Frosting plexiglas
Printed From: the12volt.com
Forum Name: Fiberglass, Fabrication, and Interiors
Forum Discription: Fiberglass Kick Panels, Subwoofer Enclosures, Plexiglas, Fabrics, Materials, Finishes, etc.
URL: https://www.the12volt.com/installbay/forum_posts.asp?tid=83279
Printed Date: May 18, 2024 at 5:28 AM
Topic: Frosting plexiglas
Posted By: punkbastard
Subject: Frosting plexiglas
Date Posted: September 24, 2006 at 12:44 AM
Hey guys, quick question. I am building a display sign for my shop that will be made out of plexiglass and vinyl wrapped mdf. I have a 42" by 13" pieve of 1/4" plexi, on top of that I have a 41 5/16" by 12 5/16" piece of vinyl wrapped mdf with the letters for the logo cut out of it, set in to these cutouts is letters cut out of plexi. The final product is basicly that the letters are flush with the vinyl and there is a 1/4 " plexi border along the outside of the sign. My plan is to shine light through the back sheet of plexi and into the plexi letters that are sunk into the vinyl panel. Now I want the light to disperse to give me the frosted effect on the letters and the 1/4" border. Basicly the letters and border will glow a nice smooth blue up against the black vinyl. What I need to know is do I frost the back or front of the letters? My thought would be the front because that would enforce the the fluch mounted look whereas if i frosted the back of the3 letters it would appear as though you are just looking thr4ough the vinyl panel to a plexiglas window and that there are not actually plexi letters flushed into the panel. Also, what is the best and most reasonable way to frost? I have heard sanding and some kind of spray you can get from walmart? I cant get a sandblaster and dont have time to order frost sheets. Thanks sincerely for your help and if you need a picture of the project thus far, I can post one.
Replies:
Posted By: CTOH
Date Posted: September 24, 2006 at 9:11 AM
If you have a sandblaster and can have a place to make a mess I would do that, to me it gives a more consistent look. Post up a pic because as far as what side to frost it depends on what it looks like and exactly how they are being placed...v
Posted By: punkbastard
Date Posted: September 24, 2006 at 10:18 AM
Thats what it looks like now before frosting. On the surface, the letters are flush with the vinyl. My girlfriend used to work at michaels and told me there is this stuff called frosted glass by krylon that will do what i want.
Posted By: killer sonata
Date Posted: September 24, 2006 at 10:44 AM
It sounds like the piece you are "frosting" you wont have to worry about manuevering around areas you dont want frosted. is that right? If so, just use a palm sander and some coarse grit. Be sure not to concentrate in one area for too long or it will start to melt.
Posted By: punkbastard
Date Posted: September 24, 2006 at 12:35 PM
half true. I do not have to worry about any other areas when I am doing the letters so yes on that but on the 1/4 " strip, I want to only frost that 1/4 " and nothing else. On the letters, do I want to frost the front (surface) of the letters or the back (atached to other piece of plexi)?
Posted By: turbomike455
Date Posted: September 25, 2006 at 1:12 PM
personally i would frost the back behind the letters. this way youll still have a smooth surface on top. also, id stick with sanding... dont use a walmart spray to do the frosting.
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Mike
'97 Acura 3.0CL
7" Touchscreen/CarPC
BBY 455 W. Nyack NY
Posted By: punkbastard
Date Posted: September 25, 2006 at 2:47 PM
well i got to experience both the good and bad side of spray frosting. I went to michaels and got a can of krylon frosted glass spray and it worked like a charm 
Pretty nice right? Well, when I was attaching the letters to the clear piece of plexi a drop of the weld-on 3 got on the I in diamond and smudged the frosting, so naturally I had to fix it. Michaels was closed by this time so i went to walmart. Got frosted spray, still by krylon but in a different looking container. It had some weird kind of reaction with the other stuff and gave a old weatheRED / cracked look. So, I had to sand it all off and go buy another can from michaels to fix it. Sanding, in my opinion doesn't give as good results. I guess I could've have gone as high as 1000 grit wet sanded but even at 600 I still had small scratches. With the frosting spray, there is none of that. I found that spraying the front side worked best because when I sparyaed the back of a test piece, it made the piece look embossed which was not what I was going for.
Posted By: killer sonata
Date Posted: September 25, 2006 at 3:07 PM
for sanding plexi I usually work my way up to 1000 grit then hit it with a butane torch. gets all the scratches right out.
Posted By: 05honda
Date Posted: September 25, 2006 at 5:24 PM
Hey, looking very clean...I was wondering what section you found that spray in at the Micheals....Thanks in advance
Posted By: punkbastard
Date Posted: September 25, 2006 at 6:08 PM
I found it near all the other krylon paints. If you are walking down the isle toward the wall, the krylon paints are on the right and straight ahead, up against the wall will be the frosted glass. It comes in white or gray. There is also this stuff called looking glass that i think im gonna have to try that makes it look like a mirror
Posted By: 05honda
Date Posted: September 25, 2006 at 6:42 PM
Excelent....thanks
Posted By: punkbastard
Date Posted: September 27, 2006 at 8:07 PM
Okay so i got my neons in there and mounted it up on display and it looked like this. 
Pretty cool except that, where the six blue neons obviously lit the sign up blue, everywhere else was a very dim blue or even white because of the frosting spray. So I decided that I would sand off the frosting spray and do it again except not so heavy this time. While I was at the store I saw blue translucent spray so I picked that up thinking that I would paint the plexi blue and then do the frosting so I would get the soft light effect and the whole sign would be blue. This is what that looks like 
Sorry about the cell phone picks, what do you guys think? I'm thinking that I'll order some led bars instead of using neons and see what that does to get an even glow instead of having such bright areas and if it works, I might get rid of the blue.
Posted By: xsportguy
Date Posted: September 28, 2006 at 3:00 PM
I would also suggest adding a clear coat over the spray to keep it from smudging in the future. Looks great!
Posted By: punkbastard
Date Posted: September 28, 2006 at 9:13 PM
Now, if I did the led strips, could I just place them where the neons are now or will I still see the lights themselves? Should I place the led bars so that the black vinyl piece will cover them and just let them light the box up? Its not smudged, its just a horrible camera phone picture.
Posted By: Melted Fabric
Date Posted: September 29, 2006 at 10:29 AM
Very nice outcome.
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I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.
When you do not know what you are doing and what you are doing is the best -- that is inspiration.
Posted By: punkbastard
Date Posted: September 29, 2006 at 8:10 PM
Thanks man, Im gonna take pictures with a real camera when I'm done with everything. Right now I am making blakc plexi plates to cover up the orange you can see in the pictures above. I will post pictures of the completed project as soon as i can
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