I designed my [AW initials logo] in 2009, It’s the favicon for this site too!

For this project of making a neon-style light using the design, I didn’t plan the whole process out and just took it step by step. I mainly wanted to start off making it kind of big, not really sure what LED strips I’d end up using or how well the sizing would work. I printed the backing frame in gray filament. One change I made while printing was not splitting the bottom at 50% like I did for the top, since the front cover also splits at 50%, which made that joint a bit flimsy. I also wasn’t too sure what I’d do with the gaps or how I’d handle the wiring between the cross in the “A” and the link between the “A” and “W” until I started soldering it all together.

I’d had the parts printed for a little while before ordering a 3 meter COB LED strip. The LEDs are close together and nicely diffused, but each cut section is about 5 cm, something I didn’t account for, so the corners and gaps around the A and W ended up unlit. The filament is glow in the dark too, so when it charges up, those same gaps are noticeable in the glow (middle picture below).

So yeah, it’s got some hot glue… and popsicle sticks 🙈 holding it all together, but for a first prototype, it almost turned out how I’d imagined!