Need Help 2" thick face/side/halo lit acrylic letter process

[graphics22]

Wanting to see if anyone has a tried and true process for making thick acrylic letters hogged out to accept leds that lights the sides/face and back. Even if you have a system for front and sides I would appreciate a dos and don't list.

 

[JBurton]

3d printing is a good option, or injection molding. Gemini does the walmart letters that are an injection molded front and back, but they gather a ton of dirt at the base. Massivit 3d printers have translucent gels, but it's mighty expensive. I've routed out acrylic fronts and backs that got bolted together, but the face will hotspot pretty bad. Usually I'll see front+back (channel letter with clear back), or face+sides, but not often you see everything lit.

 

[MJ-507]

I have a great process. I send a PDF to a vendor who produces this type of sign on a daily business (we typically use either Kalisign or Resno by Bitro) and let them worry about fabrication while I collect a check w/o the hassle.

 

[MJ-507]

3d printing is a good option, or injection molding. Gemini does the walmart letters that are an injection molded front and back, but they gather a ton of dirt at the base. Massivit 3d printers have translucent gels, but it's mighty expensive. I've routed out acrylic fronts and backs that got bolted together, but the face will hotspot pretty bad. Usually I'll see front+back (channel letter with clear back), or face+sides, but not often you see everything lit.

That's why we use Kalisign, amongst others. They populate the acrylic with individual embedded LEDs and I've yet to encounter any hotspots in anything they produced for us.