- Mon Dec 22, 2014 9:13 am
#177980
I bought a wall poster, printed on 100# paper, and framed it. It looks great in the living room and I thought it would look even better if I could figure out a way to accentuate the light sources in the picture by back-lighting specific parts of the image. Here's my conceptual approach...
1. Trace the areas of the image (the light sources) that I want light to shine through
2. Scan the trace into my computer and create an Adobe Illustrator file that can be read by a laser cutting machine
3. Use a laser cutter to cut the trace lines on sheet of sheet metal
4. Place that sheet metal behind the poster in the picture frame
5. Lay twelve strands of 15mm light tape behind the sheet metal and wire them up to a power source (either battery pack or a plug)
The reason I want to use sheet metal and a laser cutter, rather than doing it by hand with tinfoil and a razor, is there are some cutouts that are very close to each other that will likely tear if I do it by hand. Also, a laser cutter provides better definition.
The area that needs to be lit is roughly 36" x 12", which would require about 20 strands of 1m x 15mm light tape. My questions are...
1. How can I wire that many strands of EL tape to a single power source?
2. Would you suggest using a different product than the 1m x 15mm light tape to cover that amount of surface area?
I'm still doing my own research on the questions I posted above, but I thought I'd post this question in the meantime. Thanks in advance for your wisdom!
1. Trace the areas of the image (the light sources) that I want light to shine through
2. Scan the trace into my computer and create an Adobe Illustrator file that can be read by a laser cutting machine
3. Use a laser cutter to cut the trace lines on sheet of sheet metal
4. Place that sheet metal behind the poster in the picture frame
5. Lay twelve strands of 15mm light tape behind the sheet metal and wire them up to a power source (either battery pack or a plug)
The reason I want to use sheet metal and a laser cutter, rather than doing it by hand with tinfoil and a razor, is there are some cutouts that are very close to each other that will likely tear if I do it by hand. Also, a laser cutter provides better definition.
The area that needs to be lit is roughly 36" x 12", which would require about 20 strands of 1m x 15mm light tape. My questions are...
1. How can I wire that many strands of EL tape to a single power source?
2. Would you suggest using a different product than the 1m x 15mm light tape to cover that amount of surface area?
I'm still doing my own research on the questions I posted above, but I thought I'd post this question in the meantime. Thanks in advance for your wisdom!