Check out my new Christmas Tune To Sign w/backlit vinyl, lightbox, white LED ropelight for backlight

[jeffostroff 0]

It's a far cry from my ugly sign from last year. I'm almost embarrased to show it here, but everyone has to remember their roots. (A little sidebar here: If your family tree has no branches, you might bea redneck.)

Anyway here is the old sign in all its "glory". Of course th eold sign shows that we used to run the show until midnihgt. We turn it off at 10:30 PM now.

[Scott Loftus 2]

The wonderful world of Duct tape. :laughing:

* If your christmas display has got more feet or duct tape in it than power cords - You might be a Redneck.

Sorry to get off track, but could not resist.

[i1uhrace 0]

Jeff,

What type of plexiglass did you use? Clear, white, frosted?

Thanks,

Ian

[tallan 0]

Hey Jeff,

I'm a bit relieved now after seeing your sign. It's very simular to my current one and I can tell already it's not really that visable right now. I'm trying to figure out what to do and that's how I ended up here.

I went with a 11x17 printout from office max then put it between some plexiglass from lowes and use 3 the treated porch rails to make the sign. It's not bad but I made the letters to small.

Thanks for the post though I am just starting so I get to experence all this great stuff!!! :waycool:

Ted

[jeffostroff 0]

I used clear Plexiglas from Lowes, down the door and window aisle, precut standard size 18” x 24”. The backlit vinyl sign sheet looks like a translucent white, so you only want to use clear Plexiglas to allow the light to shine through the translucent backlit vinyl sheet.

For the front sheet of Plexiglas, I used a thicker sturdy 1/4" sheet. Then the vinyl sign sheet is sandwiched between the front and the rear Plexiglas sheet which is only 1/8" thick. You don’t need the rear panel to be 1/4" since it's enclosed inside the light box and no one can touch it.Besides, Plexiglas is expensive, and the 1/8” sheets are a lot cheaper. The purpose of the rear piece is just to keep the vinyl sign pressed up against the front Plexiglas panel.

tallan, you want to do an 18 x 24” sign. The 8x11 is too small and not very readable for a car maybe 20 feet or more away. Don’t view your sign in front of your face, view it from 20 feet away where the cars will be driving. 18x24 is much more readable.

[mnapuran 0]

Finally started my frame for mine... Here are some pictures: http://mike.napurano.com/album/listpics.asp?dir=HouseLights%5CChristmas%5CListen+To+Sign

[jeffostroff 0]

Gorgeous Mike! Hey I'm jealous of all your wood curtting tools, I have zip, and I know even less! I used a stupid miter box to cut my thin bezel that I painted red on my sign. Miter boxes s*** canal water big time. All you folks out there listen to me, NEVER use a miter box, always go to someone you know who has an electric miter saw, and they make a perfect cut in 1/4 of a second. Learn from my frustration. You'll curse a lot less.

Are you going to paint yours or leave it natural? Any back lighting?

[NotRight 0]

Jeff... man you guys just keep raising the bar on displays! That is a truly awesome sign!

Just curious.... why 2 strings of rope lights? Looks a little crowded in there! I ask because now that I have seen yours I'm probably going to have to make something backlit like that...

- NR

[jeffostroff 0]

I just wanted more light, that's why I used 2 ropes. I wanted as much light as I could fit in there.

By making 2 concentric rings of ropelighting inside the light box, I have one whole rope light dedicated to each half of the sign, for more ummmph when you need it. My neighbor Steve and I played around for 3 hours with different Rope lights, LED white lights, white facted LED C7 strings, but the rope lights with 2 of them looked the best. We did discuss but never tested out firing a couple of flood lamps from the side into the light box. Just didn't have time to test every idea out.

[mnapuran 0]

Yea, it will be backlit. Will work on it tomorrow some more

I believe I will use an oil based stain, and probably do it green as well.

And my wood working tools are mostly at my office/shop, not here! Luckilly I still have my miter saw and my small Dewalt contractors saw, and a few of my clamps here

Biggest pain is having some stuff here and more stuff there... nothing is ever where you want it, and it's too much $ to buy 2 of everything... let alone space for it all!

[lowinhz 0]

my sign

[schristi69 0]

Where do you guys get your clip art from? Now I have to figure out how to use my Photoshop CS2!!!!!!

Scott

[jeffostroff 0]

In my case, I had the sign maker do it for me, I'm not that good with Photoshop, I just use it to edit my photos. Most sign people have the tools, software, clipart, and expertise to do this for you.

[jeffostroff 0]

PowerPoint is another program that you can use and hand over the image to sign shops as well. Photo below shows a mockup I had made up of an early version of my sign. I made it in Powerpoint and sent it to the sign maker. We then made several revs after this to arrive at the final version.

[rikonen 0]

it's kind of funny because I had one sign for the past two years and all I heard was I should have two signs pointing each direction on my street ( so I did ) and I'm up on the road and people are watching the lights and clueless that they are synchronized to music. The signs don't blink so they don't seem to look at them, they are backlit though and easy to read and see. Some people just live with blinders on I guess.

Roger

[jeffostroff 0]

Rikonen,

That's exactly what my neighbor steve said the other night! I have the exact same scenario. People are coming by my house from bothdirections, and he's always running out to tell them to tune to 100.9.

[christmasville07 0]

hi

i like your sign, good idea lighted it from the inside instead of putting a spotlight on it.

one question for you, do you remember where you got the soldier archway thats right on your walkway. i saw it at a couple of houses in my neighborhood and tryed researching where i can get it but if you know that would be helpful

thanks

christmasville07

[jeffostroff 0]

Yes, it was sold exclusively through Costco, and only at the Boca Raton, FL store in my area. 2 Other Costcos in my area did not have it. Very strange. It was $350, and HUGE and heavy. They had 4 of them in stock, sold out, and that was it. It takes 2 guys to move it, but we use 3 people to balance it better.

I have not seen it for sale anywhere else since then.

[christmasville07 0]

costco? never would of thought thank you anyway

[schristi69 0]

Your sign is 18" high by 24 " wide correct?

Scott

[jeffostroff 0]

Yes, that is the standard real estate sign dimensions. Also when you buy plexiglas at lowes, the precuts pieces are all 24 long by 18 high.