How was this plaque made?

[Peter Meacham]

The attached plaque is acrylic - I think the gold is paint sprayed on the back side - I want to know how the text (also on the back side) was done - any ideas please. I have to make 12 of them.

Thanks, Pete

[Larry Bratton]

I don't know exactly how that was made, but I know what I would do to make some new ones, buy some Rowmark or IPI Gold/Black engraving stock. Looks like that was probably painted on the front though, the paint appears to be flaking off around the fasteners.

[Peter Meacham]

Thanks for the reply Larry - but I don't have the means to cut the engraving stock to shape - I would need to talk the customer into a rectangular shape -

Would you still use an acrylic shield shape and put the engraving stock on the back?

[Dan Hintz]

I did the exact opposite here:
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=123614
using glass. Painted the back black, etched, then covered with gold.

[Ross Moshinsky]

I don't know exactly how that was made, but I know what I would do to make some new ones, buy some Rowmark or IPI Gold/Black engraving stock. Looks like that was probably painted on the front though, the paint appears to be flaking off around the fasteners.

Agreed. Buy some gold plastic and engrave it on the front.

As for cutting it, I see you have a shopbot. Why not use that?

[Peter Meacham]

Ross

Can you suggest a gold plastic product, say that is .25" thick, that is laser engravable pls - I can cut the shape on the ShopBot.

Pete

[Mike Null]

If you want it engraved from the back spray with gold, engrave and fill with black. Buy 1/8" or 1/4" clear acrylic.

[Tim Bateson]

The attached plaque is acrylic - I think the gold is paint sprayed on the back side - I want to know how the text (also on the back side) was done - any ideas please.

Pete, What is the height and width of the one pictured?

[Larry Bratton]

Peter,
Is your laser bed not big enough to handle the size? I am having trouble understanding why you can't cut it if you can engrave it? Anyhow, go to http://www.rowmark.com/laser/Lasermark/lasermark.asp (just a suggestion, look around on their site, you can buy the material from Johnson Plastics etc.)

[Peter Meacham]

OK, I think I confused everyone nicely - I'll explain better.

The size of the shield is approximately 10" x 12" and is acrylic with gold paint on the back side and has black text on the back as well.

What I meant to say is that I don't have the means to cut thin aluminum to the shield shape (even though no one on the forum mentioned thin aluminum, thin aluminum was another idea that has been suggested by my primary customer - a sign shop).

I do have the means to cut the acrylic base and IPI/Rowmark plastic material to shape.

How would I adhere the engraved IPI/Rowmark to the back of the acrylic shield, (to present a back-side engraved appearance, if I were to go that route? I would not want any adhesive to show through the acrylic.

Mike's paint suggestion is valid as well - the end customer has a limited budget and we may end up going that route.

[Ross Moshinsky]

I wouldn't do paint. I'm not a big fan of painting in general. That plaque looks like hell and it's only been around for 14 years max. Engravers plastic would look fine after that period of time.

I'd find some 1/4" gold engraving plastic from Rowmark and engrave it on the front. Frankly, I don't get why it has to be engraved from the back. I bet if you discussed it with the customer, they wouldn't care. If the customer insisted on having the engraving on the back, I'd get get some reserve laser engravable gold material and "laminate" a piece of black plastic on the back.

[Larry Bratton]

How about http://www.rowmark.com/laser/Reverse...elasermark.asp
Reverse engravable, fill with black. It comes 1/8" thick, Gold color. Your original doesn't look to be too thick and the 1/8 would be as thick as the aluminum your speaking of. You can certainly cut the aluminum (if you went that way) on your Shopbot, just get the correct bit and get your correct speeds and feed.

[Richard Rumancik]

. . .Can you suggest a gold plastic product, say that is .25" thick, that is laser engravable . . .

That is pretty thick for most IPI/Rowmark products - I think you really will need to laminate your material to a backer to make it thicker. Perhaps you could router it out after assembly? I use quite a bit of Flexicolor and it is only about .020 thick. There are some products as thick as .125" but I don't know if you will find .250.

But keep in mind that if you buy for example Flexicolor with a black surface (white substrate) you will see the white edge when vector cut or routered. So you may have to paint the edge if that is a problem.

The reverse engraveable material is really clear acrylic with paint on the back (second surface). So you engrave through the paint (mirror image) and then color fill. But I did not have good success with this some time ago. The reason is that the laser created a rather rough surface when rastered. When the raster text was paint filled, it did not show very vibrant color from the front. I think this is because of the roughness of the text - it disperses the light randomly and the color just looks quite dull to me. Maybe others have better success with this technique. But since you are probably color filling with black that would not be an issue. You can probably paint the entire back face, and then use PSA to attach to a backer.

[Mike Null]

Richard

You do get a diffused look with most colors but black looks very good and sharp. I've done many museum type signs using this method with good success.

[Scott Shepherd]

I agree with Mike, not too long ago, I did the same style as Mike for a fitness room in a building. It was 16" x 24" with paragraphs of text. Just painted the back white, lasered the text, sprayed black on it, done. Looked really good.

Back painting them allows for easy cleaning and you don't have to worry about people pulling out a knife or sharp object and scratching the surface to change existing letters into something they shouldn't be. You'd be surprised how creative people can get and how they can make your normal sign say some pretty foul things by just scratching a few places.