/diy/ - Do It Yourself

>>1296446
Light autist here.

First, I have to say that EL wire probably isn't your best bet for an easy faux neon sign. You should check out side emitting fiber optics. You can use a darlington driver and either a 555 timer or micro controller and you can change the pattern of the lights very easily with that.

Pic related is EL wire.

>>1270533
Very cool. So the clear part acts as a diffuser? If it is 10W then yeah you may want to go with a solid white. For me I found that the distance the diffuser is from the LED and the thickness of the diffuser are the main factors in diffusing light.

And I don't have a blog. I try to do my work anonymously, but I do have an account on thingiverse and soon instructibles to post the instructions.

>>1243765

Hey m80, light autist here and neon is my fucking jam. I'll lay this out easiest to hardest.

Easiest way to do it, and why you see it everywhere is EL wire.

Pros:
+flexible
+somewhat cheap
+multitude of colors
+even glow throughout

Cons:
-if you fuck up bending it you'll have to splice it
-splicing is a bit of a pain in the ass
-limited control on multi segmented lights and patterns
-inverter make a high pitch sequel that you will definitely want to muffle
-half life is only 10,000 hours (so if you left it on 24/7 for an entire year it would be half as bright)

see pic related for an EL style project

>>1226837
Hey m8. What are you using the EL wire for? Asking because this strokes my autism.

>>1181751

Hey m8, illumination autist here. I offer you some advice.

EL wire is a great starting medium for faux neon, however it does have some cons. It is more expensive than other mediums like side emitting fiber optic, isn't as bright, and offers little in the way of control. It does have its advantages in being able to splice wire and change the color in the same segment in doing so.

Pic related is EL wire.

>>1085296
Hey m8, light autist here. I love lighty up shit and I have made a sign out of EL wire (pic related).

You will find there are different "versions" of EL, so do a little research on which is the brightest. I think Gen3 is the current version that's the brightest and lasts longest.

The battery box won't change the brightness it's just a limited source of power. My picture is on a plug in inverter. In my opinion EL wire is probably not the way you want to go to make a "neon-sign" trinket having done it myself. EL wire is somewhat expensive, limits your colors, doesn't last but 2-3 years at continuous use, is difficult to use if you want to animate segments, and the list goes on.

I'll show you a decent alternative in the next post.

>>1033199

Hey op, I'm a light enthusiast/autist. I've done some research into it and it seems that there is specialized equipment that is very expensive and cumbersome when it comes to neon/argon sign making. Not to let that deter you, but if you want a good quality neon sign you're going to need to get some very expensive equipment.

If you want some cheaper alternatives there's side emitting fiber optic, and EL wire. Those are cheap, and much easier to work with. They're not as bright as neon and can't be seen in direct sunlight, but at night they are very bright. Just thought I would throw in my $.02

>>980499

You also forgot they contain mercury so if they do break it's toxic. Neon has it's role, and it's own distinct beautiful glow, but in this application LEDs are just vastly superior.