Quick LED birthday sign

So going to my service Chief’s 50th birthday party today, and the invite said only bring “joke” gifts, but he’s not the joke gift type, so I figured a cool LED sign was the thing. So a sheet of :proofgrade: 1/8" clear acrylic and one of those LED bases I got, and it looks really nice. I made the circular pattern in OnShape along with the sign outline (I am sure one can design this exactly in AI but it’s so much easier in CAD as absolute and relative positioning is the thing CAD does super well. I thought the circular pattern would make a nice sparkle effect (it does). I didn’t put the cut outs along the bottom (OnShape did, but I deleted them in AI) since I figured that would block transmission of the light up to the letters?

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I’ll bet that’s his favorite “joke” gift! :grinning::+1:

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That’s one gift I would be thrilled to receive! Great job!:glowforge::grinning:

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Hey, I like that sparkle idea! Stealing it.

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Wow, so many cool things to do and so little time. I’ve got to break my habit of sleeping and do some edge lit work!

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It would have been interesting if you turned up with a rubber chicken and they were like “we said bring JOE gifts!”

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Really nice gift! I think leaving the pattern off the bottom was a good call. The shading effect is slight but noticeable. You wanted the text to be the center of attention, and that way it is as bright as can be.
Yeah, I bought the dozen deal for just such occasions. Next event in his life, just engrave another appropriate plug in!

Curious how you made the acrylic secure in the base?

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It’s a tight friction fit

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Where are those led bases from? I was considering just making my own for a Christmas gift, but those might be a more economical option

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The ones recommended by @kittski here

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I’m sure he’ll love it! I agree, deleting the cuts along the bottom probably best route to go.

LED’s are great!

Oh, the ones I got have a 3/16th slot. I didn’t notice an option when ordering. Thanks!

here is the dxf so you can modify for the base (cut the top off)
LED round Sign with holes.dxf.zip (15.7 KB)

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Not an LED sign but a gag gift for a couple friends. About 5 minutes in Affinity and 27 minutes in the Glowforge.

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Nice! I see you are using the masking as a design element.

Great sign! Chuckle! :smile:

It really does make some things stand out better.
OK, it is only because I cannot paint.

So much fun! Great sign! Don’t you just love the insta-gift concept? I’m loving Affinity more and more, too. Still hoping they come out with a feature like auto trace, though.

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