DIY Vintage Light Up Marquee Letters

Step 7: Drill holes for lights

I had to get some help here.  Thanks to the help of mikeasaurus, he showed me how to use the drill press to get the perfect hole.  I pre marked where each light would go in advance and used a template to be sure the holes lined up.  Since the lights I got were thicker in some spots, I had to basically drill two holes for the opening of the letter:
a hole on the front facing part of each letter that was just large enough to let the light poke through
a hole on the back facing part of the light that was larger, and wide enough to let the lights pass through

I drilled the smaller whole through the letter.  Once that was done, I flipped the letter over, and drilled into that same hole, but only 2/3rds the way through, and at a wider diameter.  See pics below with notes in case what I just said above made zero sense.  And considering my previous background in woodworking, I'm sure none of it was clear.

A little fun trick that we tried (and when I say "we", I mean "Mike all the way")?  After all the holes were drilled, we put a dremel bit in the drill pressed and used that as a sanding piece! 

Comments

[shaunyloo]

Hello, this project turned out amazing! Can you please tell me where you purchased such tiny bulbs like that.. and the size?

~Thanks~

[angelabchua]

Thanks so much! The letters look great in my friends nursery! I got te lights from 1000bulbs.com. Each string was $8 and had 20 lights per string. Just right for this project!

These are the lights I got:

"Product: BRS-3902500 (20) Bulbs - LED - Warm White Miniature Wide Angle Rice Lights - Length 7 ft. - Bulb Spacing 4 in. - Green Wire - Battery Operated - Indoor Only"