Neon Light Signs

[david656]

Howdy all, happy new year to everyone. In the coming years I'll be converting my detached garage into a small home arcade/game room. approx 5.8m by 4.5m in size.

I want an 80s/90s theme to it and for me a bit part of that is neon lights and old brand logos mixed in with game characters etc etc.

Getting signs blown in actual glass is costly and it seems buying some of these old signs can be at the £500 mark. There are companies that do LED neon rope equivalents and they can be at the £200/300 mark, which is better, but why pay that if you can build them yourself?

As an example this Marlboro neon light.

Here is a raster of my vector drawing:

This is a random google link that loosely shows what I mean: https://www.gindestarled.com/how-to-your-build-your-own-led-neon-signs/

Would the community be interested in this? If it was replica arcade neons? Would they be interested in buying them 'done' at a better price. maybe just buying the clear acrylic backboard for DIY, or maybe kits for home assembly with the neon rope included etc.

I'm thinking about covering the entire ceiling in different neon lights as i've found so many great designs I'd like.

I'd be interested in everyones thoughts

 

[K1ngarth3r]

Sounds like a great idea to me, looking forward to seeing what designs you come up with and how well they turn out.

 

[muddymusic]

Sounds like a great idea!

 

[Buttonbasher]

Def would be interested in this

 

[jinq-sea]

Interesting! I actually have a couple of 'real' neon signs, one of which my wife spent some considerable time tracking down. I'd be interested in some more for the games room.

 

[Alpha1]

Interesting!

I just had this made.

https://sculptneonsigns.co.uk/products/taito-neon-signAlpha12022-01-06 17:52:57

 

[jasonm737]

Interested to see what you come up with. Maybe not just arcade game wise either....pinball signs for Bally/Williams/Stern etc would be nice to see.

 

[strykr]

Def interested, good gap in the market there if the price is right.

 

[david656]

Interested to see what you come up with. Maybe not just arcade game wise either....pinball signs for Bally/Williams/Stern etc would be nice to see.

Did someone ask for Pinball?

Is that the sort of thing that would interest you? I'm looking to do a Williams and a Stern one actually - do you have a design you prefer/in mind?

I've had a chat with my friend who owns the laser cutter/engraver and we are having another chat tomorrow.

Big thanks to everyone who has shown interest so quickly. Would you be interested in these totally assembled or in kit form?

 

[strykr]

Id say offering both kits and assembled would be good with a price difference.

 

[muddymusic]

Pinball ones are nice. I'd like fully assembled if I was having one, just know I'd never get around to putting it together.

Some decent places online offering the custom ones but the prices aren't far off proper glass neons for some and I know the markup must be huge.

 

[david656]

Pinball ones are nice. I'd like fully assembled if I was having one, just know I'd never get around to putting it together.

Some decent places online offering the custom ones but the prices aren't far off proper glass neons for some and I know the markup must be huge.

Agreed the prices online is just beyond a joke, and as you say the prices aren't that far off proper glass ones sometimes! I'd love to go with neon glass personally, but apparently they're quite power hungry as well. I'm sure a 100 neon glass signs plugged in at once would be fun! I'm also sure when someone inevitably walks into it or jumps into it and it smashes I'll be very very upset!

I think the most price competitive way to offer it would be as a kit, but i also appreciate people just want the end product. I need to get some tests done, build up a sign or two to get indictive costs and then come back to you all. I'm even toying with the idea of investing in a reasonable sized laser cutter myself as I'd love to support the community more with products that are being charged out at an unreasonable mark-up.

Is there any designs people would like as a priority?

 

[Vinegar Joe]

Are these the same technology as the ones from John Lewis? https://www.johnlewis.com/john-lewis-partners-neon-robin-light-multi/p5399571

If so I have a few and they're great; not quite the real thing but very close and you get that lovely 'glow' without the insane power consumption!

Although I thought £35 was a bit much

 

[david656]

Are these the same technology as the ones from John Lewis? https://www.johnlewis.com/john-lewis-partners-neon-robin-light-multi/p5399571

If so I have a few and they're great; not quite the real thing but very close and you get that lovely 'glow' without the insane power consumption!

Although I thought £35 was a bit much

I should imagine it would be similar technology for sure. the complication comes with the designs we want. the work flow (or milestones are)

Pick design

Vector draw the design

cutout and engrave the design to acrylic sheet

using a specific type of clue, shape/cut/fit the neon LED rope to the acrylic sheet

solder and feed through connecting wires on the rear of the sign.

bang a flylead and barrel socket on it, connect to a power supply/dimmer system of your choice.

It sounds simple in principle, but I can see it taking hours and hours to shape, glue and solder all the wires for the neon LED rope. Now there is a new version coming on the market that has a wedge shape on the rear, that can just be slotted in a routed groove meaning minimal gluing. however you'd need a CNC router to cut the groove and ideally you'd want to laser cut the external edging of the acrylic so you don't have machine marks you need to sand smooth.

At the moment I'm just trying to get over the hump of getting one made up. seeing how long it takes me, seeing what the end result looks like. In an ideal world a mix of laser cutting and CNC routing would get the best result backing plate. But casually buying both machines is quite an expense, you would need good zeroing on the machine beds to make sure your routing and cutting line up nicely etc.

It's all doable, but it's checking the end product, it's checking appetite, it's checking what people feel comfortable paying.

I'd be looking at a slightly inflated price for eBay and a reasonable price for forum members if I can pull this off.