PDA

View Full Version : Searching for laserable purple anodized aluminum



John Blazy
06-07-2016, 10:45 AM
Hi all,

I swear i saw some purple metallic acrylic the other day in my searches, and thought it was Rowmark that made it, but its a brushed foil face black acrylic that looks like colored anodized aluminum. Cant find it in the Rowmark product line. Anyone have a good source for 1/8" or thinner laserable sheet that looks like anodized aluminum in purple or blue?

I have CO2 laser, not fiber, so cant use real anodized aluminum.

AL Ursich
06-07-2016, 12:24 PM
I would check with ChewBarka....

https://chewbarka.com/

Kev Williams
06-07-2016, 5:42 PM
Umm.. "real" anodized aluminum is VERY laserable with a C02, unless you're trying to cut the stuff...?

And you can have a sheet metal shop make up what you want, purple anodizing is no problem...
338771

John Blazy
06-07-2016, 6:53 PM
Yes, I need to cut it. Chewbarka didnt have anything even close. I think I might go with magenta or purple acrylic mirror. Right now i am even considering spraying purple kandy automotive on the back of clear acrylic. I have had great success spraying pearls and dichroic borosilicates on acrylic by mixing with 2part acrylic cement and thinning with methylene chloride. Solvent welds to the acrylic, then cut with laser. Just have to spray in reverse - kandy, metallic, black. But I would rather just buy a magenta metallic look like brushed aluminum. Need to cut frames, not engrave.

Kev Williams
06-07-2016, 7:46 PM
IPI has a "purple haze", but it's just basic matte, not metallic. And they have a purple "lazrmirr". Another close but no cigar, they have "reflector" acrylic, I have some blue, it would work nice for you, but it doesn't come in purple...

Have you considered sign vinyl? Yes it's PVC but cutting thru 3 or 4 mils worth that's stuck to some cheap 1/16" acrylic isn't going to produce enough bad smoke to hurt anything, as long as your blower is working. If you cover it with transfer tape it cuts pretty good by laser-

Nice thing about vinyl is you can get virtually anything you want. I was amazed years ago to find color-shift metallic in vinyl. I "painted" a friend's racecar with sign vinyl, anything not black, I did, it actually turned out pretty nice! I used 2 different color-shift versions...

Down the sides-- notice the quarter panels are green and the door area is purple-- it's all the same piece of vinyl!
338780

here the door is leaning green-
338781

and on the nose I put gold/burgundy shift...
338782
338783

Anyway, it's a thought!

John Blazy
06-08-2016, 7:13 PM
Thanks a ton Kev for the tips. I forgot about Fellers. They have all kinds of colorful vinyl. Seems that those color shifting vinyls arent available anymore - been searching for years for them, but then found a supplier of imported color-changing borosilicate pigments. 3 bucks per sq ft @ 2 mils vs 30 bucks psf for Chromalusion - which uses Flex Chromaflair pigments, same as the pigment in your vinyl on the racecar pics. I now mix those pigments into reactive acrylic cement thinned with lacquer thinner as I described in my previous post.

So after some tests today, I just found my ultimate purple acrylic. I found some insanely reflective fabric at JoAnnes Fabrics and laminated it to acrylic. Its Turquoise blue, but then ordered online the Fuscia color that I need. Its a metallic fabric, likely aluminized PET fibers woven in. Cuts like a dream on the laser. Its in the border in this picture below in the Turquoise blue, but when I get the Fuscia, I will be a happy camper - way better than purple anodized aluminim. The inset pic shows the reflective, metallic look that Im looking for.
338849