Etching small lettering on plex

[imgregrice]

I am currently workin on a quite large desk modification that involves many mods. shameless plug http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/forum/showthread.php?p=148917#post148917


now the real point of this post..
Part of this desk mod involves a monitor mod what has a plexi border ( around 4 monitors stacked in groups of 2 and a custom 12x12 ish plexi box to hold a bunch of external hard drives...
what I want to do is etch a ton of small text ( verbiage from The Iliad) on the plexi... My first thought was to use a dremel but can you imagine how long it would take to hand etch a 12x 12 box of plexi plus a 4 inch boarder around 4 monitors ( 19 inch) What I would love to do is have a stencle and just run sandpaper over that for the etching. however it would be impossible to cut out the small letters. I have been googleing chemical etching kits but have found nothing .
what im thinking is I would print the patterns use carbon paper or something along those lines to get the pattern on the plex then use some sort of chem bath to do the etch... thoughts ideas suggestions? ( if you look at the desk mod on one of the last pages you will see a pic from the movie 13 ghosts) I am thinking along those lines but small text like 15pt font or so ... etched into the entire surface area and have it backlit by leds

[calumc]

Laser cutter, the only way

[SgtM]

It'll take some patience cutting everything out, but you could try and use some of this stuff:

http://www.rustoleum.com/CBGProduct.asp?pid=106

[OvRiDe]

It'll take some patience cutting everything out, but you could try and use some of this stuff:

http://www.rustoleum.com/CBGProduct.asp?pid=106

I have been curious about that stuff as well. For more precision, you could maybe use this in conjunction with mask material that can be cut by a local sign shop. If the Frosted spray doesn't work out, a mask and a small sandblasting kit may do the trick as well.

Something like this.. http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=93221 should work if you have a compressor.

[Hadronshire]

I am new here, but I have some experience etching and such.

There are two good options that you have not talked about yet.

1. Laser Toner Resist
This method is often used for making printed circuit boards at home. You print out the mask of what you don't want etched (in reverse) and then heat transfer it with an Iron. This will put down a layer onto the plexi of black toner. This is a little difficult to do the first time or two, but you can do it well with a little practice.

Then you etch it with any acid product desgined for glass etching. Usually does not take as long as it does on glass.

2. Sandblast
Michael's the craft store has some home sand blasting kits. They run from $30 to $150 but you put a contact paper mask down (or use masking tape/painters tape) and then cut out what you want remaining and use the sandblaster. This works really well if you can cut the mask by hand. Might take some time but produces a top notch result. One note, when you think its sandblasted enough go over it another time or two, the home kits are nowhere near as strong as the professional set ups.

[Brockgrimes]

Hit up a vinyl graffic shop have them cut out your mask, get a low tack mask so it's easy to remove, if you tell them it's for masking to paint then you'll get the right stuff.
Once masked use either the frosted paint, thin coats.
Use the sand blaster.
Or my choice use UV reactive paint, clear when off but blazing when hit with UV like in the 13 ghost.