[Derek H.]

Hey Guys,

This is my first post here but I have been following your forum for a couple of years now…love the expertise and experience everyone brings to the table.  Anyways, I am doing a corian backlight design for above my fireplace  at home and had a couple of questions.

1) Any reccomendations as far what source light to use for the back lighting (LED/Fluorescent etc..) and is there a recommended lumens that should be reached.  Also, will the color of the source light show through the corian (eg. will a blue light still appear as white through glacier white or will it give a blue look through the corian)

2)How far back should I place the source light in order to eliminate any hot-spots from the light source

3)Will a standard upcut or compression carbide cutter work for the pocketing on the corian.  Not sure what will give me the best cut and result when lit.  Also, any tips/hints on sanding the design or will a general 150 light sand take care of any router marks.

Thanks in advance!!

Derek H.

[Andy Graves]

Welcome to the FabNet Derek.

The further the light is away from the Corian, the better the light will be dispersed to get an even look.

I would use LED because they last longer and much thinner. The LED that come on a role that can be taped to the suptop are extremely thin.

You will have to play with the distance to get the look you want. The amount of lighting will also affect the whether you see the light source.

Are you going to pocket the material to create a pattern? The reason I ask is that Glacier White will block most of the light from shining through unless you cut the material pretty thin. You may want to use the Corian that is transparent.

[Derek H.]

Thanks Andy…I was planning on pocketing the material with a pattern/nature theme. Haven’t decided on that yet…played around with just natural light and found 3/16″ to 1/8′ inch left on 1/2″ corian gives the look im looking for.

I was leaning towards LED as well…actually found a controller that hooks up to the LED light strips that can dim and change LED color. The project will go in a recess in the wall, so I am trying to get a little bit of light bleed-off from the edges to give a “mood light” on the wall around the corian. Thats why I was asking if the color of the light shows through the corian. If I want a blue mood light, will the pattern in the corian have a blue look to it or will it stay the color of the material (white for glacier white)

Never thought about the translucent corian too… Will the entire sheet glow for transparent corian or just the shallower areas that I would pocket. I assume I would not have to go as deep for this material.

[Andy Graves]

The entire sheet will glow but you can paint the back of the material that you don’t want to glow with paint to make it opaque.

I think the relief will show the color of the light. I have not tried it though.

[Derek H.]

ahh…never thought about painting the back of the material…good suggestion! Thanks for the help again!

[Sahil India]

We prefer using a tube light as the spread of the light is much more in that case, Normal T5 tube light in case if we have enough space at the back else a LED.

Colour of the light plays an important role, for eg. pure white colour from Samsung Staron will not pass blue light and can pass yellow light (warm white), in case if we put a white light on the back it will show it as warm white only.

[Sahil India]

thanks a lot for the suggestion derek
painting sounds economical, till the time i was using vinayl and we use to get it cut on CNC for some specific designs.

[Tom M]

If you have a theatrical lighting supply place near you, or you wish to order from the internet, there are several types of diffusion gel sheets you can purchase. They will help even out the light and change the characteristics of the spread should you need to. Roscoe and Lee are the two largest companies that sell gel sheets. they will last forever with fluorescent and a very long time with incandescent lights.

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