I?m not sure where this post belongs as it has electrical, interior, Tips and Techniques or tools. I think it fits best in Building tips and Techniques.
What started as a simple desire to have backlite switch labels (like every car has) in my project slowly morphed into a rather significant sub-project. I decided to mount my switches, grouped by function and location on 1/8? engraving plastic. I decided to use black under clear. This allows what is called 2nd Surface (meaning backside of the plastic) engraving with back lighting. The lettering is seen from the front, but actually engraved into the underside.
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By engraving on the back, cutting away the thin black layer of plastic, the back-lighting shows through the clear plastic with a smooth tactile surface on the front. When the lighting is off the engraving shows up as white. Using a smoke colored plastic instead of a clear will make the lettering disappear when the back-lighting is off.
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I first had my son, who has a laser engraver cut samples. Too much plastic residue from the laser muddied the edges of the engraving to get sharp graphics. The next plan was for my son to use his small X-Carve CNC router to engrave the switch plates. Since those machines are part of his business and in constant use, one thing led to another and I ended up getting an X-Carve for my own shop (since I never met a tool I didn?t want).
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What I didn?t appreciate until I started cutting, was how much development would be required to engrave 14 pt font details into the plastic. After way too many trials and cutters to talk about here I ended up with a 0.5mm spiral flute engraving bit. As you can imagine, I had a lot of breakage. Some 20 bits in all. One, I swear, I just thought about it and it broke.
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What started as a simple desire to have backlite switch labels (like every car has) in my project slowly morphed into a rather significant sub-project. I decided to mount my switches, grouped by function and location on 1/8? engraving plastic. I decided to use black under clear. This allows what is called 2nd Surface (meaning backside of the plastic) engraving with back lighting. The lettering is seen from the front, but actually engraved into the underside.
By engraving on the back, cutting away the thin black layer of plastic, the back-lighting shows through the clear plastic with a smooth tactile surface on the front. When the lighting is off the engraving shows up as white. Using a smoke colored plastic instead of a clear will make the lettering disappear when the back-lighting is off.
I first had my son, who has a laser engraver cut samples. Too much plastic residue from the laser muddied the edges of the engraving to get sharp graphics. The next plan was for my son to use his small X-Carve CNC router to engrave the switch plates. Since those machines are part of his business and in constant use, one thing led to another and I ended up getting an X-Carve for my own shop (since I never met a tool I didn?t want).
What I didn?t appreciate until I started cutting, was how much development would be required to engrave 14 pt font details into the plastic. After way too many trials and cutters to talk about here I ended up with a 0.5mm spiral flute engraving bit. As you can imagine, I had a lot of breakage. Some 20 bits in all. One, I swear, I just thought about it and it broke.