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Step 5Making The Acrylic Frame
Use the attached files or design your own hole patterns in order to trim down and drill the features you will need into the acrylic sign frame. The basic idea is to cut the acrylic sheet into ~10" x ~ 10" squares and drill a number of .36" holes in acrylic in the shape of a letter. Other holes are for connecting letters. In the next step we will show you how to insert the LED bulb and socket into these holes to create letter forms.
Design Rationale:
We decided to make each letter a separate acrylic section in order to allow us to assemble a flexible sign from modular pieces. This design has hole patterns that create letters and hole patterns that are used to connect the squares and secure them to the building. The resulting design allows your signage to bend around corners and fold easily for travel. We will explain how to connect these individual squares in the following steps.
Constructing the Acrylic Squares:
The attached files can be used as a starting point for you to create your own design that can be produced using a 50 W laser cutter or by hand.
1. To cut with a laser cutter you will need to adjust the Corel, Illustrator or EPS file to match the settings and bed size of your laser cutter. These files were made in Corel Draw for a V-460 60 Watt Universal Laser Cutter with a 18" x 24" bed.
2. Cutting thin acrylic by hand can be difficult. Normal drill bits will grab and lift the acrylic. Use a plastic drill bit and penetrate the material very slowly. If possible use a drill press and anchor your work very securely. If you're cutting by hand, I've found the best way to increase your chances of cutting and not shattering your sign is to sandwich the acrylic using clamps between two pieces of plywood and drill through the wood and acrylic.
After drilling the sign squares, we added a white fill to each letter using spray paint and a stencil.
more info on plastic bits:
http://www.hawkfish.org/snailman/acrdrill.htmhttp://www.hawkfish.org/snailman/acrdrill.htm
http://www.rplastics.com/plasticdrill.html
Design Rationale:
We decided to make each letter a separate acrylic section in order to allow us to assemble a flexible sign from modular pieces. This design has hole patterns that create letters and hole patterns that are used to connect the squares and secure them to the building. The resulting design allows your signage to bend around corners and fold easily for travel. We will explain how to connect these individual squares in the following steps.
Constructing the Acrylic Squares:
The attached files can be used as a starting point for you to create your own design that can be produced using a 50 W laser cutter or by hand.
1. To cut with a laser cutter you will need to adjust the Corel, Illustrator or EPS file to match the settings and bed size of your laser cutter. These files were made in Corel Draw for a V-460 60 Watt Universal Laser Cutter with a 18" x 24" bed.
2. Cutting thin acrylic by hand can be difficult. Normal drill bits will grab and lift the acrylic. Use a plastic drill bit and penetrate the material very slowly. If possible use a drill press and anchor your work very securely. If you're cutting by hand, I've found the best way to increase your chances of cutting and not shattering your sign is to sandwich the acrylic using clamps between two pieces of plywood and drill through the wood and acrylic.
After drilling the sign squares, we added a white fill to each letter using spray paint and a stencil.
more info on plastic bits:
http://www.hawkfish.org/snailman/acrdrill.htmhttp://www.hawkfish.org/snailman/acrdrill.htm
http://www.rplastics.com/plasticdrill.html
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