PDA

View Full Version : What would you do?



Jackie McGowan
12-04-2008, 11:20 PM
Hi,
I have an order for a plaque. It's gonna be an alder plaque 14x20 and there will be two acrylic shapes (a ribbon banner and a rectangle) that will need to be put onto the wood.

Would you just mount on top? If yes what kind of adhesive?
or
Would you do an inlay? and what adhesive for this? (I'm kind of nervous to do an inlay, never done one before, but I think it may look nicer?)

One more question: The acrylic will be green and they want the engraving on it to be metallic gold. would you just use gold rub n buff or is there something better? Maybe mask, engrave and spray with something?

Any tips from the experienced folks would be appreciated :)

Rodne Gold
12-05-2008, 12:45 AM
Use contact adhesive to bond the acrylic to the wood and the gold rub 'n buff to fill (turps takes off any excess)

Frank Corker
12-05-2008, 6:10 AM
I'm with Rodney regarding the contact adhesive, in case you haven't used it before (I'm sure you have but I'll tell you anyway) you put a very thin layer on the back of the engraved piece. You put a thin layer on the plaque. You let both of them go touch dry for about 15 minutes, carefully line them up and press together. It's pretty much one of those one time only alignments because contact adhesive is very strong.

Rub'n'buff gold is good but it's a bugger for getting on just about everything in the process. On acrylic it also tends to hog the sides. There is an alternative, gold acrylic paint, these can be purchased at a craft store or artist supply shop. It's extremely shiny and reflective and I think equally as good for a finish. I have used it on dark green acrylic and it works a treat. With this stuff you let it start to dry but not dry completely, the paint will not adhere as much to the shiny surface as the engraved and it can be rubbed off the areas you don't want covered.

Mike Null
12-05-2008, 7:10 AM
I would be inclined to use epoxy--the 5 minute variety.

I would reverse engrave (if the customer agrees) and color fill using a gold craft paint from a hobby store covered with a white top coating.

Doug Griffith
12-05-2008, 10:32 AM
If you don't go the inlay route, aligning the acrylic to the wood can be made easier by cutting a quick fixture from cardboard the same size as the outer perimeter of the wood with the shapes of the acrylic positioned correctly and cut out of it. Boy that was a run on sentence. Or choke in the lines a small amount and run a very light cut pass on the wood itself. This will give you guides for placement and for glue.

Cheers,
Doug

Jackie McGowan
12-05-2008, 3:35 PM
Thanks everyone for your help. I think I am forgoing the inlay this time. (I'll need to gather creek info and practice for later jobs). Making a quick cut pass on the wood makes sense for lining up the acrylic and for putting the glue on the wood. If I can post a photo here later I will :)

James A. Wolfe
12-05-2008, 11:15 PM
Jackie,
A sure way to get the proper alignment is to cut the acrylic to the same size as your plaque and place your cutouts exactly where you want them to be on the wood. After you cut, raster and fill the cutouts, tape the leftover acrylic to the plaque and drop the cutouts back into their respective slots. A little wasteful of acrylic but will guarantee perfect (and repeatable) alignment.
Jim

Bob Davis
12-07-2008, 8:58 AM
We've done a few similar items where the acrylic is mounted above the plaque surface. Place circular acrylic spacers between the two so that there is a consistent gap of 3mm and use brass screws; looks great and dead easy.