Lighted acrylic

[radavis]

I was on vcarve form and I found a thread that Ed might be interested in, it have to do with vcaring and leds,
http://vectric.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1217&highlight=acrylic

[br928]

Here is an example of one I did last year.

http://www.talkshopbot.com/forum/messages/17997/24074.html?1189925841

[radavis]

Hey Stan I saw that a while back and thougth it looks great, hope some day I can get that good.

[paul_z]

This was done with a random selection of 3mm LEDs


4648

Paul Z

[radavis]

I like that, that what I been trying to do, could you give me some pointers.
Robert

[paul_z]

Robert,

The design is clip art V Carved into acrylic with 3mm holes cut into the side of the piece. I used superglue to hold the LEDs in place. An edge trim (wood?) will hide the wires. Try a piece of scrap first.

I got the LEDs from http://www.hebeiltd.com.cn/?p=led.diode. There's a $99 minimum order but seeveral hundreds of LEDs, enough to make several dozen images.

Paul Z

[radavis]

Thank Paul, I will try that.
Robert

[ckurak]

Paul,

Nice seahorse.

I am trying to understand how you did that. So, I have two questions:

1) How tall is that?

2) How many LEDs did you use?

Thanks, Charles

[paul_z]

Charles,

It's about 5 inches tall and I used 6 LEDs. I made LED holes every 0.25 inches and then chose the LED placement from those holes. The acrylic acts like a light pipe and the V cut helps the light "escape". One side is somewhat brighter than the other due to index of refraction issues.

Paul Z

[khaos]

this I like. Paul, nice job with the color selections and placement. I had wondered why there were so many monochromatic acrylics. Refreshing to see some variance.

Joe

[paul_z]

I haven't had the time, but I've been thinking about a multi layer version. Perhaps a red or yellow rose on the top layer with a second green layer for the stem and leaves.

Paul Z

[ckurak]

Paul,

The multi-layer idea sounds plausible. In addition to different colors, you could have items that are "closer" to the viewer on the top layer, items that are "further away" or "behind" on lower layers. Registration would be an issue, but should not be hard to solve.

If you want to put objects in front of other objects, you might find that standard clip-art may not work. Nothing there overlaps anything, of course. You may need to manually (CAD, of course) separate the layers (you will be doing this anyway), then modify, or move, some of the objects to get the desired effect.

Thin layers, with a wide angle V-bit, may work better than thicker layers? I am also not sure about any refraction issues for the viewer. If viewed straight-on, perpendicular, it may look good. Viewed at an angle, well, I don't know.

Good luck with this idea. My gut feeling is that either it will be quite good, or, not make it at all. I am leaning toward quite good.

Charles