How Are LED Neon Signs Made?

What is LED neon flex, and how does it work?

LED neon flex is a continuous line of LEDs inside a flexible jacket of silicone or PVC. The jacket diffuses the light so the line glows like a tube of glass neon, but there is no neon gas inside; the sign industry sells it as a neon replacement, sometimes called faux neon^[1][2][3].

Makers diffuse the light in different ways: one sign-industry range uses a two-colour silicone extrusion, while another pairs its LEDs with a separate light guide^[2][1].

Usually the LEDs are small surface-mount (SMD) chips on a flexible circuit, running on low-voltage direct current from a separate power supply, or driver, which converts mains AC^[1][4][5]. Sign-industry lines commonly run at 24V, and 12V lines exist too^[1][5]. The Glownique's signs run at 12V from a plug-in adaptor.

What is an LED neon sign made of?

A finished Glownique sign has five parts:

LED neon

Flexible silicone LED neon, hand-bent to trace every letter and curve of your design.

Backboard

Cast acrylic in clear, frosted or a colour, laser-cut to a square, to the shape of the design or around each letter.

Wiring

Soldered connections and concealed, cable-managed wiring, so the lit sign seems to float.

Power supply

A low-voltage 12V plug-and-play adaptor, supplied for your country.

Mounting hardware

Wall standoffs for the pre-drilled backboard, or a hanging kit, so the sign arrives ready to hang.

Cast acrylic is made one sheet at a time between glass plates rather than extruded continuously^[6]. One major acrylic maker puts it at about half the weight of glass, with 10 to 20 times the impact strength of ordinary plate glass. It can still break, though into large pieces rather than sharp shards, it scratches more easily than glass, and many glass cleaners are unsuitable for it^[7].

Sizes, colours and the full specification are on our custom LED neon signs page.

How are LED neon signs made, step by step?

Every sign is made to order, whether it is a name for a bedroom wall or one of our logo neon signs for business. From first message to crate, this is the process:

1. Send your brief. Share whatever you have: a logo file, a font idea, brand colours or a rough sketch, as AI, SVG, PDF, PNG or a photo. Tell us about the wall space and whether the sign will hang indoors or out, and we'll advise on the sign type and size. Indoor is standard and an outdoor build is available; our guide to indoor vs outdoor signs explains the difference.
2. Get your free design mockup. A true-to-scale digital proof shows the exact dimensions, colours, backboard cutlines and how the sign will look lit. Our sign size guide helps you choose a size.
3. Approve your quote. Your quote comes through WhatsApp and covers the sign, its mounting hardware and tracked shipping, so the shipping cost is confirmed before you pay.
4. Pay through Etsy. You pay only once you've approved your design, through our Etsy shop, where eligible orders are covered by Etsy Purchase Protection. Handcrafting begins once payment is confirmed.
5. Build it in the workshop. We map the tubing path, laser-cut the backboard, hand-bend the neon, mount it, solder every connection and conceal the wiring. The table below explains each step.
6. Test it. Every sign is bench-tested and runs a continuous 24-hour burn-in, explained below.
7. Pack and ship it. Cradled in high-density foam inside a timber crate, with its 12V adaptor for your country and the mounting hardware, the sign goes out with tracked delivery worldwide. Our shipping page has the details.

Which backboard cut suits your sign?

Every sign sits on a laser-cut acrylic backboard, and the cut changes the whole character of the piece. There are three.

Not sure which suits your design? The free mockup can show it all three ways.

What colours can an LED neon sign be?

We make LED neon in 13 solid colours: warm white, cold white, light yellow, yellow, orange, red, light pink, hot pink, purple, dark blue, ice blue, teal and green. Or choose RGB colour-change and add an RGB controller to switch shades, dim, pulse or flash at the touch of a button.

Some LED neon colours come from coloured LEDs, others from white LEDs behind a colour-matched silicone jacket, and the method affects efficiency and colour consistency^[2]. Your mockup shows the design lit, in your chosen colours, before you order.

For a detailed, multi-colour logo, our UV-printed acrylic signs print the artwork in full colour onto the acrylic with a UV flatbed, and LED neon lights the contours and key elements.

How is each sign tested before it's packed?

Every sign is built on long-life LEDs and electrically tested before it leaves the workshop. It is bench-tested for an even, flicker-free glow and runs a continuous 24-hour burn-in that checks its electrics and brightness. Only then is it packed.

Can you make your own LED neon sign?

Yes. LED neon flex can be cut and formed on site, and sign shops report it is easier to install and service^[4][3]. A DIY build comes down to four things:

• Cut only at the marked cut points. Each product has cut points set by its maker, and the spacing varies: 3 inches on one sign-industry line, 100 mm on another, about 500 mm on a mains-voltage product^[1][2][11].
• Stay within the bend limit. Every product has a minimum bend radius or diameter, such as a 60 mm radius on one strip and a 90 mm diameter on another, and that sets the tightest curve your lettering can take^[2][5].
• Make and seal every connection. Each cut leaves an end to connect and seal; makers use silicone end caps and silicone adhesive^[2][4]. Connections, power supplies and moisture getting in are common failure points in LED systems^[8][9]. In our workshop, every connection is soldered.
• Match the power supply. The strip needs a separate supply that converts mains AC to the low-voltage DC it is built for, commonly 24V in sign products and sometimes 12V^[1][2][5]. How long a run one supply can feed is limited by its load and by voltage drop; one maker allows up to 7.3 metres per 96-watt supply^[2]. And not all LED neon is low voltage: some runs directly on 120V mains^[11].

Those are the rules of the material, not a wiring guide: work to the datasheet for the exact product you buy. And if it is the finished sign you want rather than the project, send us the design; the mockup is free.

How is glass neon made differently?

Glass neon is a different craft. A skilled glass bender shapes hot glass tubing by hand; the tube, with an electrode at each end, is purified by heating the glass and electrodes to burn off impurities, then evacuated and filled with neon or argon gas^[12]. It glows when high voltage drives current through the gas, and US neon transformers typically deliver 1,000 to 15,000 volts^[12][13]. Neon gas glows red and mercury-argon glows blue; other colours come from coloured glass and phosphor coatings inside the tube^[12][14].

LED neon has no glass tubes to break^[4][3], and a Glownique sign has no gas and no high-voltage transformer. Glass neon has strengths of its own: the gas does not wear out, and the US National Park Service puts a typical neon sign's life at 20 to 25 years^[12]. Our LED neon vs glass neon guide compares the two in full.