Frage Engraved Acrylic Mirror

Hi All

With the rugby world cup coming up I thought I'd make a mirror for my workshop.

Carved with 60 degree V Bit on the back of mirrored acrylic. The backfill is acrylic paint.

Now to design a frame.

Do you have a video of the process?

Hi jvalencia - I don't have a video of the process - sorry.

The process is pretty straight forward:

Firstly make sure your machine bed is totally flat - I have cut 3mm deep A4 and A3 pockets in 18mm MDF to act as jigs - but also it ensures that the surface is totally flat. I use double sided tape on the front of the mirror (on the protective film) and this keeps the mirror from lifting out of the pocket.

Engrave the back of the mirror (use reversed image).

Make separate passes for each colour.

After each pass fill in the engraved area with acrylic or enamel paint (I do this twice for each colour to give more depth).

You don't need to be too accurate with the paint filling - the engraving tool will cut away any mistakes.

Make sure all paint is dry between passes - I use quick drying acrylic paint from Seawhite (very good prices).

I remove excess paint (before it's dry) using a scraper such as an old business card - this takes off the excess paint without removing the paint from the cut areas.

Make sure you buy mirrored acrylic with a protective layer on the front (non engraved side) so that the surface is protected whilst you are cutting the back.

I engrave between 0.5 and 0.1 mm deep with a 60 Degree 2mm V Bit. I tend to use deeper engraving on large fill areas (more space to hold the paint).

I will get around to making a video shortly.

Hope this helps.