How to make EL Wire Art

This instructable shows the steps for doing EL wire art, by gluing it onto an acrylic plastic background.

Step 1: The Parts

EL wire, el wire driver - acquired from http://www.neonstring.com

Black Acrylic plastic - acquired (free scraps) from Regal Plastics in Houston

Glue/Adhesive (IPS WELD-ON 3) - acquired from Regal Plastics in Houston

Plasticator squeeze bottle applicator - acquired from Regal Plastics in Houston.

Printed image - from the Internets or your artistic ability

drill

exacto knife

EL wire soldering materials - see: http://neonstring.com/index.php?tasket=solder

Comments

[phazerave]

isnt el wire breakable if you bend it at too much of an angle? or am I mistaken. obviously you did it but is there a technique for bending it so sharply?

[GlowWireGuy]

2.5mm and 2.6mm EL wire won't break if you bend it on too sharp of an angle. What can happen is that you can end up with a little area of darkness at the bend, or you could possible break one of the hair thin radial wires. (I think the wire would still light just as brightly with just one of the radial wires intact.)

But for this Instructable, I used the tiny 1.2mm wire, aka "angel hair" wire. It seems to be much more forgiving, because I really pinched the wire to get those points as sharp-looking as I could, and there were no failures, no problems.

I knew getting sharp points with 2.5mm wire would be very iffy. On the Jack-O-Lantern, I used 2.3mm orange for the teeth, and I pinched them really hard to make the teeth look pointy... and the wire failed completely - I had to pull the EL wire off the mirror, wiggle it around until it worked, and re-glue it. So apparently, if you need to make some sharp points, 1.2mm wire is the way to go... although this Instructable here:

http://www.instructables.com/id/Removable-EL-wire-art-panels/

shows a brilliant way to get sharp looking points without actually stressing out the EL wire with any sharp bends.

[drhoff]

the one with the sequencer is especially sweet!

[GlowWireGuy]

Thanks drhoff. I like it too :)

[geraghty]

can anyone here tell me a good supplier for el wire with a good price. I am thinking of making name signs in a perspex casing and selling on a stall. but want to give the public a good resistable price. thanks for reading and hope someone can help me.

[GlowWireGuy]

I recommend NeonString.com, Coolneon.com, Coolight.com, and ElWireBestBuy.com.

[geraghty]

thanks GlowWireGuy will check them out later.

[9ale7]

great tut , specially the wiring on you're website.

[GlowWireGuy]

Hey thanks! Much appreciated! :)

[andrew.barthle]

personally i think it looks quite slick being asymmetrical like that... especially if it were hung on a wall.

[GlowWireGuy]

It would make for an interesting book cover. :)

[strmrnnr]

Question: With this EL wire - if you were to make a groove into clear acrylic and inlay the wire - would the light spread through the acrylic like fiber optics?

[GlowWireGuy]

Well the light would spread through the acrylic, but you would only see it on the edges, or in any scratches or imperfections in the acrylic. If you go here:

http://neonstring.com/index.php?tasket=videos

And look at the third video (the Jack-o-lantern one), you will see what I mean. When it shows it from behind, you can definitely see the edges illuminated.

[Shut Up Now]

do you think it would work with clear plexiglass which i would spray paint black at the end? would that work?

[GlowWireGuy]

On Wikipedia, it calls plexiglass "acrylic glass" so it might work. A plastics shop like Regal Plastics could probably help with that question.

[Ben The Builder]

I apparently wasn't totally clear, I was not really wondering how much pressure you could put on it as much as how far will it flex and if you were to use it for something that abused it, I don't know what but how resilient is it?

[Ben The Builder]

I'd love to try this some time, some things I want to know first though are, how tough is the wire? and how hard is it really to wire up, there's not a whole lot on Instructables on wiring it up and I can't tell from pictures.

[GlowWireGuy]

Well as far as tough.. you could run over it with a car and it would probably be okay. The 2.5mm stuff is the brightest, and I prefer to work with that than the skinnier 1.2mm wire used here. But I had to do those sharp points, so I used the 1.2mm. I really pinched the wire hard to get the sharpest points I could, and had no problems at all with the 1.2mm wire. When I have forced the 2.5mm wire into sharp angles, I have seen it create a black spot on the wire, or cause the wire to fail entirely. The jack-o-lantern's teeth for example, failed at first, but I wiggled it around and it came back on. (2.5mm)

As for the wiring, there are already Instructables on soldering EL wire, and I have very detailed, illustrated, step-by-step instructions on my website, here:
http://neonstring.com/index.php?tasket=solder

[danm95]

can you over charge the EL wire?

[danm95]

PS could you use a 12 volt or would it fry it?

[GlowWireGuy]

Well you can't really overcharge it. If you want to light up a 5 foot section, and want it especially bright, you can use a driver designed to light up 30 feet. You wouldn't want to light up two inches of EL wire with that same driver, because you risk frying the driver if there is not enough of a load.

Many EL wire drivers are powered by 12 volts. There are EL wire drivers that run off of two watch batteries, some that use a AAA battery, some that use an AA battery, a 9 volt battery, 12 volts (cigarette lighter plug or 8-AA battery pack), and some drivers you can plug into your household electrical outlets. It just depends on
1. How you want to power it,
and
2. How much EL wire you are powering.

There is more about EL wire here:

http://neonstring.com/index.php?tasket=faq

[Doctor What]

In the optional step 2, you might want to mention GIMP. It's much better than paint, and it's also free! (It works well too)

[Shut Up Now]

wow this is some cool stuff. seeing how cheap acrylic is, i am going to get some for a bunch of projects and hopefully i will make something with el wire too. also the last picture on the last step is awesome.

[GlowWireGuy]

Here is a video of that last one in motion:

http://www.neonstring.com/index.php?tasket=videos

[animal0307]

I wish I had seen this before I did my computer case mod. Very nice. I like the flashing.

[joejoerowley]

Amazing. I think I'm going to make one :) Thanks, Joe

[lemonie]

Is neonstring.com your company? L

[GlowWireGuy]

Yes

[lemonie]

You make some cool stuff! L

[jeff-o]

Maybe latex gloves would help a bit with the smudges. At least the smudges won't be fingerprint-y.

[GlowWireGuy]

That's a great idea, thanks. I may have to try that next time.

[jeff-o]

Maybe that clear piece was polycarbonate, which doesn't glue as easily as acrylic.

[Scott_Tx]

Nice looking. That'd be good for computer case modding too.