Stand Offs for Mounting Acrylic to Wood

[Joel Matteson]

A quick question for those of you that have done a lot of awards. We have been asked to make 20 wood plaques with etched acrylic mounted to the top part of the plaque. They want their logo etched in the acrylic and the some other stuff etched into the wood on the bottom half of the plaque. I've seen the JDS kits for 'floating Plaques' but they are running close to $7.00 per set. Does anyone have any other ideas for mounting acrylic either directly or "Floating" that may be a bit more reasonable .... or another source for less expensive sets?

Thanks!
Joel

[Joe Pelonio]

That seems like a good price to me for nice metal standoffs, where I get them they do give quantity price breaks
but I haven't seen them less than $6+. Just mark them up and pass it on to the customer. You could also cut acrylic rod pieces cemented to the back of the acrylic but then you will need to add some kind of decorative cap to cover it.

signstandoffs dot com/sign-standoff.asp?ID=5854

[Mark Sipes]

I have used a decorative brass nut on the face of the acrylic with a threaded bolt from the back. 3-4 brass washers between the acrylic and plaque. x 4

[Mike Null]

I have yet to find any "cheap" standoffs.

[Ross Moshinsky]

Outwater has inexpensive standoffs if you're looking for them.

As for your idea, I think you should take a piece of acrylic and a plaque and see how everything looks before you go out and buy 20 pcs. I've tried engraving in wood and having the acrylic float above. I wasn't impressed with the presentation. I think an acrylic cut/engraved plaque mount or a half acrylic plate on the top might be the better way to go. You can also get away with 2 standoffs instead of 4 with a half plate.

[Mike Null]

Joel

Here are a couple of options in lieu of engraving directly into wood. One is foil, the other colorfill. The photo is adhered to acrylic using MagicTouch paper and color laser transfer.

jds plq.jpgCLT-fill.jpg

[Bob Davis]

I usually just cut some clear acrylic discs with appropriately sized holes for the screws, and then use a brass round-head screw in each corner. For a typical job I'd cut four 10mm discs with 5mm holes from 3mm clear acrylic, and then cut the main piece of acrylic with the matching 5mm hole in each corner. I use 18mm x 8 gauge brass screws and it ends up looking great. Costs 2/5 of not much, and if you get it wrong it is easy to replace it.

[Joel Matteson]

Thanks for the replies! I like the idea of cutting our own spacers, seems rather simple for the type of awards we are doing I think it would look fine ... and it's one less thing to pay shipping on!

Thanks again,
JM

[Martin Boekers]

Outwater has inexpensive standoffs if you're looking for them.

As for your idea, I think you should take a piece of acrylic and a plaque and see how everything looks before you go out and buy 20 pcs. I've tried engraving in wood and having the acrylic float above. I wasn't impressed with the presentation. I think an acrylic cut/engraved plaque mount or a half acrylic plate on the top might be the better way to go. You can also get away with 2 standoffs instead of 4 with a half plate.

I agree Outwater Plastics are the only ones I find reasonable priced, also they have and incredible amount of other unique items. It's well worth your time to get all their catalogs.