how do i create edge lit LED Lighting?

[Robert Lambie]

hi john
heres a link that may help you..

http://www.centsiblelighting.com/edge-lit-signs.htm

i know of some suppliers but dont have details handy, if your still stuck over weekend reply here and ill get something looked out for you.

[Rodney Gold]

Hiya
I do a lot of edge lit stuff , but it works out quite expensive , but EXCEPTIONALLY effective.
There are essentially 2 ways , with a low voltage halogen/strip type tube in an aluminum extruded housing or using diodes.
You can use LED’s but they don’t work as well.
There is a system called solar edge , made by a Co in Belgium called Co-sign – this is first prize but pretty pricey but looks very professional and is upmarket. They supply the housings , lights etc and you just do the acrylic that goes into it , these systems can be used in many ways , you can hang em , stand em and mount em on a wall for side lit.
Essentially the system consists of a strip light mounted in a aluminum housing along with a trnasformer, you use 8-10mm thick acrylic and either engrave it or better still laser engrave it, you insert the acrylic into the slot in the housing and hey presto , you have a marvellously illuminated sign.
The lighting of this type of stuff is quite critical , you need a bit of Vooma to light the sign evenly and strongly.
Sometimes you need to put a strip of reflective tape on the edge of the engraved blank to re-inforce the light and bounce it back in.
You can probably buy cheaper copy cat type systems locally , but we have found that the Cosign system is the best if the money allows.
The big tip here , is that the edge of the acrylic sheet MUST touch the light strip or be as near as possible , thus you need to use lighting thats cool , apart from that , the edge touching the light needs to be polished (laser cutting polishes the edge , thats why its way better to use a laser to engrave this)

Thick pex is the answer here , thin stuff (less than 6mm) is far less effective and doesnt act as a good waveguide for the light. The engraving must be done in reverse on the back of the acrylic sheet. Laser engraving is way more effective than any other type , tho sandblasting works quite well too as the whole engraved area frosts and lights up. Rotary type engraving gives a slightly different effect , a 45 degree cutter will make the engraved channels “glow” and emphasize the edges , but the main “flourescent” effect achieved by frosting the acrylic wont be present as the engraved areas tend to be clean or clear.
If you engrave with a paper mask , you can spray paint the engraving with transluscent glass paints and actually have a great neon type effect.
For the other method ou can buy 1-3 w diodes , these are NOT leds , much brighter , much smaller and have a flat surface and are not single colours , they can change to just about any colour. They have lifespans around 50 000 hours and can be powered by a simple 9-12v transformer (or batteries)
You cen get em with a 10 program chip , all built into a circuit board and the whole thing is tiny , about 2cm x 2cm x 6mm. Very easy to built into and base or cheap channel etc. One of these will go a long way , but for edge lighting you need about 1 per 25 x 25 cm area so for bigger stuff you need multiples. (you can get em in strip form) They are expensive but incredible. They display about 10 colours and you can program them to fade to these colours , flick , be a single colour etc etc . You can program the strips to do all sorts of things as well (like light sequentially and so forth) Big advantage here is size ( you dont need a massive section to mount em on the edge of the acrylic) low voltage , they dont get hot , and never really need replacement.
I cannot tell you where to get these in the UK , we import em direct from China , but Osram here has a similar system so you might find it there.
These in strip form are so potent that you can do really big signage that looks like neon without the tubes , we have done a 2m x 1m panel , using strips of 10 on 2 sides which is really bright. Nice thing is the owner can change the colours etc and it was a lot cheaper than neon Here again , with a diode system, the secret is to use thick acrylic.
Due to materials etc , these signs are expensive. I have seen cheap look alikes , but its never the same effect. We use these in very upmarket venues , like reception desks at 4-5 star hotels , banks , upmarket resaurants etc due to the cost.
A small 380 x 450 standing cosign can be well in excess of 120 quid.
http://www.cosign.be/
go to the section called SOLAR

[john6512]

Rodney

Thanks for your comments. We are lucky as we can laser engrave and cut acrylic up to 20mm thick so I think we have that one sorted.

You say the diodes are better than LED, but from my electronics days LEDS and light emitting diodes so are they not the same thing ?

Robert

thanks for your comments – their site looks good and I have emailed them – do you know of any companies in the UK.

[Adrian Hewson]

HI guys

Sign company second string on the bow here 25 years in electronics, would guess Rodney is talking about laser diodes which are quire a different thing form LED’s (Light Emitting Diodes)

Regards Adrian

[Nicola McIntosh]

quote signco:

25 years in electronics,

so your a good electrician !! 😛 😉

Nik

[Adrian Hewson]

Electricians are to the installation of wiring and electrial devices mainly pertaining to 240V or 440V if three phase. Electronics is more abot the 12V down to 3V and lower on printed circuit boards, similar sounding jobs world apart

Regards Adrian

[Nicola McIntosh]

so is signmaking!! 😛 😛

Nik

[Rodney Gold]

The diodes Im talking about are tiny solid white surface mounted things with a flat face , they dont have lenses and are about 5mm x 5mm square , VERY bright. I am a total cretin when it comes to electronics however , so cant give you any more info than that. I will take a digital pic of one and post it , on monday.