How do they Do This?

[Robert Lambie]

ok quick guess…

this is a very rough explanation and i cant for the life of me remember who was selling it but we had a few quotes from them, maybe it will jog someones memory.

there is an acrylic, the stuff i was looking at was about 10-15mm thick.
it had embedded LED’s within the acrylic and all it required to illuminate bright, was a a single wire/power source.
you could have the acrylic cut into any shape, logo, size etc and illuminate the whole thing by adding a simply power source. downside was you couldnt buy the acrylic you had to send the vector file and the company router cut it for you and supplied.

so in short… if no visible led’s etc then its probably done using this product.
to run the power source and hide it they could probably run one of these thin black wires down between the JOIN of the glass panels into one letter which will illuminate the whole sheet of acrylic as the letters are all joined in the script font?

anyway, its a guess from a picture for me… :lol1: :lol1:

[Phill Fenton]

It’s a process known as magnetic field plasma induction. Basically the lettering contains an inert gas such as argon or neon – but instead of being excited by an electrical current in the same way as neon signs – the gas molecules are excited by a close proximity magnetic field. This magnetic field is created by wiring running the perimeter of the glass which turns the frame holding the glass in place into one big electromagnet. Thus no wires need to be connected to the actual letters since the magnetic field in close proximity to the lettering is enough to cause the ionised gas inside the letters to give off visible light 😮

[Ian Jenkin]

We were involved in a near replica of that sign, but through our electrical business, not the sign business unfortunately.

Magnetic "gas" if you like, is correct 😀

Just having another thought on it, is it possible that 2 sheets of accrylic can cause an optical illusion to hide a wire???

[Phill Fenton]

quote Phill:

It’s a process known as magnetic field plasma induction. Basically the lettering contains an inert gas such as argon or neon – but instead of being excited by an electrical current in the same way as neon signs – the gas molecules are excited by a close proximity magnetic field. This magnetic field is created by wiring running the perimeter of the glass which turns the frame holding the glass in place into one big electromagnet. Thus no wires need to be connected to the actual letters since the magnetic field in close proximity to the lettering is enough to cause the ionised gas inside the letters to give off visible light 😮

And if you believe that… you’ll believe anything 😕 :lol1: :lol1:

[Ian Jenkin]

lol @ Phill,

We have a chap who produces some weirdly wonderful lighting solutions for people all over britain, but put an LED Fluorescent tube in front of him and he looks like a mexican reading the Sun.

[Glenn Sharp]

quote Phill:

It’s a process known as magnetic field plasma induction. Basically the lettering contains an inert gas such as argon or neon – but instead of being excited by an electrical current in the same way as neon signs – the gas molecules are excited by a close proximity magnetic field. This magnetic field is created by wiring running the perimeter of the glass which turns the frame holding the glass in place into one big electromagnet. Thus no wires need to be connected to the actual letters since the magnetic field in close proximity to the lettering is enough to cause the ionised gas inside the letters to give off visible light 😮

that’s up there with your spray on application tape 😮

[Ian Jenkin]

Has Phill got any sky hooks left?

[Hugh Potter]

i didn’t download the whole pic, made me feel ill, what were they thinking with that background? 🙁 😕

good answer Phil,

[James Langton]

I would of thought they would of gone for Robs method.

What would be the point of them going to the cost of having "magnetic" gas so that a one of us can look at it for 15mins and wonder how they do it.

And looking at that photo it does half look like there are wires contained within that gap.

James

[Robert Lambie]

i did a quick google on this one and although its definitely NOT the acrylic sheet i was getting quotes for, it does a very similar job.

Click Here to view…

[Phill Fenton]

Rob

I’ll "see" your "LED with concealed wiring" explanation and raise it twofold with my magnetic induction plasma theory….you can read about it more here:-
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2007JPhD…40.5912L

[David Rowland]

interesting…. going back to robs post above, I remember that sheet from signuk, it was impressive.

with regards the floating LED… no idea.

[John Singh]

What they use to stick the logo to the window?

[Robert Lambie]

quote Phill:

Rob

I’ll “see” your “LED with concealed wiring” explanation and raise it twofold with my magnetic induction plasma theory….you can read about it more here:-
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2007JPhD…40.5912L

:lol1: :lol1: :lol1: :lol1: :lol1: :lol1:

Dave, it was very neat… i was well impressed but not as much as i was with the price! i was looking for about 15 letters about 16" high in white about 10mm thick… just flat cut acrylic with the magical embedded light source of course. they quoted me about £9k for the letters. 😕
still loved the finish/look of them but simply wouldn’t get any clients i use to pay that sort of money when alternative methods were so much cheaper. bear in mind i still have to complete the signage and put a markup on it all… 🙄

[Robert Lambie]

quote John Singh:

What they use to stick the logo to the window?

they could have used a UV glass adhesive where they apply the adhesive to the rear of the letters and move into position and fix using a temp fixing such as glass suction grips/clamps.
once being held in place you run a hand held UV Lamp over the rear of the letters and it will cure in about 10-30 seconds, SOLID!

this same method is used to fix clear glass shelf’s directly to windows and mirrors only held by the edge of the shelf in contact with the glass. its a very strong bond as you can imagine.

It is also used to apply crystal diamond bevels to glass panels for decorative lead work for homes and offices. same curing procedure.

at least i would assume this is how it would be fixed without any visible fixings or adhesive.
😀

[John Singh]

Cheese and Bread!

That has to be some adhesive!
I’ve never seen shelves stuck to windows by this method

Of course it would have to dry ‘clear’ and be ‘blob’ free for it not to mar the final appearance

[Chris Wool]

quote :

Of course it would have to dry ‘clear’ and be ‘blob’ free for it not to mar the final appearance

it works as rob says the lads in the glass shop over the road to me do it, it really is amazing and so clear.

chris

[Robert Lambie]

yeh, i have worked for years with the stuff John. there is a level of skill in being able to do it right. you need to be able to chase out any minute air bubbles in the adhesive and position the glass perfect before curing because like i said. once that uv lamp hits it, it goes off in a split second and 100% in 10-30 seconds. once its on there is absolutely no chance of getting it off.

here is a link to an old thread i posted in 2003.
the post is based on some glass etch work i did around that time around glasgow. if you scroll down to the "interior" view of the "mark hill shop"
you will see a stack of glass shelves within some glass etch work i did.
look closer and you will see there is zero fixings or cables holding these shelfs on the window.
these shelves were placed there in the same way i have mentioned above and done "on-site".

https://www.uksignboards.com/viewtopic.p … 81&start=0

.

[John Singh]

Yep!
I can see those shelves
Incredible! Cracking Stuff! Plain to see!

The other stuff was great to see as well

[Gert du Preez]

Cr@p font……don’t let the pretty lights dazzle you…..