Mike's Workshop Notebook

Daylight Sign

Based on a clever design from Dan's Loco Works utilizing electroluminescence wire to simulate a neon sign. Electroluminescence wire consists of a copper core coated with phosphor, wrapped with fine wires. When powered by an inverter, the phosphor emits a cool, 360° glow, resembling neon light. I needed a project to test my newly built CNC Mill. The sign seemed like an ideal candidate. A useful project, somewhat complex, but flat in profile with minimal tool changes. I traced an uploaded image in Fusion 360. Then used the "manufacturing" features of Fusion to create a gcode machining file. The gcode file was then loaded onto the Mill and the cycle button pressed! The electroluminescence wire is powered for hours by a single AA battery.

Photos

Daylight Sign
A pic of the SP Observation Car tail-end showing the neon sign. (Pic from spdaylight.net)
Daylight Sign
A hand drilled aluminum blank used to test the electroluminescence concept. Looked encouraging, so I proceeded to make up a drawing and mill a more accurate blank.
Daylight Sign
Another prototype to verify the gcode program and test the fit of the electroluminescence wire. Note how the wire fits into the channels, creating clean straight lines and curves. Nice!
Daylight Sign
Steel was chosen for the blank to avoid the pains of machining "gummy" aluminum. This was the first project machined on the new CNC mill and turned out fairly well. A coil of electroluminescence wire waiting to serve its role. Once the weather warms up, the blank will be painted and wire threaded through the channels and various access holes.
Daylight Sign
The sign is complete—and I’m pleased with how it turned out.

I initially tried to secure the electroluminescent wire in the grooves using superglue, but that quickly turned into more trouble than it was worth. I stopped early on and decided a glass cover plate would do a much better job of holding the wire cleanly in place.

The slots themselves were milled to about half the diameter of the wire, which worked, but in hindsight, cutting them a bit deeper would have made installation easier and improved retention.