Vectric Customer

Hey strangers. Long time no post...been busy.

Had a seafood restaurant owner looking for a neon entry sign and I convinced him to try an edge-lit. Their theme is kind of sort of "island/treasure mappy". He said to come up with something cool as long as it got folks to the right door. He gave me complete freedom to do what I wanted. I love when customers do this even if the reveals are a little worrisome.

Frame is a who-knows-how-old piece of worm wood a friend found washed up on the beach. Planed it down and burned it/stained it to give it some personality. I wanted it to look like a piece that could've fallen off a battle worn pirate ship. I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out. The customer was amazed and is looking to have me replace a lot of his interior signs.

That is a seriously cool design. I would expect to see many others "borrowing" your idea.

Angie

Very cool sign ! Did you shape the edge lights yourself or did you custom order it? May I ask where you bought the edge lights?

Thanks for posting!

Andy

cnc4me wrote:Very cool sign ! Did you shape the edge lights yourself or did you custom order it? May I ask where you bought the edge lights?

Thanks for posting!

Andy

The only light is a straight strip of red LED's (ordered online) along the top edge. The only thing that shows up is the engraving.

I did back this one with this one with black vinyl to send all the light forward. Here's a look at the back.

Love to see more pictures of how this was done. Thanks Gene

I wish I'd taken more pics. I was under the gun to get it done and didn't take any.

From memory...I started by milling both sides flat. I simply screwed the rough cut to a piece of ply (so I could predict where screw holes would be, and be cut out in the end). I didn't program anything but drove the machine manually.

I started on the letter side. The cuts were .5" offsets so the lit letters would "hang" in them. I pocketed the letters using a .25" end mill. I flipped it over using the very precise "Sharpie outline on spoilboard registration" method. I knew I was going to cut the pocket on the back a little over-sized so this wasn't critical.

I then pocketed the back down far enough to get to the letters and was careful to keep the floating parts of the A,R, etc. Those were epoxied on later.

The acrylic was a simple rectangle with the original characters v-carved in .0625". The LED's have a sticky back that I bolstered with the silicone you see in the second pic. Screw it together and get some power to it and ...voila.

I like framing the edge-lits as opposed to plugging them into a base. I can't remember if I ever posted this over here but it's a sign I made for some close friends. They lost their teenage daughter Kirsten a year and a half ago. Fast forward and they remodeled their home to include a small bar. I christened it the K-Club and gave them this to hang over it.

Again, a simple rabbeted frame offset to allow for the LEDS. You can see the assembly in the second pic.

Very nice- on the K club sign the white is engraved... vinyl ? Thanks Gene

The "white" is etched with a diamond engraving bit.

Cool signs! Would you care to share your source for the LED's? Do they come with the plug already installed?

I use http://www.superbrightleds.com/.

I'm sure I pay a little more than I would elsewhere but there stuff has been very reliable. Lots of different power options, from solder-on leads to wire nut connections. The round sign above used a solder-on pigtail with a barrel connector that plugged into a wall plug. The entrance sign used a ballast you can see in the pic. that would tie directly into AC.

I will say that their customer service has been fantastic and if you ask for tech support they will walk you through your needs.

I agree with Angie. That is seriously cool and unique!

I'll second the superbrightleds.com site recommendation. Their prices are higher than what you will find on E-Bay or Amazon, but the quality is higher and their support is excellent.

I've engraved similar (but not as complex) signs using V-carve. I mirror the image and put it on the back side to eliminate the reflection you get when you engrave the front side. An example with the carving information is at http://forum.vectric.com/viewtopic.php? ... 95#p135295

Yup... really cool work there! I particularly like the mash-up of old wood and high tech lighting.

Thanks for posting and explaining!
Chris

Wow! Superb job.

Tom

Love your work! Thanks for sharing...shows great spirit.