How to Make a Realistic Faux Neon Sign - Super Bright!

Hi guys, this is my all new, all original method for creating a simulated Neon sign out of LEDs that looks super realistic. It really looks like blown glass tubing, with all the varied light that comes with the refraction through the glass at different angles. I'm sure you can find lots of uses for this method in your own projects!

I researched a few alternative methods: Electroluminescent wire (EL wire) is super dim compared to my LED method. In fact, EL wire hardly shows up in the day. (And obviously this particular sign needs to be turned on in the mornings - to lead me to my cuppa!)

Other off-the-shelf 'neon' LED rope light products such as 'Neon Flex' all have a milky plastic diffuser that simply doesn't have the same effect.

If you like this, do vote for me in the "Faux Real" contest! Cheers.

Edit: I've added another bonus step to show an all-manual method of making this, for those who dont have access to drafting software or a laser cutter.

BUT FIRST, COFFEE!

So true, so true. I saw this awesome neon sign for sale at a design shop, and knew I had to have it. I mean, I had to buy it for my wife as a gift.

Either way, she wasn't gonna spend $350 on a frivolous sign, no matter how cool. (True glass-formed neon signs are still hand-made, and so really expensive)

So I found clear plastic tubing in the hardware shop, used for aquariums. It seemed just the right diameter for neon lettering, so I bought it! Paired up with RGB LED strip, I was sure I could make this work.

I did a quick test on a scrap of material to see if this would work.

The idea is to cut the outline of the letters in a sheet of black acrylic, and glue on the flexible plastic tubing to simulate heat-formed glass neon tubes. The cut-outs are dog-bone shaped, to allow the two ends of each section of tubing to be pushed through to the back of the acrylic sheet. Then the whole thing would be back-lit with LEDs to make it glow.

I drafted this in AutoCAD and cut this out with my bench-top 4W Emblaser laser cutter.

The plastic tubing was glued to the acrylic with a combination of CA glue and hot glue, to make it lie flat.

The last photo shows me holding the test "T" up to the light, and the way it glows really does look like neon!

Great, the test was a success.

I cut out the full sign in a sheet of 30x40mm black acrylic (2mm thick) on my Emblaser cutter. This took about 12 passes to cut and took forever, but hey, it's just a 4W machine. The centre of the 'O' broke off, but that's ok. We can glue it back in the next step!

Now comes the arduous task of forming the letters one by one. Take reference to actual neon signs to see how the tubing is usually formed. The start and end of the letters is always hidden at the back, and then the tube makes a 90 degree turn to form the various strokes of each letter.

This took a long time with a lot of burnt fingers from the hot glue, but eventually it got done. It looks like crap from the back, but that's ok. It's only going to be seen from the front.

I kept as much of the protective brown paper on the acrylic as possible, to avoid discolouration from the CA glue.

The last picture is where I held it up to the light to see the effect... and oooh it's beaauuutifuuull... can't wait to add the LEDs!

I added an aluminium frame around the edges, to hide some of the messy wiring. This is just aluminium L-channel, 'mitred' at the corners with garden shears as shown.

This was glued to the back of the acrylic, as I liked the minimalist look of not having a huge border visible in front.

I wanted the text to glow super bright, so I built up 'walls' of black foamboard around each word, to give me space to mount the LEDs all around each word.

My original idea was to seal this sign up like a light box so that only the words glowed, like a real LED sign. But in the end I had so much LED strip left (it was a 5m roll) that I decided to add LEDs around the edges of the sign, lighting outwards as well. This gave the sign a nice back-lit glow effect on my kitchen countertop.

The LEDs were hot-glued on, as the double-sided tape on the LED strip is not very sticky. I also mounted the LED driver on the back of the frame as well, so that it is not visible from the front.

Ta-daa!

I usually hate RGB LEDs, and would stick to warm white wherever possible. But the 'tacky' colours really sell the idea that this is a neon sign. (Of course neon signs can't change colour as the gases in each tube only emit a certain frequency light by their inherent physical properties... but let's ignore physics for a moment)

I think this looks the closest to a real 'Neon' sign of all the simulated techniques I've seen. It looks like a glass tube, with real depth.

I've put this sign on a timer so that it comes on every morning, and draws me with its alluring glow to my first cuppa joe.

Hope you like this, and if you find it useful, please do vote for me in the "Faux Real" contest! Thanks!