A LED editor for a drilling template displaying a custom Text sign

Thread Starter

smokingwheels

Joined Aug 20, 2011
7
Hi I have a bunch of leds that flash and was looking for some sort of text editor to have even spacing on each letter so I can make a Display sign by mounting intervidual leds?

Tried express pcb.
 

dl324

Joined Mar 30, 2015
16,846
Don't understand what you're asking for. Text editor? Display sign?

Can you post a picture of an example?
 

absf

Joined Dec 29, 2010
1,968
Here's one way of doing it. Using a graphic editing program like ACDSee or printshop to design your text then....


But this person is doing things a bit rough. I would first measure the distance between LEDs with a ruler and mark all the holes before drilling. Have done this in the 80's.

Allen
 

BR-549

Joined Sep 22, 2013
4,928
Measure the lead spacing of your LEDs.

Graph a piece of cardboard with that spacing.

Insert LEDs thru graphed intersections. This will give you some idea of the size and number of LEDs per character.....for the amount of LEDs you have.

See what I mean? You could do it with just graph paper and drawing in circles for the LEDs.

One might put a grid on a MS Paint screen. And plot circles there. I am not familiar with it.
 

BobTPH

Joined Jun 5, 2013
8,813
If what you want is a template to use for each letter, use any word processing program, pick a fixed pitch font like "courier" and print each letter in the size you want.

Bob
 

dl324

Joined Mar 30, 2015
16,846
This is what the above link gave for "Dog Wash Open Now":
upload_2019-1-2_10-6-58.png

If I was going to use all caps, I'd stick with a 5x7 matrix that I showed above.

Lowercase letters turn out funky because well formed letters would require a tall matrix that had LEDs that were seldom used. If it was hardwired as in your example, that's not an issue.
upload_2019-1-2_10-18-55.png
 
Last edited:

jpanhalt

Joined Jan 18, 2008
11,087
Since one is not bound to the rectangular bit space of a typical LCD, I would recommend laying the characters out for best appearance. That is, the spacing and/or offsets between LED's might be irregular (e.g., half spaces). That appears to have been done in the examples provided by @absf and the original by the TS.
 

MisterBill2

Joined Jan 23, 2018
18,176
The old-fashioned way would be to draw the words in block letters the size that you want and then add a top line for reference. After that use a pair of old style "dual point" drafting dividers to strike off the spacings evenly.

You could also do it with a cad program like AUTOCAD, first drawing the letters and then putting a series of construction lines through the letters, and then copying a suitable sized circle at each intersection. Then turn off the layer with the text and print the layer with the holes, and that is your template.

You can do the same thing with a milling machine, except you will need to crank in the vertical spacing manually. But it will give you a perfect set of holes correctly spaced, if your positioning is good. The challenge is to have the same number of LEDs in each string. I have repaired those signs and getting the same number in each string can be a challenge, but so is picking the right resistor to have the same current in strings of different lengths.
 
Top