For the larp Do Androids Dream we needed a lot of small props to give a Blade Runner feeling of the scene.
Small lit up signs would give that Hong Kong look that is so common in Blade Runner. Carl Nordblom, the set designer, had some ideas about how the sign should look, and had found some sample pictures.

From the sample pictures I got an idea of how to produce a design. And from that idea I started to make a CAD-design.
The finished design ended up being almost exactly like the CAD-design.
Here is the Drawing of the Round Sign (Do Androids Dream).pdf

Small wooden block for holding a aluminium plate in a slot.

The wooden blocks attached on to a sheet of flexible PET plastic.
The sheet is bent around the round aluminum plate with the help of the slots.

The PET ring is transparent with a blue tint which would not be fitting in a light fixture. So we painted the PET ring in black to make it opaque.

Warm white 5050 LED strip was glued on to the aluminium plate.
9×6 strips with 54 LED’s on each side makes 108 LED’s in total
108 * 20mA = 2.16A
2.16A * 12V = 26W

The LED strips is driven by 12V that comes in from JST-connector.
But the sign is supposed to look like an old florescent light, so to give that look the light should look like it flicker occasionally.
I hooked up an N-channel MOSFET IRLML6344 and connected it to a Arduino Nano for timing the random flickering.

A big steel angle attached to the heavy aluminium plate of the sign, this is used for screwing the signs to a wall. Also the JST power connector, hidden in black heat shrink tubing.

In the outer sides of the sign round white acrylic plates will be inserted. They will rest against the wooden blocks and hold back by small sprints.
Each side of the sign is mirrored, so one sign have two faces.
The light is powerful enough to project through the white acrylic plastic. And with opaque paint on top will make a huge contrast perfect for a sign.