This technique for creating high contrast panels for electronics projects and prototypes using a laser cutter gives great results using cheap and easy to find materials.
Here are some photos of some items made with a method using just 3mm white acrylic and a black wax crayon. It’s easy, fast (though not as fast as SureLase) and looks dead smart.
Adafruit publishes a wide range of writing and video content, including interviews and reporting on the maker market and the wider technology world. Our standards page is intended as a guide to best practices that Adafruit uses, as well as an outline of the ethical standards Adafruit aspires to. While Adafruit is not an independent journalistic institution, Adafruit strives to be a fair, informative, and positive voice within the community – check it out here: adafruit.com/editorialstandards
Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell is every Wednesday at 7:30pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat and our Discord!
If you intend to do more than one of these in your life, it’s worth investing in Lacquer-Stik fill crayons which are actually designed for this application. They are easier to use, the result is more durable and it doesn’t require a post-bake. For large filled areas, Hermes brand engravers enamel is ideal. Neither of these products is all that expensive. Cleanup time can be greatly reduced by lasering and applying the fill through a masking tape layer, then peeling it off with most of the excess.
Cool! I was thinking about doing something like this, but didn’t have much of an idea as to how to go about it. Stuff like is this one of the many reasons I love the adafruit blog.
If you intend to do more than one of these in your life, it’s worth investing in Lacquer-Stik fill crayons which are actually designed for this application. They are easier to use, the result is more durable and it doesn’t require a post-bake. For large filled areas, Hermes brand engravers enamel is ideal. Neither of these products is all that expensive. Cleanup time can be greatly reduced by lasering and applying the fill through a masking tape layer, then peeling it off with most of the excess.
Cool! I was thinking about doing something like this, but didn’t have much of an idea as to how to go about it. Stuff like is this one of the many reasons I love the adafruit blog.