[Robotgroup] LED art display

[Ed Xavier Gonzalez]

Mr. Poo-Poo, or Mr. P-P (either way, it sounds like a second grader 
snickering behind his hand),

The technology that I've described is and has been available for 
quite some time, in spite of my unintended attempt at concealing the 
project that I was assisting them on.

Edge lighting clear and fluorescent acrylic is something that I've 
worked on for a number of years, including a brief attempt at 
something for the RG this last year.  A few of the members may 
remember me asking questions about using ultra-bright LED's to edge 
light a 1/2" thick slab of plastic with reverse engraved artwork.

The effect is quite stunning, but is limited to the internal optical 
characteristics of the material, specifically related to the index of 
refraction of the core component.

I used to provide some of this stuff to a few folks a number of years 
ago, but had to curtail my offering it because the best material for 
the task was no longer being manufactured.  It seems the company that 
used to cast the acrylic had no idea it worked so well in a edge-lit 
application, and they only found out from me after they stopped 
production.  TOO BAD!  It was great stuff.

There are lots of companies that do edge lighting of acrylic.  They 
just don't do a lot of advertising in Austin.  It's more high-flash 
and meant for a specific audience that doesn't exist in Austin.  I 
guess that 'keeping it weird' doesn't appeal to the folks that make 
these sort of displays.

-----------------------------------------------

At 03:16 AM 6/26/07, you wrote:
>The following observation is brought to you by Mr. Poo-Poo:
>
>Ed, Ed, Ed! Am I detecting a sniff of privileged- or proprietary-
>type information in there? I thought that was a no-no? Well, OK 
>then.  I'll just get back to work and shut up : )
>
>Sincerely,
>Mr. Poo-Poo
>
>
>On Jun 25, 2007, at 3:06 PM, Ed Xavier Gonzalez wrote:
>
> > This looks like the technology that I saw at the display
> > manufacturing company here in Austin.  I worked with them on an
> > acrylic display product that was going to be edge-lit, but their
> > requirements for the final effect in the clear sheet made that
> > material unsatisfactory.
> >
><snip>

<The right to Free Speech does not diminish the value of remaining silent>

Ed Xavier Gonzalez
Oak Hill Laser
ohlaser at swbell.net
(512) 288-5243