Custom “Neon” Pub Sign

As cool as they are old-school neon signs, which require a rather large amount of voltage to operate and specialized skill to shape, seem to be going the way of the dinosaur. However, although they might not have the exact sort of glow as neon, there is an LED equivalent. As spotted on Reddit, they were used to build a S-A-L-O-O-N sign with an animated cowgirl for display at a pub.

The project write-up goes over construction of this sign in some detail, with a few tips that should be helpful for anyone that wants to make something similar. Creator Max Danilin (AKA “gabbapeople”) drew out this cowgirl, with extra lines to show her winking and lifting a beer mug up where it spills a little. He notes that the drawing should be as easy as possible while still being informative, and that the length of each line needs to be a multiple of the minimum cut length. Once designed, the plywood base was cut out, and the cut-to-length strips were attached with the help of nails on either side. Holes were drilled for wiring to run to the back, creating a very clean look.

The device is controlled by an Arduino Uno, programmed with the XOD visual programming environment. Each light segment is switched on using a pair of 8-channel MOSFET switching boards, daisy-chained together to drive up to 16 lights (though only 13 lights were used). It’s a beautiful display and a relatively simple electronics setup, which will hopefully inspire other such luminescent projects!