Made At theCO with Dan Drogosh
Audio and video have become an integral part of how we consume our world, so theCO has been constructing a media room to allow our budding entrepreneurs to produce that high quality content. For all the audio recording enthusiasts out there, this month’s Made At theCO will surely light up your eyes as we explain how we made our “On Air/Recording” sign to hush the occasional loud talker...you know who you are!
Materials:
Two sheets of 1/8th inch birch plywood
Wood glue
Red Christmas lights
Reflective tape
Laser Cutter/Etcher
Frosted white acrylic
- Text editing software (Photoshop, Illustrator, Inkscape)
Step 1 - Build a Box
Using this very handy website, I entered in the dimensions of the sign I wanted to make. Be sure to take into account the depth that you will need to insert lights and plugs on the inside. Next, using our laser cutter to cut out the box, I used some wood glue to adhere all the sides and back but not the front yet.
Using Inkscape, which is a very powerful free image and text editor, I found a stencil font that looked cool for the letters of my sign. Next, cut them out on the laser. The stencil font helped retain the look of the letters such as “O” from being just a big empty hole. Then, I took the frosted acrylic and adhered it behind the letters.
Step 2 - Insert Lights
After searching Amazon for far too long, I finally decided on a string of christmas lights that seemed to fit what I wanted to do. Using the laser again, I created a grid of holes to push each of the 100 lights through to make sure they were shining all in the same direction. Next I lined the inside of the box with reflective tape we had laying around to ensure maximum brightness.
Step 3 - Install and Begin Recording!
Written by Dan Drogosh.