good]

Mike, it's good to be back. It's been crazy with work. I've just finished a major milestone so I feel like I can come up for some air now. I've been in Houston at Johnson Space Center for a Safety Review for some hardware I designed that is going to the Space Station next year. I felt like I was on trial but it was a successful review and the hardware was well received! Now I go build it!

Also, I built a house so now I have two!!! :eek: I can't afford either one! Hopefully, my old house will sell soon. So, my laser is in the new house but hasn't been hooked back up yet. No phone, internet, or cable TV, yet. So that has been bad! We'll be settled in, soon.

Life should slow down and I can get back to hanging out here. In the meantime I need to get these awards made so my customer can take them to Europe in 2 weeks! Thanks for the suggestions. I'll nail down the final design very soon. Thanks again!

Jim

[Martin Boekers]

Jim, see my last post "A New Record" You could do something like this on a smaller scale.
I cut out circles for the coins in plex then sanwhiched it between 2 sheets of glass. Much depends upon
your budget.

Also Conde and JP sell a hard board sheet stock .125" thick. I use it all the time for sublimating shields, it cuts
easily on the the laser.

[Mark Sipes]

here is a plaque idea I did for a local PD... I scanned the patch for a vector outline and then blacked filled to mill out the plaque with the laser... 2 passes with my 25w. Then used clear silicon to inset and attach the patch, just in case in 100 years they could remove the patch and sell it on Auction Hunters....also by inseting the dust does not settle on the edges of the patch. .... yes I know sticky fingers can sill touch the patch..

[Bruce Clumpner]

My idea was similar, but instead cutting to the outline of the patch, enlarge the area 10-15% and raster engrave, then rattlecan-paint the opening black. THEN glue down the backer and patch, this way there is a uniform black border around the material. Kinda a shadow-box effect.

-bc

[Jim Good]

Martin,

Those coins look great! I bet the recipient will love it. It's unlike other awards you see so it will be special to them. It's funny you mentioned the sublimated hardboard. Kevin Lumberg from Johnson Plastics talked to me on the phone today and we discussed using the hardboard in conjunction with a wooden plaque. Since I've got several sheets of hardboard and plaques, I can give it a try. I just have to go to the "old" house and get my blower and air-assist and my sublimation supplies and bring them to the new house. Once I'm set up I can give it a try.

I'm interested to see how the hardboard will look attached to the plaque. Kevin thinks it will look good so I'm going to give it a try! I'll laser the hole for the patch and paint the background black in the hole, as Bruce suggested. We'll see what happens!

Thanks for the suggestions!

Jim

[Martin Boekers]

Jim the hardboard is great! I use it for so many things. You can put a standoff in back to raise it off the plaque
even more. I use it for indoor signage as I can cut it to shape and size.

I think you'll be happy with it.

As for the coin display, they are presenting it this Friday. They aren't cheap, but unique to this market. I'll done them for
other bases when they can't find someone local to make them. I've recieved about 300 coins so far, one of these days I'll
make one for myself. :)

[Tim Eddings]

This may be to late but may help in the future. The patch and coin holder were made from 1/8" acrylic. The black was cut out to hold the patch and the coin and clear to hold them in.
Patch was afixed to acid free card stock, cut to the same shape as the top clear piece.
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[Jim Good]

Tim,

I like the patch behind the acrylic, as well as the coin. It has a nice finished look. I finished my plaque a few days ago. It was taken to Germany the other day to be presented to the European Space Agency, who has been involved with the Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG) from the beginning. I will have my hardware sent to the Space Station in about a year. I've got some UV-C LEDs that will be used as part of a decontamination system that has been designed and built right now. Cool stuff.

Anyway, here is my plaque. It has a patch that flew on the last Space Shuttle Flight. I sublomated the photo of the MSG using the white Dynasub aluminum. I placed it on a gold piece of lasermate (Not my first choice but all I had!). I went thru about 3 rounds with the laser to get the right depth for the patch. I color-filled with Laserbits gold paint. (That is glare on the left side of the picture!) The NASA guys were happy with it so I'm happy, too!

I appreciate all the ideas. I've now got options when I need to do something similar to this again!

Martin, I would love to get more detail on your coin displays. Those are awesome and maybe I can have some sitting on some desks at MSFC! They have come out with some nice coins to commemorate the end of the Space Shuttle flights. Those would make some nice atta-boys with your display.

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[Mike Null]

Jim

very nice job! Your gold color fill work is superb.

[Jim Good]

Thanks for the kind words! That was the first time I've done it on a Rosewood plaque. It probably took me a little longer than it should but I should do it quicker (and better) next time. Hopefully, ESA will like it. Jim

[Tim Eddings]

Jim
Your plaque looks really nice.
Makes me want to try the color fill on rosewood plaque now. Gave me an idea I will have to try.
Thank you for your kind words.

[Jim Good]

I was hopeful this thread would help more than just me! I hope it gives others some ideas moving forward. Make sure you let us see what you're trying to do! Jim

[Dee Gallo]

You really rose to the occasion, Jim! That is a nice job, they should be impressed and proud to receive it.

cheers, dee

[Jim Good]

Hey Dee!

So I "rose" to the occasion with my rosewood plaque!?! :D

You're funny but sweet as you can be!

Jim