Clear Reverse Engraving in Acrylic

[Ernie Martinez]

I'm going to reverse engrave some cast acylic, and then color fill the letters, but I'm concerned that the frost will obscure the color. I've heard of a way to de-focus the beam in order to engrave clear. Can anyone shed some more light n this process.

Thanks.

[Steve Clarkson]

Why not use extruded?

[Ernie Martinez]

Do they make flat extruded acrylic???

[Ernie Martinez]

I just did a Google search and apparently there is extruded sheet. Well that answers my question then.

Thanks.

[Dan Hintz]

I'm going to reverse engrave some cast acylic, and then color fill the letters, but I'm concerned that the frost will obscure the color.

Sounds like you have a good path to take, but I think you'd be surprised by how little frosting shows once paint has been introduced. For example, want to get rid of frosting? Spray some clear on it... disappears right before your eyes.

[Mike Null]

My experience is a little different than Dan's. Color filling cast acrylic from the back has always resulted in a diffused color. I have not tried clear coating first though.

Some like to engrave cast acrylic out of focus to remedy this issue but I prefer to use extruded acrylic instead.

[Mark Ross]

Flame polishing? Well I guess that depends on how big the letters are. Never mind.

[Michael Hunter]

Depends a bit on the paint.

Water-based emulsion paint (the sort you paint walls with) definitely leaves it still frosty, though this can work well with some pastel shades.

Solvent-based paints - particularly ones with very fine pigments, such as modeller's and spray paints - work themselves into the frosting more, making the colour much stronger.