[tchapman1000]

I manufacture custom automation for homes and offices and have an LCD touch screen that I make an acrylic bezel for. I currently buy 1/8 P95 acrylic in white or black and CNC the bezel from the rear which requires some pocketing for the LCD glass to sit in as well as a pocket for the rear box to drop in and glue to. See the image with the two white plastic parts. One of these is the plain P95 and the other is painted white with a spray can as a test. The spray painted version looks like some spraypainted it! Both lack a nice look compared to the other LCD and touch panels that I am compared to in homes. I included a few bezels I found online as reference of a white gloss look. I would assume those were injection molded, but I cannot tell if there are straight out of the mold like that. I have ABS parts injection molded for the rear box and rear lid, but they look nothing like these images of the nice bezels. This leads to the question of finishing the plastic. Spray paint in a can does not seem like a solution. I would love to find a plastic product that would CNC nicely and allow me to sand and buff the edges without a finish, but I don't think acrylic is the solution. IF I could find a coating or painting process that might be idea, but I only make a few of these at a time maybe 10-20 once in a while so sending out for finish seems like a lot of time added when I prefer to run parts and build and ship on the fly.

The question boils down to, how can I get this type of expensive look with minimal effort? Highly polished injection of color resin? Paint? Ceramic? I included a photo of the Matte P95 version of my faceplate with a mylar overlay I use on another product. I hesitate to consider an overlay as it will still appear as an overlay on the edtes and it is very expensive to have these made. http://www.cnczone.com/forums/attach...d=372282&stc=1http://www.cnczone.com/forums/attach...d=372284&stc=1http://www.cnczone.com/forums/attach...d=372286&stc=1http://www.cnczone.com/forums/attach...d=372288&stc=1http://www.cnczone.com/forums/attach...d=372290&stc=1 Any advice on how to take my bezel to the next level would be appreciated.

Thanks

[Jim Dawson]

Krylon makes a good plastic paint, available at almost any hardware, home supply store. Fusion for Plastic® - | Krylon I have used it with good results. Takes some practice to apply correctly, but gives a nice, durable finish. A light buff with a ScotchBrite pad will help with adhesion.

The other difference that I see in your parts vs. the web pictures is the finished edges. All of the edges are rounded over. This can be easily done on a router table with a roundover bit. No CNC required for that operation. I have a router table that is continuously set up just for this purpose. Works with both plastic and aluminum. I added a 1/2 thick UHMW top to the router table with a hole in it just large enough to clear the bit. Makes a nice slick surface to work on, the aluminium surfaces on cheap router tables are sticky and basically suck. Your parts would take about 30 seconds to round over.

Use good sharp carbide router bits for your plastic work.

[LeeWay]

Since it is opaque, I would use ABS or something else. Anything else really will be more durable than acrylic. Not quite true, but there are many choices in many colors and textures that would fair far better than acrylic.
ABS, PVC, Acetal etc... would be what I would look at first. Macmaster Carr has nice blurbs by the products that detail some uses and qualities of a particular choice. Good place to start reading and grab a few sample while you are at it.

[tchapman1000]

The ABS I have gotten from McMaster in sheet form was not pretty. I agree it is more durable, I have the back and sides of the enclosure made in ABS but it does not look nice. The sheet material from McMaster would surely need to be painted or coated by some method. I am not against painting ABS, but my experience with spray cans is it does not look like the panels I have uploaded. I also have PVC and Delrin sheet from McMaster.

[LeeWay]

Does any of that have a texture?
The textured ABS etc. is the finishing product stuff. Smooth stuff is more for structural, jig, fixture use.
There is also high gloss textured fiberglass sold in 4'x8' sheets at Lowe's. I used if for enclosures on my small mills. The textured side looks kinda like pebbles and looks very nice. Extremely durable. White only of course.
I think it is used for shower board.
I used it between the back splash and upper cabinets in my MIL's kitchen. She love's how easy it is to keep clean.

As a side note, the fiberglass panel will take paint a lot better than many plastics.
Any of them can be polished on the edges for professional looks too.