Plexi Chanticleer Light Up

[xxkbxx]

First things first - you probably don't know what a chanticleer is - well, it's a mythical rooster from Chauncer's Canturbury Tales, but more importantly it's the mascot of Coastal Carolina University - the model of this project.

I had a lot of time (at least a lot more free time than usual, b/c of spring break) so I wanted to plan something out and make it look nice. Well, the plan was to carve into a sheet of plexi - roughly the size of an 8.5 x 11 piece of paper the logo of Coastal Carolina University (below)

I printed out a version (the paper on the left) without color so that I could just find the parts that I wanted to cut out. After 3-4 tedious hours with a razor blade, because I couldn't find the exacto knife, I got the pieces cut and peeled off the paper over them. The actual logo was easy - just the small text (i.e. CHANTICLEERS across the bottom was horrible!)

I then took out the trust dremel with the engraving bit and worked my way through the spots I had pulled the paper up from. If you're not familiar with glow signs, the spots that you engrave or drill out will allow the light to pass because they are thinner than other areas. Upon completion the engraved areas and the edges will light up. The below picture shows it with the areas dremeled, and the paper peeled off (this is actually the finished product, but I didn't take pictures during the process)

I was orginally going to mount the glass in a stand with blue and green LED's to give off a teal light (school color) but I broke the stand when I was trying to modify it. As a result, I got a much better product by using 2 LED light bars from a REEBOK light. The light had 3 sheets of plexi (with different parts of the logo on each piece) and along the sides, there were two light bars that put out different sequences of light so the different slashes of the logo would change over a few seconds.

So, I superglued the Chanticleer into the middle last channel of the light bar (it had 3 channels) so that it would get the most wide range of light. The first and last channels went through Red, Green, and Blue, while the middle only flashed with Red. Next, I made a second sheet with "BAME" a modified version of my last name - so kind of Nick Name - to appear below the Chant and light up in different colors. After both were in place, I glued them in and lined the sides with electrical tape for a more finished look.

Here are just two pictures of the project in different colors:

*NOTE* - My video of the project will be online as soon as Google Video verifies it - it's about a 30 second clip of the lights going through different sequences so you can get the gist of it

(once again, sorry for poor quality pics and vid, they are all from my cell phone)

Let me know if you have question/comments about the process or finished product

[xxkbxx]

CHECK OUT THE VIDEO ON GOOGLE VIDEO!

[Brian_Holiday]

CHECK OUT THE VIDEO ON GOOGLE VIDEO!

Really nice, I am impressed. Your best work so far!

BH

[xxkbxx]

It's amazing what happens when you actually have plans before you start cutting (even though I had this one 1/2 planned out)

Meanwhile - tonight I build a custom speaker enclosure for my vehicle

[davisbaumung]

Nice I like it. The video was cool

[davisbaumung]

One question why diid you write BAME on it?

[xxkbxx]

Boehm is my last name - pernounced "BAME" - kind of my bro's nick name

[davisbaumung]

O thanks for clearing that up!