suggestions for personalizing sound equipment

[Dave Garrett]

My customer has a large inventory of humongous speaker cabinets for doing live sound around the U.S. He wants his equipment identified with his company name and logo. The speakers get stacked, shoved and abused so the material should be very durable. No, I don't have a fiber so only co2 solutions. I was thinking that a flexible material might work better than anything acrylic bc of the likelihood of cracking when they are dropped, stacked, etc.. The outer shell of the speakers is plastic so I should be able to use an adhesive product of some type. Any thoughts? Btw, these speakers are not going to fit in my speedy 360. I wish they could! I appreciate any advice.

[Bert Kemp]

1\8th acrylic, screwed or rivet to the sides of the case. very strong shouldn't crack .

[Dave Garrett]

1\8th acrylic, screwed or rivet to the sides of the case. very strong shouldn't crack .

Just occurred to me that if i'm doing acrylic I could reverse engrave to protect the engraved side. Also, I think he is against screws and rivets into his equipment. They'd have to be counter-sunk and even then may still scratch up the other equipment in transportation.

[Kev Williams]

I take it these identifications are more of a personal/aesthetic thing than a theft-prevention thing? -or maybe both-

Are the speaker cabinets ludicrous shaped, or more cube shaped? or...? In other words, do you have a flat place to put a logo 'label'?

For something like this, where an add-on plate/placard is suitable, I would go with a reverse-laserable acrylic. The stuff usually has a non-glare finish, it won't break, and since you have to paint the engraving, your engraving colors are unlimited. There's a bit more work BECAUSE you need to paint, but the finished product is much more aesthetic and professional looking than any surface-engraved plate. You can laser cut the plates to any shape, rounded corners will eliminate snags typical of sharp-cornered rectangular plates... If the cabinets are smooth, then the good PVC yellow-backed tape sold by Delvies, Johnson's, Bron, etc, will hold the plates on till hell freezes over.

Some of my samples, this is a couple of replacement overlays that fit below the speedometer of some older cars ;) --note that these are 1/32" thick rather than 1/16", and tool engraved, but the end result is approx. the same...
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had to block out some parts, but still gives you an idea of the look you can get, and these are pretty 'basic', you can get real creative when reverse engraving. Lots of colors available from Rowmark and IPI, here's some screenshots from Marco's online catalog showing the colors available--
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-- edit -- You posted up before I got a chance to :D

[Doug Fisher]

I work with acrylic all day long and my first thought was to not use acrylic. You must be using some special kind of acrylic because the extruded as well as cast acrylic I use would crack and/or shatter with the first impact of a heavy speaker smashing into it.

Lexan/polycarbonate is less prone to shattering than acrylic but it doesn't like to be lasered like acrylic. I was wondering about Delrin because it seems less brittle and can be lasered but I don't have enough experience to advise so hopefully others will jump in here.

[Kev Williams]

Acrylics designed for engraving is different that other acrylics, not sure the how or why, but it is...

I just barely got done cutting some plex operator overlays out of a 2' x 2' piece of clear/black Rowmark, 1/8" thick-
what's left of the substrate is a few uncut 'bars' and a few square inches of leftovers

Here's me grabbing and scrunching up most of the 2' height, it's bending nicely, but nowhere did it break or crack-
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Here's the hammer I'm about to smack it with, 3 times, into this bare cement spot--
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Now, as hard as I hit it, these 3 whacks would've put a 16p nail most of the way thru two 2x4's,
those are some pretty good dents,
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The cement side, which is the front/clear side...
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--this stuff just doesn't crack! Obviously, it's very soft-ish material, much more pliable than typical extruded acrylic. Why, I don't know, but the 1/16" and 1/32" versions are exactly the same, just thinner!

[Bert Kemp]

Yea Kev tough stuff thats why I suggested it. I engraved so air Wings for a friends motorcycle about 2 years ago and they still look find.They are mounted on the lower front crash bars and all the dirt and sand from the road hits them, plus they get bumped and stuff when parking and things like that.

[Mike Null]

I would recommend decals. You can't make them with your laser but they'll hold up well, look good and aren't crazy expensive.

[Bill George]

The Stuff Kev recommended and put in a place that is out of the way when stacking or moving, attach with Locktite Gel super glue, its going no place.

[John Lifer]

There is acrylic and there is modified acrylic. The modified acrylics are VERY forgiving as far as breaking. Really no comparison to std extruded acrylic.
I'd use that all day long if you can place on flat surface. Will look better than a label, but a stick on label works for this too.

[Doug Fisher]

Well, make sure you are getting whatever Kev is using. I just went down into the basement and basically dropped (didn't really even swing) the hammer head on three pieces of acrylic

Virgin extruded 3/16ths
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The only two pieces I could easily retrieve after all the other pieces skitterred all over the basement and under stuff
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Virgin 1/8th P95 cast acrylic
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After one light hit
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Virgin 3/16th P95 cast acrylic
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After one light hit
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[Scott Marquez]

It sounds like a job for some laser cut stencils and a rattle can of Krylon, of course, you have a huge choice of colors.
LOL
Scott

[Clark Pace]

Acrylic! No way scratches too easily. I suggest abs. Yes you can engrave and fill. Even better carpet like used for car subwoofers with. An engraved plaque. Or you can do you something rhino lining used for truck beds. I Have been building speakers for years and have used many different materials

[Jeff Watkins]

I'm with the others for decals but maybe look into Heat Transfer Vinyl or Sublidecal. The later is a sublimation film that lets you put a full color logo on it then cut (with your laser perhaps) and apply it to almost anything. It's very durable and should last a long time. I think Conde and Johnson Plastic carries sublidecal.

[Kev Williams]

funny, half of you guys say don't make a plastic label, yet the OP sez: "...the outer shell of the speakers is plastic" ;)