Remember
this thing is big.
3 Likes
Oh bummer. Was the vinyl on the bottom? It shouldnât get scratched often, right?
Flashing is a good choice, I think. The thing I always got stuck on was the corners. Do you miter? Overlap? It would be nice to get it all out of one solid piece of aluminum. Maybe there is a way to install the flashing and then add some interesting art to cover the seams? The nice thing is, you have that thick piece of wood and heavy glass on top to support it.
Is there any thicker or more durable kind of vinyl?
1/8" hardboard covered in vinyl.
The hardboard is slightly permeable, so you shouldnât get bubbles. Itâs smooth enough to give a flawless finish, and you can joint the corners tightly, sand to a super smooth finish, and hide the vinyl seams. One very thin bead of clear silicone around the inside (optional) to prevent any problems with sagging over time/weather and you will have something that should withstand the lifetime of the project, and even survive if you ever need to take it apart to replace the LED strip. (LEDs going dim over time has been a problem for me. I just replaced all of my under-cabinet lighting in the kitchen because the LEDs there are at maybe 15% of their original brightness. I hope the new LEDs last better.)
1 Like
Is Opaque acid glass etchant a thing? I know my wife has etched wine glasses with a stencil and the acid solution. You can get really crisp lines with good masking/stencils, but the result is frosting.
Yeah, it was on the bottom. One of my led clips was a hair high and nicked it. I moved it and realized the only way to fix it was a real careful patch or replace the whole 5â strip.
This might still be the best way. If I had not nicked it, it looked great.
That might be a better way than on the glass itself. Hate to add the 1/8 though.
Not that I know of.
I saw some window paint mask, looks like when you put glue on your hand as a kid and peeled it off. You can paint it on, let it dry then cut a straight line and peel it off. Looks far sharper than fancy masking tape.
Seems like vinyl is more opaque, but paint is easy to touch up. I think I will try to hit the hardware store and find a craft store to see if anything makes sense. I thought I was going to have this up and running yesterday, bummed, but R&D is important. I really want others to have an easy time making nice tables.
1 Like
Perhaps something like arborite? Itâs much thinner, though usually glued to another surface, it would probably be okay in this application under glass. Done right, wouldnât need the vinyl either.
1 Like
Dan that is a good idea, I wonder if I have something similar locally. Maybe some sort of melamine (Heffeâs new lowrider build made me think if that)
You know, some carbon fiber would be real nice⌠I need to wonder the hardware store aisles, There has to be something easy we are missing.
I think the U.S. equivalent would be Formica
I had a heck of a time remembering the name, because of course Iâve always bought the arborite here.
1 Like
Could sandblasting be an option? There are cheap hopper guns that work ok.
No, I donât think so. I just want to block the light from the LEDâs so they only hit the âsandâ.
Or maybe attaching a few pieces of al flashing could give you structure and then cover those with vinyl.
1 Like
OkayâŚplasti dip. They have spray on or brush on. Trying it after the mail pickup.
Did a small test sprayâŚlooking a little thin it is going to take a bunch of coats. Dang.
Nope. One little slip up and it all wants to peel off. Looks good after 3/4 coats though.
Ordered some window blackout film, the static kind. Will it hold on upside down?
It should.
1 Like
Iâm recalling a printing company (I do side work for) prints on glass and then applies vinyl to the painted side for durability.
It may take extra steps to get a clean line.
1 Like
Nice.
I think the last resort is a thin layer of paint with vinyl over it. That will hide any seems/bubbles but keep it from getting too messed up. If there happens to be a scratch then it can be patched with more paint.
If it isnât subject to abrasion, if you paint the â2nd surfaceâ of the glass (the under side if you are looking down at it) it will look like a perfect gloss black. Not sure if that is what you are going for or not. Then at least you canât scratch it from the top (assuming this is a table top)
I used to do my aquarium back panels this way. It looked nice
Exactly. The abrasion comes from lifting the top to adjust the LEDS, comb the sand, that sort of stuff. So it rarely gets lifted but it does sit on a relatively small surface area and gets moved every so often so it has to be a little tough.
Not sure how far down the rabbit hole you want to go, but when it comes to durability, 2 part epoxy paint usually cant be beat.
You could probably also do a traditional paint for the looks, then put some vinyl, felt dots, rubber dots, etc on the paint to lift it slightly and keep the paint off the contact areas. Of course you would have to be able to adjust your Z-height stack if the glass is to be flush with a surrounding surface. Not sure how locked in the design is at this point.
1 Like