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Panel Preparation

A project log for Kerbal Spaceship Potato

This is an input focused control panel for Kerbal Space Program.

matthew-peverillMatthew Peverill 03/10/2020 at 20:281 Comment

So my final plan for printing the panel is as follows:

  1. Paint the semi-transmissible acrylic sheet with black paint
  2. Laser cut the panel, using the engrave setting to burn through the paint.
  3. Laser cut a mask for the engraved areas on paper.
  4. Do any additional drilling necessary.
  5. Spray paint over the mask in order to paint the cut edges.

This will work, I think, but I want to say that painting acrylic is way more of a PITA than expected. Don't expect to just grab a can of spraypaint and give it a once over: you need to sand it, prime it, sand it again, then let it dry for 24 hours, then spraypaint it. If I were doing this again, I'd think about whether I could make this work using the engraveable two-tone acrylic sheets that inventables carries (maybe with another sheet of something as a diffuser?)

Discussions

Matthew Peverill wrote 03/17/2020 at 14:08 point

This is the most helpful post I found about painting acrylic: https://www.overclockers.com/how-to-paint-steel-aluminum-plastic-and-acrylic/

Yes, you really need to shake the can a lot, and right before painting. If you get wet paint flecks you're going to have to do the work to sand them out if you really want a smooth finish. 

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