The process of making neon signs has changed very little over the past century, and is arguably one of the last manufacturing processes that requires manual skill. It is a specialist sign-making process.
Please take a look through our sequence to discover how neon signs are made.
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Step 1
We work from a given design or make a design ourselves.
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Step 2
A full size ‘glass’ drawing is created from the artwork. This is always made in reverse, so that when the sign is made, the parts that need to be hidden are at the back.
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Step 3
A straight piece of glass tubing is measured against the drawing, and marked in the places where it needs to be bent. The glass usually comes in lengths of 1.5m, and diameters ranging from 8mm to 25mm. We mainly use 10mm diameter for our work.
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Step 4
The straight piece of glass tubing is heated in a flame. Depending on the colour of the sign, either clear glass, powder coated glass, or coloured glass is used.
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Step 5
Keeping the glass in the hot flame, the glass is bent into the required shape.
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Step 6
Once the required shape has been made, it is put into a cooler flame to help the glass cool down quickly.
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Step 7
The bent glass is continually matched against the drawing to ensure that the design is replicated.
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Step 8
Sometimes, if there are lots of small letters, these may be made individually, and then joined together to make one piece or section. This is done by heating the glass up on both sections and fusing them together.
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Step 9
Electrodes are put onto both ends of each section of glass.
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Step 10
Air is removed from the glass sections by a vacuum pump, and then the tube is subjected to high voltage electricity, making the tubes and the electrodes get very hot.
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Step 11
The sections of glass are then pumped with either neon or argon gas, depending on the final colour of the sign. The majority of colours use argon gas, with red being the main colour that uses neon gas.
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Step 12
The pumped sections of glass are then hung up in the ageing bay and connected to a transformer. This is for the process of ‘ageing in’, to ensure that the gases have burnt in enough.
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Step 13
Parts of the glass section are then painted with block out paint so that light does not shine through these parts. These are generally the backs of the letters, and the spaces between the letters (if it is not joined up style writing).
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Step 14
The neon then needs to be assembled. We usually do this into an acrylic case, or onto an acrylic panel. Tube supports, a transformer, silicone end covers, and HT cable are used in the assembly process.
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Step 15
The transformer is fixed onto the backing panel or inside the acrylic case.
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Step 16
Tube supports are fixed onto the backing panel to hold the neon in place.
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Step 17
The separate sections of glass tubing are wired together to make a circuit.
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Step 18
The bare wires are covered by silicone end covers, and the cables from the glass sections are then wired up to the transformer, to complete the circuit.
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Step 19
Final adjustments are made to the alignment of the sign, and the final look.
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Step 20
The finished sign is switched on! As can be seen from this sequence, neon signs are totally hand made, by a skilled craftsman.
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Step 21
The process hasn’t changed much in nearly 100 years, yet has during this time remained as one of the most (if not the most) eye catching forms of signage. At Neon Creations we are constantly striving to develop the uses of neon, and incorporate it with the use of vinyl, with mirrored products, and different types of acrylic.
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