In the acrylic field there is generally little diversity in the colors available. Manufacturers can tailor material but often conditional on a purchase of several dozen sheets and with a long delay. Direct digital printing allows personalized impression without a minimum purchase in a few days following the order.
The possibilities of printing and finish being very vast, you will find in this text several information as to the possibilities of printing either with opacity, frosted, semi-transparent, translucent, opaque and blackout.
Frosted or semi-transparent
When printing acrylic, the support on which the ink is deposited is an important parameter for the final output of the color. A white support (like a sheet of paper) makes the color very lively and vibrant. In the case of transparent printing, the white is not printed as the ink is more opaque. We therefore avoid overlapping colors with white ink, which optimizes the transparency.
It is imperative to use a transparent or frosted clear material as a base to obtain this finish. The print gives a frosted effect to the room, while allowing light to pass through. The color layers are adjusted according to the level of transparency required.
Translucent
When we talk about transparency, we really mean light diffusion! For projects including LEDs, it is best to use an opaline white base so that the lighting is even from one end of the plastic to the other. In our case, our opaline white base can be a translucent plexiglass specially designed for this type of use or even an application of white ink specially calibrated for lighting.
With opaline acrylics, we print on the front of the material by adjusting the density of the ink to the computer graphics.
If the printing is done on a clear or frosted plexiglass, we adjust the opacity of the opaline white ink according to the degree of light from your LED. The white can be alone or behind other colors.
It is important to note that for this type of project a color chart is strongly recommended since the colors can vary widely when your LED strip is on or off.
Opaque/Blackout
When you do not want to see through the print and there is no light, then it is called an opaque print. We apply a standard white ink behind the color print so that the final visual is aesthetically pleasing. We can achieve this opacity with almost material color.
For a print where no light source should be seen in the visual, we call this a blackout type opacity. We work with a black base to achieve the best possible result. The application of black can be full or selective and deposited in certain places only.
For the development of your printing project, the required opacity is an essential variant to establish from the beginning of your conceptualization. The final result is greatly influenced by the ink application method used. Your printed plexiglass can be bench saw cut, CNC cut, laser cut, hot bent and even assembled.
For advice on your project, do not hesitate to contact us!