Nitelite

[Dee Gallo]

Just as a point of interest to anyone wanting to use the larger (colored) lights from Walmart:

1) The acrylic is extruded and frosted. It does not raster well, but I found it vectors lines alright at 50sp/70power on my 35w. If you have a design that's not too detailed, rastering is okay but blurry.

2) I tried to remove the screws so I could either lase the piece more easily OR replace it with nice cast acrylic, BUT. They are tiny little cheapo screws that stripped almost immediately. I got one out, but the other two were not moving.

3) I flipped the light over and burned it from the back, bottom up so the prongs did not interfere at all with the head movement, leaving about 1/4" at the bottom (of a 3" square) blank to be sure.

All in all, still worth the $5 price, but I think I prefer the $3 one which has easy access to the acrylic. I just have to give up the light-sensing feature.

Attached is a photo of the way I set the job up. Since the piece is now off the table, I put some magnets underneath to support the acrylic, making sure it's level. I used some large magnets to hold the base in place and make it easier to replace it exactly. I cut this same light about 4 times doing tests.

cheers, dee

[Karen Thompson]

Victor I am shocked... I thought Walmart had penetrated the last bastion of Baltic states. Seriously many here in the USA consider this retail giant to be the primary villain in the movie "WALL-E" . In the movie the megacorporation is know as "Buy n Large". Here we poke fun at it and call them "Wally World".

Haha we don't have Walmart here either!!!!! Actually when I think about it; after everything that has happened here in the last week or so, I don't think there's gonna be much of anything .

Dee as usual fabulous work .

[Tony Lenkic]

Dee, if it does not raster well those of us with rotary engravers could engrave and add color to vector lines. I need to visit my local Walmart soon.

[Dee Gallo]

Dee, if it does not raster well those of us with rotary engravers could engrave and add color to vector lines. I need to visit my local Walmart soon.

Tony,

I have not tried it, but I am guessing that would pose two problems. The frosted surface would hold too much paint and be hard to clean off, plus filling the engraving would block the light from showing the design.. although it might just make a dark line instead of a light line. hmmmm....

More R&D coming up!

cheers, dee

[Tony Lenkic]

Dee, is it frosted on both sides? If only one side paint filling would fine. I have seen a similar thing done few years back by local engraver on edge lit clear plexi with multiple color fill (Harley motorcycle). The finished piece looked stunning.

[James Terry]

I just picked up a Lemon one of the older larger colored ones for .50. I am going to go back and get the rest of them. I dunno if the price is a markdown or just an error but it reads the correct line item and at .50. Not bad for a light with usable engraving substrate included.

[Bill Cunningham]

Looked in my local Walmart last night. Nothing...
Maybe looking in the wrong departments, or their not stocked in Canada.

[Dee Gallo]

Bill, come on down! There are Walmarts in both Massena and Ogdensburg right near the bridges. And Canadian money is worth more now, so it would be a bargain for you.

dee

[Mike Lassiter]

I have taken apart and reassembled over 2 dozen of the large panel Wal Mart night lights with the photo cell to laser engrave then with only 1 so far that was any trouble to remove the screws and spread the top apart enough to get the panel out and back in. I have a miniature screwdriver set and use the largest Phillips in the set. The one light that was a problem was so because the screw was stripped in the plastic from being over tightened - it wouldn't unscrew due to stripped thread. I have had zero problems with stripped screws as far as the cross the screwdriver engages becoming stripped. Possibly this is cause by too big a screwdriver or one worn at the tip.

Attached is a picture of one rater engraved (back side) that is lite for you to see how the frosted panels look.

[Dee Gallo]

Nice job, Mike. I only tried one light, maybe that was "my one" that was going to give me trouble. I also used a mini philips but it was impossible.

Can you share your settings for rastering? I'd like to compare to mine, which obviously didn't work as well as I'd hoped.

Thanks, dee

[Bill Cunningham]

Bill, come on down! There are Walmarts in both Massena and Ogdensburg right near the bridges. And Canadian money is worth more now, so it would be a bargain for you.

dee

I think I found them... They weren't there when I last looked..honest...
My middle daughter had one in her hallway, but it was quite a bit smaller. She got that one from the dollar store so their may be a source there as well.. I was going to get a few from walmart, but I don't know when I would get the time to experiment.. I'm just working my way through 550 heavy glass awards, that a local glass company is providing for a 'winterfest' and wants them etched with the winterfest logo, as well as a bunch of other stuff.. I have to start turning Christmas jobs down next week for those that waited till the last minute..

[Mike Lassiter]

Here is a special request photo night light that we did last night. I think it turned out pretty good.

[Dee Gallo]

Beautiful job, Mike! I am still trying to get those darn screws out!

dee

[James Terry]

Mike, that is nice looking. Can you share your procedure steps to etching that photo to the acrylic?

[Robert Walters]

You musta hit all the WalMarts in my area and cleaned them out!

I can't find the large ones, anyone have the SKU and/or UPC codes for it by chance?

Is it still the "GE" branded, like the smaller one?

Maybe a pic of the packaging?