Laser cut and printed Acrylic

[gunner007]

Anyone know where I can get a piece of acrylic cut and printed with an image. I just want to make an inexpensive topper for a came. Add my own Led and base.
I don't feel like spending $400 on a 3d printed lightbox as the cheapest topper I've seen.
And well I kind of like the tinkering aspect.

 

[Steve Lennox]

Do you want it etched or colour printed ?

 

[gunner007]

Do you want it etched or colour printed ?

Color printed

 

[Steve Lennox]

cant help yet. printing on acrylic is expensive. working on sublimation and waterslide, but havent gotten going on that project.

$400 cad for a laser cut and printed topper is not as crazy as it seems

 

[MrMikeman]

You could just print the artwork on a decal and stick it to a laser cut acrylic like Tilt Toppers does. You could also reverse print on clear decal, then coat with white primer (from the back). It would give you a backlit plastic like playfield plastics. Not great up close but most likely good enough for a topper.

 

[gunner007]

You could just print the artwork on a decal and stick it to a laser cut acrylic like Tilt Toppers does. You could also reverse print on clear decal, then coat with white primer (from the back). It would give you a backlit plastic like playfield plastics. Not great up close but most likely good enough for a topper.

where can you get the acrylic laser cut around an image??

 

[Steve Lennox]

You could just print the artwork on a decal and stick it to a laser cut acrylic like Tilt Toppers does.

where can you get the acrylic laser cut around an image??

I can.

 

[MrMikeman]

where can you get the acrylic laser cut around an image??

Was thinking more like having the acrylic cut first, then cut out the decal to fit.

 

[gunner007]

Not sure how that would work if I already have the art work done. Just ready to print. The print can't just be cut to fit if I want it outlined.
I guess you'd have to see it.

 

[Steve Lennox]

I would have no problem cutting the outline from that artwork

 

[Geteos]

MrMikeMan's idea is what I was thinking as well. I used to use waterslide decals on some of my mods but switched to clear stickers recently since they were easier to apply and looked a bit less grainy than waterslide did.

Doing some quick research, UV printing appears to be the standard for printing on acrylic, but even the smallest machines are $10k+ which makes them a pretty big investment for small mod makers like me.

I also have a 12x20" CO2 laser that can cut/engrave acrylic. The program a lot of people use (Lightburn) makes it very easy to trace cut paths from images. I haven't tried something as large as a topper since I don't have a printer capable of printing a wide enough image in one print, but it's something I've thought about of as well.