Engineering thought, solving exclusively pragmatic tasks, sometimes leads to unique results in the field of aesthetics of our everyday life. One such solution is the acrylic endlight. Initially, this technology was used to create optical fiber, then in the advertising field, and now it is actively used in home interiors.
New technologies in the home interior
The basis of the end lighting method is the property of light rays to refract, or the effect of total internal reflection. A stream of light, entering the end of the plexiglass, is scattered and illuminates its front surface. What the acrylic end lighting looks like, photos of light panels in the interior of the house are clearly demonstrated.
Home lighting
What is convenient for acrylic end lighting? Why use this technology in interior solutions? Firstly, it’s beautiful, because it creates a diffused stream of light that is pleasing to the eye. Secondly, practical. The application of solutions with this technology allows you to arrange lighting with minimal energy consumption. And thirdly, often only the end lighting method allows achieving the desired decorative and practical effect.
Acrylic panels are used in home interiors in the following cases:
- for illumination of ceiling panels ;
- to create a fake window with backlight;
- to illuminate the panels of the kitchen apron;
- for highlighting shelves made of organic glass;
- to illuminate the handrail of the stairs made of acrylic;
- to create framelights as decoration elements.
Framelight - a light panel where you can insert posters with images. On posters, a picture in any style, landscape or photograph can be depicted. Its charm is that the printed image can be replaced, and doing this is quite simple. If such a light panel is placed in a low-light area of an apartment or house, then it, besides the aesthetic one, bears a quite practical load, creating additional lighting.
How to make false windows using ready-made framelight profiles
Consider one of the options for an interior solution: the end light of acrylic when creating a false window. Sometimes in rooms without windows or where there are not enough, designers practice creating false windows. If you used to use photowall-paper for these purposes, now you can use ready-made light boxes - framelights as an imitation. They are delivered fully loaded, it remains only to put a poster with a suitable image. This can be an imitation of a view from a window with a traced window profile or a landscape you like. For complete realism, the framelight can be supplemented with an overhead simulation of window sashes.
The ability to replace the poster without much difficulty allows you to change the "window" picture from time to time. For example, change the view of the summer street to an autumn landscape. This is achieved by the fact that the frames are equipped with a click profile. It allows you to snap off the top panel of the profile and easily remove the protective module. There is another option: the end light acrylic profile "Magnetic." The peculiarity of this profile is that the upper part is attached to the bottom using a system of magnets.
Materials for self assembly light panel
Do-it-yourself end-face acrylic lighting can be an interesting task if you like to make at home. To install the light panel you will need:
- acrylic canvas;
- aluminum profile;
- LED ruler or strip;
- compact power supply (adapter) for 12V.
LED strip is a flexible printed circuit board on which LEDs are fixed on one side and an adhesive layer is applied on the other for attaching to an aluminum profile. If you plan to install a window simulation in a bathroom or other rooms with high humidity, you should buy a special moisture-proof tape. In the case of using a false window and as a light source, it is necessary to purchase an ultra-powerful LED strip. The power of the adapter can be calculated by the formula: the power of the unit is equal to the power of the LED strip multiplied by its length in meters.
Profile for the light panel choose one-sided. Pay attention to the following characteristics: profile thickness and lighting system. Profiles can be designed for luminescent lighting or for mounting LED strip. Since the thickness of the panel is important for a false window, it is LED lighting that is considered. For end lighting, the most important is the type and characteristics of the material, so we will consider its choice separately.
Acrylic for end lighting: description and application
The panel should be lit evenly. This requires a certain acrylic for end lighting, the processing of which was performed according to all the rules. A uniform bright glow is provided by colorless diffuse particles that appear in acrylic sheets during special preparation of the sheet. At home, it is impossible to achieve such a degree of uniformity and intensity of glow, therefore, it is necessary to purchase plexiglass of the required thickness and suitable for other parameters. The thickness is selected based on the size of the light panel.
Panel width Backlight on one side | Panel width Backlight from two to four sides | Sheet thickness mm |
up to 150 mm | up to 300 mm | four |
150-300 mm | 300-600 mm | 4,6,8,10 |
300-600 mm | 600-1200 mm | 4,6,8,10 |
600-1200 mm | 1200-2000 mm | 8.10 |
As can be seen from the table, for a light panel simulating a window, an acrylic sheet with a thickness of at least 8 mm is suitable. You will find on the manufacturers' websites not only acrylic itself for end lighting. The description and application of each type is given there detailed, so you will not be difficult to navigate with the thickness of the sheet and its parameters.
Separately, it should be clarified that the ends that will be highlighted should be well polished. The sides where the LED strip will not be installed must be covered with reflective tape. If the acrylic sheet was cut using laser cutting, then additional polishing is not necessary. Another important point - any damage to acrylic will lead to a redistribution of the light flux, so the sheets are covered with a protective film. You need to remove it only immediately before installation in the profile.
Profile assembly and backlight connection
Acquired whips (pieces of aluminum profile) are cut to the desired size at an angle of 45º. After that they are interconnected with the help of corners. When the three sides are assembled, you need to install the inner LED strip around the perimeter.
Previously, wires are connected to the tape, with which it will be connected to the power supply. There is an important point: one 12V power supply is designed for no more than five meters of tape. If there is more, you need to connect two power supplies. Each tape is connected separately, you do not need to connect them together. There is another option - to take the adapter to 24V, then the end lighting of acrylic is possible by the method of connecting two LED strips in series.
Light panel mounting
After the three sides of the profile are assembled and the LED strip is installed, you can proceed to the direct installation of the light panel. To do this, the profile is entered:
- Reflector - a sheet that will reflect light.
- Cast acrylic sheet.
- Printed film.
- Protective sheet.
The installation order is clearly visible in the figure. The acrylic sheet must be installed so that it is above the LED strip, because it is he who is the main light-scattering element. After installing all the components, the last side of the profile is fixed.
The role of the reflector can perform a special reflective sheet. It can be purchased with light-scattering acrylic. Firms selling plexiglass (acrylic) for end lighting will offer both a reflector and a protective coating. But as a reflector can act any reflective fabric.
For a protective cloth, you can use thin transparent acrylic or a dense light-transmitting film. There are certain requirements for the poster. It must be printed on a special backlit coated film. This coating provides high light transmission. For structural rigidity, you can insert a backdrop into the profile, but do not forget to take this into account when buying a profile - its thickness should be sufficient for all layers of the panel.
The final stage
When assembling the aluminum profile to its upper part, it is necessary to screw fasteners (pendants), at least 4 pieces. When the lightbar is fully assembled, it's time to install it on the wall. To do this, hooks are attached to the wall with dowels. After that, it remains only to hang a false window and power the power supply.
Thus, using technological innovations, you can independently create an ultramodern design. Acrylic end lighting is a vivid representative of such technologies, with its help you can create many interesting interior solutions.