ANSWERS : Workshop

I basically want to make A Custom LED Name Plate
My Ideas:
A Metal Plate.
Very Small Sized Drilling In the Plate To show the Name and Address
A Circuit Board Full of "COLOR CHANGING LED's"(Which Changes Color every 5-10 secs
A seal to be fitted between the panel and the Led Panel Box(How do i make a box?)
Sealed To Ensure Its Water Proof
Voltage Input:Better To be AC....

I can make the Metal Plate very easily but, "Expert People" please please help me how to make the LED circuit board and the LED panel Box???
How to make the holes Visible to Ensure Light passes and It Has yet to be Totally Water Proof(The LED panel and the perforated Plate)....
And how to Properly Fit (Whole Unit) it with the Pillar To make it Water Proof and bug proof.....

Please help me out....Any guidance shall be highly appreciated.....
 

Comments

[Josehf Murchison]

Just about any plastic or painted metal box sealed with silcone calking will do for the box.
As for the Leds if you want the leds to come on when the sun goes down and turn off when the sun comes up.start with a step down transformer and a photodiode, photoresistor, or a phototransistor circuit somthing like this to turn the Leds on and off.
To be more concice I would need the number of leds and house voltage.
Joe

[freakyqwerty]

http://www.instructables.com/id/Twin-screen-edge-lit-sign/

Doing this but not twin screened may work. You could use some RGB LEDs too i supose...

[jbaker22]

An Acrylic sheet and fast epoxy can help make the box. Does this help you with controlling it? http://www.leddoes.com/

[sheryardk95]

Basically I just have to fix it once In the Concrete pillar(Where it's to be fitted) and it should have an automatic Lightning Circuit And A simple On/Off Switch....

[jbaker22]

I don't know how simple this is. This is the link I meant to give.
http://www.leddoes.com/product/3084-95196614-mtf-a-led-display-controller-card-single-and-dual-color-support-wholesalers.html?sa=X&ei=aVLfT5uaJ4T46QH-v5TECw&ved=0CJgBEIMIMAc

[sheryardk95]

Thank you for the link but its for people who live In US and i am in Pakistan... :)

[jbaker22]

Do you have an ebay account and how much will you spend for this display??

[tgferreira184]

you can use RGB LED's and a arduino.
RGB LED's contain 3 colors (red, green and blue) which can be on all at once, a color each time or none. to wire it solder each color's pin in all LED's (on the plate, letter or whatever you want) to the same wire and ground, connect it to arduino, programm it and you're done. to programm the arduino google code list for arduino or ask in instructables, then just connect your computer to arduino and upload the code.

[huck alexander]

Does each LED need to change colors every 5 seconds independently, or can this be accomplished by having each number or letter change colors as a whole?

You might save a load of time by wiring each number in series, and then controlling them from there. This could easily be accomplished with an arduino (~$20-25) and some 3 color LEDS (RYG - Digikey ~$2.71), and common compenents. What's your budget?

How many digits are we talking about? How many color option are required? What is your desired power source?

[sheryardk95]

First of All "THANK YOU" for the reply...
I am not IN USA..As i am from Pakistan....
I was thinking Is It Possible that each Alphabet Has Different Order of Color e.g A B C here 'A' has Different Color (Changing) and Similarly 'B' has a Different Color (Changing Color with a different Order not same as 'A' Similarly after every 3-4 Alphabets this order repeats...
And I don't know that how much colors are available In An LED??
And The Power source,,I had rather Prefer AC if there's an option or DC 12V Adapter..But AC might produce surge which would ruin it....Please suggest which source....
Exactly the Digits are:
Large Font: AZAM RASHID 2/6
Small Font: ZAHOOR AFRIDI ROAD

Now i am still confused how to choose the color combination,order etc
What is an arduino?? And Budget is not a problem I want to make the circuit reliable and long lasting.....

[huck alexander]

That's a fair amount of letters for the sign. How large will the large letters be, and how small will the small letters be?

To begin your project, I would make a layout from paper or cardboard. Write out the lettering as required, and decide how far the LED's will be spaced out. For example, an "A" could be made small 8 or so LED's, but to make it clearly visible, you may want to make something with more like 14 or 15 LED's. Once you determine how the letters should look, mark their location on your layout.

An Arduino is a micro-controller module that helps "automate" electronics (in addition to being able to do much more). *See http://www.arduino.cc/en/

Do a quick search on instructables for ideas. Something like http://www.instructables.com/id/Custom-LED-Sign/ may be helpful in coming up with a design.

How stable is your AC? You mentioned surges, are these common? If needed, filters could be built to block the brief voltage spikes from the electronics.

[sheryardk95]

Yes there are surges as whenever the light goes out and then the other power sources turn on then a little surge goes on for about 2 mins which is enough time to ruin the circuits...So for this reason we will have to apply some filters or relays...

[huck alexander]

You could design how the letters will look by using graph paper and a pencil. For example, you could lay out the "A" with 14 LED's in a way like this (or with any font or writing style you choose).

[sheryardk95]

It's not that necessary that we put no. Of LED's equal to the number of Drills in each letter....we can add 14-20 LEDs in each letter as every letter has different Dimensions... We can make a specific area for LEDs required on each letter so that it doesn't get mixed with the next set of LEDs required on the next Letter....

[sheryardk95]

I was just having a change of mind...how about if I make a through visible letter without doing drills and just cutting the letter through the metal plate and place a plastic sheet all around the back of the plate and then put a circuit on back of it so that more light becomes visible........

OR

The drilling....About the drilling I think that we should do tiny drilling of Diameter of ~2mm or so...,,,As I don't want the drilling large enough that the LED bulb becomes visible.....
Again your suggestions needed!!

[huck alexander]

Just to be clear, your new idea would be more like a kind of like a "light box"?

The letters would be cut out of the front plate, the LED's would be mounted on the second plate? Is this close to your vision?

Don't mind the sloppy photoshop, but is this similar to what you are thinking?

[rickharris]

You only need 1 or 2 colour changing LEDs at the edge of an acrylic plate - Mark the name with a small drill - Print out the name and put the acrylic over the print out so you have something to copy neatly.

The LEDS will make the drilled marks glow with colour.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Easy-Mood-light/

[sheryardk95]

I still don't get it,,,As per your saying am I still Be using the Metal Plate or Acrylic Plate,,,,And whats Acrylic Plate...Could you please show some images and videos on what you say....Thanks For the Reply

[rickharris]

Commercial examples of edge lit acrylic

the principle is simple the LED will shine light into the edge of the acrylic, this light will shine out anywhere if the surface of the acrylic is broken, drilled, scratched, engraved.

[sheryardk95]

I understand the Acrylic thing,,But I Dont like it though..I just need to make a metal plate lay out....And a Circuit on back of it...
Thanks anyway.... :-)

[rickharris]

there is even an instructable