Creating a Custom Edge-Lit Sign: Tips and Tricks
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 16 พ.ค. 2024
- ►►►► If you want to know how to create an edge-lit sign then you first need to understand how to work with acrylic. Using Acrylic with your laser can sometimes be a challenge, engraving can be too shallow or too deep and destroy your work. But if you want to learn how to laser acrylic the right way to get the best from it, then you need to watch this video. Applying a few tips and tricks while designing and laying out your work on the laser, you will be able to produce amazing effects that allow you to make an edge-lit sign or night lights with readily available LED bases you can buy online for less than $10.
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1/8” (3mm) Acrylic Sheet (Clear): amzn.to/3LW4BBK
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►►►► Contents of this video
0:00 Lead-in
0:45 Introduction
3:05 Designing the sign
8:55 Layout on the laser bed
12:45 Preparing the acrylic
14:15 Laser engraving
15:25 Assembling the sign
17:15 Final thoughts
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#stevemakeseverything #laserengraver #laserengraving #laserengravingmachine #laserbusiness #lasercutting #laserprojects #fullspectrumlaser #muse3d - วิทยาศาสตร์และเทคโนโลยี
Your laser videos have been extremely helpful to me. Thanks so much !
You're very welcome!
Steve, I just found your channel! And let me say, I love your videos! Concise, very informative and great tips! I really like how your intros explains what the video will be about. Just got my laser (Makeblock, LaserBox Pro) and all this is new for me.
Thanks for taking the time to create all these awesome videos!!
Happy to help and welcome to the world of lasers
Steve you really have some of the best videos! Awesome content and helpful for a newbie
Glad you like them!
oh and thanks again for all the great videos
Hi, Thanks for the soap trick, I use different software and hardware but end result should be the same! TFS, GB :)
Most lasers in this class are comparable. There are minor software features in some vs other and vice versa, but the hardware is very similar in the 40-45W laser category
Thank you, Steve, for sharing incredible amount of information with us. A quick question: do you have any experience with cutting black acrylic on your FSL Muse 3D? Would it cut/etch? Thank you in advance.
I cut black acrylic all the time using the same settings I do for any other acrylic. What are you trying to engrave into it? Note that it's a bit of a challenge to engrave something like an image into acrylic.
@@SteveMakesEverything Thanks a lot, Steve! I'm just starting with my FSL Muse 3D 45 W. My question was about cutting. Haven't tried to engrave yet...
Hi, Steve - thanks again for your very helpful videos for those of use using FSL lasers (mine's a Muse Titan with 100w tube). I had a couple of problems cutting this project. First, I found that I had to get the acrylic up off of the honeycomb bed because where the perimeter was being cut through, the laser tended to reflect (?) off of the metal honeycomb and make a mark on the bottom of the acrylic - and when it was cutting, the acrylic "popped" and jumped a 1/16" or so, so the cut was not clean or even. What I did was put a 1/8" sheet of plywood on the honeycomb tray and set the acrylic on that. That got rid of all of the honeycomb reflections and eliminated the popping of the acrylic. Does that sound about right? Is that a good way to do this? The second issue I had was I still got a few spots of fogging on the perimeter cut, even though I did the dish soap routine on the cut face of the project. Should I cut back on the power or current of my 100w tube here? I was running 75 and then 100 speed, 100 power, 100 current. Another question - I was just using a line-art image - what power settings do you suggest for that? I tried several, but ended up at 100 speed, 10 power and 70 current. That seemed to go a little too deep. Should the power or the current be varied on line art? Thanks so much!
Excellent tip! Depending on how "production" the work is, I will sometimes do this with some cones that I 3D printed for myself. This is a bigger problem with 100W laser since you have power to spare and may not be able to tone it down enough to do clean cuts on 3mm acrylic. You can also use the dish soap trick to avoid fogging or just cut with the protective paper still on the back side.
I guess I should answer the rest of these question. Regarding power for line art, you’ll just need to play with it. Start with lower power and if it isn’t engraved enough you can always rung the engraving job again as long as you don’t move the piece
@@SteveMakesEverything I have a very happy 4 yr old granddaughter because of your work on this video - Her birthday was a Frozen-themed one, and I gave her a couple of bases with all the main characters from the movie. It was a big hit! Thanks again for being a great source of info for us newbies in the FSL laser world!
@@LDBecker This is awesome! 😀
Looking at a cnc3018 to do some basic edgelit designs but I heard the laser can't do see through acrylic so I'm glad I found this.
Everyone has said the laser bounces back through the acrylic.
Besides the soap is there anything else you needed to do?
First, CO2 lasers can definitely cut and engrave any color of acrylic. The entry level blue diode lasers can only work with darker colors so you wouldn’t be able to create a sign like this using those lasers.
Second I don’t think you would get reflections off the acrylic with a CO2 laser. The light that is produced by a CO2 lasers doesn’t behave the same way visible light does in acrylic. It gets absorbed by the material - if it didn’t you wouldn’t get any cutting ability.
The smokey glazing that can happen in acrylic is because the beam is super-heating a very small area. Applying the soap allows the heat to be more quickly dispersed, preventing this damage.
Great video, thank you. Question, Will these tricks work for the Xtool D1 10w as well? I am getting one and want to use acrylic. Dan C.
It should. It has nothing to do with the tool but rather how much light you allow to pass through the acrylic.
Great stuff Steve! Thanks for sharing your knowledge and experience. Liked and Subscribed! :)
Welcome to the channel
@@SteveMakesEverything Thanks! Been subscribed for the last several months. I own a Muse 3D as well and find your channel indispensable!
@@TheMadHermit Awesome! Happy to help. If you want particular things covered just shoot me an email
@@SteveMakesEverything Excellent! Thank you!
Hi! ImagR and Glowforge Pro newbie here. Getting married on Saturday and wanting to put engagement pics on 1/8 proof grade acrylic for a lighted table signs and have a couple of questions.
1) I like the results of the "see on material" views after using the software and reducing the gamma on settings but hat DPI, LPI and glowforge settings should I set for speed, power etc?
2) To mask or not to mask?
Thanks!
This will be different for every laser - even between similar units from Glowforge, so you will just have to experiment to get the best settings. A fair warning though, engraving on acrylic can be very finicky with regard to getting what look like shades of gray, so don't get discouraged. There will be some setting combination that makes it work.
As far as masking, the answer is probably no. If you do this there will be endless bits of masking left that you will either need to wash off with soap and water or a scraper of some sort. If you want to protect the surface while engraving just smear a bit of dish soap on the acrylic before you engrave.
@7:19, thanks for that, I couldn't figure the exclusion part out! I use Inkscape often, but I'm fairly new at laser acrylic work.
Glad it helped!
This video is awesome! I am looking for some advice for a machine I want to purchase. It is a VEVOR 3 Axis CNC 3018, GRBL Control, laser options for 500, 2500 or 5500 mW laser (also has a spindle motor with 10k RPM). I would like to create such signs, so as engraving in ABS plastic (LEGO) and 2-3mm plywood cut and engrave. Am I looking for the right machine, or will I need a stronger wattage for the laser, like 10W, 20W? Also can I use the laser for the ABS or the acrylic or better the spindle? Thank you very much in advance!
Lots of questions here. If you are looking for a combined CNC and laser there are better options than a 3018 but they will cost a lot more. For engraving acrylic a CO2 laser is by far a faster option. Note that a blue diode laser can’t cut or engrave clear acrylic.
@@SteveMakesEverything thank you!
@@fprstudio Happy to help
Subbed, liking your content Steve.
Awesome, welcome
Thank you Steve, were useful, just one question what speed, power and pass you sett up?
This is laser dependant. On a 90W laser a cut would typically be 100% power and a speed of 20mm/S but on a smaller or larger laser it would be different. Engraving settings will also change from one laser to the next so you may have to play with thing to figure out what is best for yours
Steve, great video! I'm just getting started and was wondering how you cut the outer shape of the plastic, did you use your laser to cut it? thanks again
Yes I did, but I used a CO2 laser for this. A diode laser won’t cut it.
I'm totally new to all of this, but I'm wondering if you have to design it all on a different software before importing to Re3 or is that just your preference? Could you design it all on Re3?
Hi Heather, it's a good question. For simpler designs you can use the software that came with your laser. Most vendors will provide something where you can design your project, though they aren't always the most capable. Some tools are fairly weak while tools like Lightburn are very powerful. RE3 sits somewhere in the middle to upper end on this scale.
Regardless though, none of these tools will give you the complete flexibility you would have with a drawing tool like Inkscape, Illustrator or Corel. Nor would you get the 3D modelling capability of a CAD tool like Fusion 360, etc. The good news is that there are capable, free options at all levels if you want to move beyond the simple layout tool that came with your laser.
Hope this helps, though maybe this would be a good subject to cover in a video if people are interested.
@@SteveMakesEverything that does help, thank you so much for answering my question! Keep the videos coming :)
@@heatherallred7714 Will do!
Nice work sir
Happy that you're finding this helpful
ATM i do mostly woodworking stuff. But i have so many ideas to add laser personalizations and words to my projects. I really need a planer also. Landed on disabilty due to diabetic issues so im on aseuper fixed income. Ugh. Like this video riht here for instance i bought my grandson something similar to this for this last christmas when i couldve just made it. I guess i need to start selling some stuff to get the money. Im super new to your channel but i have binged about 5 hours of content already. Love it. Sorry i cant become a member, maybe kne day. Thanks for the videos and make my brain turn.
These are easy to make, but keep in mind they really require a CO2 laser since diode lasers can’t cut clear acrylic
Steve, great video. Was this sign cut with a CO2 laser or Blue light laser? I assume a blue light laser would pass right through the acrylic unless it is backed or back painted etc??
CO2. Blue diode lasers can't cut or engrave on clear acrylic
@@SteveMakesEverything Just FYI, with an extra step or 2, you can etch acrylic with a blue diode. th-cam.com/video/c_9l_skYe7M/w-d-xo.html
Thanks Steve
Hope it helps!
Thanks for file 👍👍👌
No problem
Thanks!
😁
Great video. One tip though. Position your head higher in the shot. Rule of thirds :)
Ha fair enough. This was a video done in the earlier days of my TH-cam experience so lots of things were wrong. I'm hoping I've learned a few things since then and that newer videos are much better. 🤔
Verry good 👍👍👍thanks from Holland
Thank you too!
Did I miss the laser you used? I’m interesting in buying something to cut Acrylic. Thanks.
For most projects on the channel I use my FSL Muse 3D. If your primary use case is cutting acrylic sheets them you may want something larger in both power and workspace size. FSL has the Titan, though there are a host of others in the 60-90W range
Your videos are always great , so I tried and it seemed to come out I used a gray primer,, after cleaning it seemed to look right just not frosted I can see through it , but for some reason its looks like its gray , but yet when holding up to the light I can see through it and it looks frosted just not when it laying down on something , hope im make sense ,
Not sure what paint you used, but try Praang Tempera Black paint - this is what I use. It washes off after engraving. Here's an affiliate link if you want to help the channel: amzn.to/3RM6m5J
Would this technique work for a desktop 3018 pro with a 5.5w diode laser?
It should. It doesn’t really have anything to do with the laser
What would explain vector infill taking so long to complete. I'm trying this and using a vector with the parameters you specified. Its not a complete svg by any means but RE3 is telling me its like 7 hours to complete? Is that normal processing time? versus rasterizing it takes like 15 minutes....
I'll answer my own question for the benefit of others. I did not have my "spacing" set properly on the vector infill. "Spacing between infill lines(in)" isn't exactly intuitive but you need this set to something like ".01". Mine was set to 0 and it was just taking foreverrrrr....
🙂Well I was going to provide the same answer. I got bitten by this as well. Seemed to be an incorrect default value for a new feature added to RE3
@@weboflies999 OMG! You just saved me me the biggest headache of trying to figure that out. I would make a vector infill and it went from 4 minutes to 3 hours. Been stumped and I’m gonna look at my settings when I get home today! Thank you for giving this information
Thanks you
No problem
Hi there! Do you think this can be accomplished with a 20w diode laser?
No because diode lasers can’t cut clear acrylic and require a lot of work to do decent engraving on this material.
I read in another comment that the soap is placed on top closest to the laser. Does that mean the engraving is taking place on top with the soap? I am used to the laser having to pass through to the bottom and having to have a black backing for the laser to stop and create heat. Could you give me a little more specific insight on how this is done and whether it matters to have a specific bottom layer?
Yes the soap layer is on the engraved surface closer to the laser. What I normally do is leave the protective film on the back of the material. Note that I’m talking about using a CO2 laser. I suspect you are darkening the back because you are using a diode laser. If this is correct then you won’t need to apply soap at all.
@@SteveMakesEverything correct I am using a diode laser. Am I still able to use the soap method with a diode laser and not have to use a primer backing?
@@zachhouchin9523 You can't use this soap method unfortunately. You need the primer to make the engraving happen at all on clear acrylic
I ordered some LED Bases some how during the back & forth looking a different prices I ordered the bases with out the acrylic. So I guess I will be cutting out my own. 😂
😁 There are worse problems to have
If the soap coating on the top by the laser head, or underneath where the engraving is happening?
On top. It helps absorb the flashed material coming off the cut to prevent it welding itself to the surface surrounding the engraving
👌😉super
Glad you liked it
May I know where and under what name buy the light base . 🙏
Look down in the video description and you can find an affiliate link for this. The one I originally referred to is currently unavailable, so I updated the link to show many of them that you can choose from. I have used many of these from different suppliers and they are all fundamentally the same, so price my be the deciding factor here.
❤
Thanks!
Mr Steve pls tell me name of thats machines
Which machine? If you are asking about the laser it is a Muse 3D from Full Spectrum Laser
Awesome stuff but I was hoping to you was goi g to explain how to make the acrylic shape
You mean the acrylic template? It’s nothing too difficult. Just measure the width of the slot in the base and use that for the width of you clear acrylic.
What's name of app u use for dising
For vector drawing I typically use Inkscape. It’s free and very capable
I'm guessing my laser just isn't strong enough to do this kind of thing. I'm really sad that I can't get it to work properly.
What laser do you have? almost any CO2 laser can handle this. If you have a blue diode laser you are out of luck though because you can’t engrave clear acrylic
@@SteveMakesEverything Yeah, I have a blue diode. I bought the Snapmaker and they market it as able to cut and engrave acrylic but I have yet to be able to do so. They recently announced a 10W laser, but that doesn't come out till March. I thought they maybe the Transparent colored acrylic would work, but I was mistaken. They have a preset with the most recent update, but it's listed as black acrylic.
@@Zeargi These will cut non-clear acrylic. No matter how much power you have clear acrylic will be out of reach because is just doesn't absorb blue light in the 405nm range. They are excellent for engraving almost everything else though.
For creating edge lit signs you typically need a CO2 laser.
@@SteveMakesEverything Thanks for the info. I guess, I'll have to figure a way to make it happen with what I have. I've seen videos on TH-cam and like said, on there official sight they do have it listed. Perhaps there's a step I'm missing or can't find. Working with acrylic was the thing I was the most excited about, but maybe I might have to use the CNC function to cut and engrave with the laser. It just would be so much easier if I didn't have to change out the tool heads
@@Zeargi To be clear you can work with any acrylic that isn't clear with a diode laser, but if you have CNC routing abilities you can certainly use that. The same technique described in this video will also work with CNC
Can not download😒😒😒
Hmm. Git Hub is doing something strange with SVGs, but once you see the image in your browser you should be able to right-click on it and select "Save As...". You can always got to the Designs root and download a zip with the files for all videos, including that one