Ever since watching this video i wanted to make one of these signs.
This one took me longer then i wanted due to getting sidetracked on other stuff… But it its finally done!
Its 12" x ~12" x 3.5" … Super bright and gets a little warmer then i’d like. I probably should have added vent holes on the back 
Go Utes!
Ha! thats why i only did one letter 
lol yeah the sad part is all i need to do is cut the plastic and its done I have just been to lazy but all the hard pieces are there
what kind of led light strip did you use?
and what kinda plastic did you use?
What material is the body made out of, and what did you finish it with? It looks great.
That looks great! Very, very clean! I’m looking to do something like this soon for my son’s high school.
The body is made out of MDF… (3 middle sections of 3/4" MDF … front and back are 1/2").
For the finish i was lazy and just used Rust-Oleum Lacquer Spray (http://www.rustoleum.com/product-catalog/consumer-brands/specialty/lacquer-spray). Prime, spray, sand, spray, sand, spray… It turned out better then i expected. Its not as good as using a HPLV spray gun… but i hate cleaning oil-based paints out of my HPLV gun so i just ‘rattle-caned’ it
For my next one im going to:
1… Use a waterproof LED strip (they are enclosed in a rubber housing) so i don’t have to worry about the strip shorting out if it touches one of the screws i used to attach the (3d printed) plastic clips i made that hold the strip to the edge. I feel it will be a little bit safer 
2… Bite-the-bullet and use my HPLV system to paint it. I just need to set aside a day to paint and clean and not be lazy.
My tips:
Securely fasten the LED strip… I can post the 3D printed clips i made if anybody wants them.
Use oil-based paint (MDF doesn’t get along with water based paints)
Make more then one sign at a time… making 2 will take about the same amount of time as making one.
I used a 12v 5050 light strip i bought off amazon
The plastic is 1/8" cast acrylic i picked up on ebay… I have since found a local supplier of cast acrylic that is WAY cheaper (1/2 the price of buying it online).
BrianM, really nice work first off. I made something similar (an O sign) but didn’t turn out nearly as cool as yours. What it sounds like you did well, I struggled with, and vice versa. I founds some new LED strips (albeit a bit expensive), that seem to work really well for this type of application (mine used about 36"). The nice thing about them is they have a kerfing on the edges so you can actually bend them in pretty much any shape. Anyway, it sounds like these could have made your LED issues a little easier. Good stuff!
Ooh, also, did you make the little hose “brush” for your vacuum? Is it leather and how does it work?
The ‘brush’ on my vacuum dust shoe is made from a $0.89US sheet of craft foam… and it actually works better then i expected.
I’m using the same thing on mine, but I went with red…works very well.
Go Utes!
@BrianM how did you manage the painting? Im in the middle of doing the same project, but Im at the point where I have the base and inside layers all sealed, sanded and glued together, and now its time to install the LEDs, acrylic and top MDF layer, but Im not sure how I should do this since I still have to paint and sand the whole thing.
My plan is to keep the protective wax paper on the acrylic and glue everything together and sand and paint the final product and then somehow peel the sticky paper off the acrylic once everything is done. But I’m worried about doing that due to painting and possibly having the sticky paper messing something up.
