How are LED Neon Produced?

LED Neon flex is mostly high-quality silicone. They are fire-resistant and very flexible. The higher durability, energy efficiency, safety, portability, and lifespan make LED Neon flex a trendy choice among the users. Its applications include façade lighting, contour lighting, cove lighting, backlighting, etc.

LED Neon is consisted of:

1. LED Strip light
2. Silicon Tube

Now, let us have an in-depth detail of how LED Neon is produced in two parts.

Firstly, How are LED Strip Lights Produced?

LED Strip lights are printed circuit boards (PCBs) wielded together to get the desired length. To mount LEDs and other components on the board, printed circuit boards (PCBs) use a surface-mounted technology (SMT) assembly process.

Let us analyze the process in detail.

• LED Reel Production

In the first step, LEDs and other components like resistors are placed on a reel. When all the components are placed simultaneously on the board, it ensures an efficient pasting on the board.

A spectrophotometer is commonly used to sort LEDs based on current, voltages, and color. After sorting the LEDs, a dehumidification process is used to absorb all moisture. When the LEDs are ready, vacuum bags are used to protect them from humidity and dust.

• Solder Paste Printing

In the second strep, LED components are pasted on the printed circuit board (PCB). The process through which LED components are pasted is called solder paste printing. Solder paste has three main ingredients: Steel, Silver, and Copper. Steel is the major contributor in solder paste printing, whereas Silver and Copper have a minute share in the formation of solder paste printing.

A mechanical fixture is used to hold the PCB and stencil still. Meanwhile, an applicator is used to paste the solder on mounting places where components are meant to be mounted. This process is done so precisely to evenly distribute the solder paste to exact places on the PCB. When the stencil is removed, an evenly spread layer of solder paste is printed on intended locations.

• Component Placement

After the solder paste is applied, surface mounted technology (SMT) machine put the components on the printed circuit board (PCB). In the recent past, this process has been done manually, but now with technological advancement, a robotic device is used to place the components exactly where they need to be.

• Reflow Soldering

When the components are placed on the printed circuit board, you need to ensure that they stay there for a reasonable period. This is done by a process called Reflow Soldering.

In this process, PCB and pasted components are put on a conveyer belt that takes PCB to a reflow oven. The temperature inside the oven is used to melt the solder inside the solder paste, and then a series of coolers are used to solidify the solder again. This heating and cooling process creates a permanent bond between LED components and PCB.

• Welding

After coming out of the oven, LED lights are usually 50 cm strips. These strips are then welded to any desired length. This process is either done manually or by machines. After welding the strips, a quality test is done to ensure that LED lights are working fine, and there are no open circuits. Also, a brightness test is done to make sure that quality is not compromised during the process and desired results have been achieved.

• Aging and Waterproofing

LED strip lights are put on a process called aging to check their efficiency, brightness, current, etc. In this process, LED lights are kept on for 12 straight hours to check whether the working is up to the mark or not. If any problem occurs, troubleshooting is done to sort out the issue before mass production of LEDs.

LED lights are put through a process called waterproofing to prolong their life span. In this process, LED strip lights are covered with Silicone or plastic. In some cases, LEDs are covered by both Silicon and Plastic too. LED strip lights can be covered either by manual way or by using machines.

In the end, surface inspection is done to ensure that everything is in place as desired.

Numerous factors affect the quality of LED strip lights, which you should be aware of while choosing the LEDs for your domestic or commercial use. These factors include:

• Quality of Copper Wire Used in PCB
• Quality of Phosphor Used in LED to Procure White Light
• Accurate Component Placement
• The Quality of Components in LEDs

The Second, How the Silicon Tube for LED Neon Strip Made?

There are two main methods to produce Silicon Tube for LED Neon Strip.

1. Manual way
2. Extrusion process

Let us discuss these methods in detail.

1. The Manual Way of Producing Silicon Tube for LED Neon Strip

The manual way is like connecting LED Neon strips manually at home. This process is mostly used in the domestic domain and not in commercial use because it takes a lot of time to produce LED Neon strip. Also, an ultra-long LED Neon strip cannot be produced by this process due to the limitation of the process. The process in simple steps can be described as below.

For this process you need the following things:

• LED Neon light
• Connection wires with end caps
• Wire cutters
• Silicone
• Drill
• Soldering Iron and wire

• Step 1: LED strips are cut to the desired length from cut able 4’’ marker. Slice a small end of the bottom outer insulation layer and then cut the crystal inner insulation to create a small piece on the light to solder the wires.

• Step 2: Solder the wire onto the slice end of the neon. Get the connection wires with the end caps.

• Step 3: To solder the connection wires, solder the positive wire to the positive end and the negative wire to the negative end.
• Step 4: Add silicon to the end caps to adhere to the Neon light at both ends. After that, you can add a power supply to lighten up your LED lights.

Silicon tube with one side transparent and one side white is used which not only give an aesthetic look but also inside lights can also be seen only when they are being used. A pusher is used to send LED Neon in the Silicon tube and end caps are sealed after that.

From the process, it is clear that the ultra-long LED Neon strip cannot be produced from a manual way because we can solder and connect LEDs only to a limited number.

Extrusion Process in the Manufacturing of LED Neon Strip Light

This is how the latest technology makes LED Neon flex durable and makes ultra-long LED Neon flex. This process can be defined in some simple steps:

• The extrusion process starts with installing the rolled LED strip lights on the pay-off rack. These LED strips are then adjusted and ordered through an adjustment table.

•  Then LED strip lights are passed through the Silicon head of the pre-installed mold. To wrap the silicon material on the light bar, the electric control box’s operation button is activated. It starts the machine to wrap the material.

• The machine squeezes the LED strip out, and through a vulcanizing oven, the product is gradually volcanized. The temperature in the oven is kept moderate so that the LED lamp beads will not burn out. After vulcanization, the product is led out by the tractor.

Why is the Extrusion Process Now Used More Often?

1. The extrusion process has made it possible to make ultra-long LED Neon strip that is not easy to make manually.
2. The extrusion process compared to manual methods is cost-effective and less time-consuming, and human error is reduced.
3. The extrusion process can create a very high quality waterproof and weather-resistant LED Neon strip in mass quantity compared to the manual way.
4. Extrusion process initial setup is costly but once installed. It can easily meet a growing business’s needs and therefore provide an impetus to the business without worrying about the supply-demand gap.

What are the Distinct Features of our Extrusion Process?

1. The color temperature drift is smaller, ensuring that the color temperature after sealing is not much different from the actual color temperature and the color temperature is consistent.
2. This product is a hollowed-out outer, inner arc design. The glue and lamp beads are peeled off, which effectively solves chromatic aberration, has a better lighting angle, and is easier to repair.
3. Due to the light strip’s one-time extrusion type, the plug is integrated with the extruded light strip by molding, it has excellent water resistance, is not corroded by water, and the light will not be detached in the water for a long time.
4. This product is a co-extrusion of silica gel and a light strip. Through mold forming, it can extrude more than one thousand meters at a time. The extrusion size is more standard, and the efficiency is high.
5. This product is of heat curing type, so the deep curing time is short, and the shipping speed is fast.
6. With excellent light transmittance and refractive index, it can minimize the light attenuation of the light source.
7. With excellent weather resistance, it can ensure that the light bar can be used normally in a wide temperature range (-40～220℃) and underwater and other particular environments, so that the light bar can be used almost unlimitedly.
8. The resistance to acid, alkali, and salt is better. In the weak acid, weak alkali, and weak salt, the light strip’s appearance will not change, and it can be used normally.
9. It has the super anti-ultraviolet ability, which can ensure the lamp belt to be used outdoors for a long time.
10. The excellent silica gel strength makes the lamp belt have high resistance to damage in particular environments.
11. The environmental protection level of the sealing collagen material is higher. The colloid of this product is food-grade silica gel.
12. It can be widely used in silicone tubes, silicone strips, neon lights, LED sleeves, high and low voltage light strips, and flexible light strips to make your products more beautiful in quality and more beautiful.

LED Neon Sign Production Process

As a very popular application product for LED neon strips, LED neon signs look amazing. Many people are also very curious about how it is produced?

1. LED Neon sign manufacturing process starts with a design on Corel Draw (CDR) or Computer-Aided Design software (CAD).

So, you can send us your design drawing or only just tell us what about do you want, we can design it for you as you want.

 2. Computer Numerical Control (CNC) laser machine is used for carving backboard. LED Neon tubes are cut to the right length for each part.

 3. After that, the wires are soldered with an LED Neon tube, and then wires are cut to the desired length.

 4. Fast connecting pins can replace soldering job. For outdoor use, waterproofing is done by adding silicone gel for each end. Paint glue at the end of the LED Neon tube and apply glue at the neon tubes’ fixing point.

 5. In the last step, stick the neon tube on the gap of the backboard quickly. Now, the LED Neon signs are ready. The aging test is done as a quality test. If the test is successful, LED Neon signs are ready to be delivered in mass quantity.

The step by step process can be described as:

• Designer sketch
• Engraving acrylic
• Cutting LED Neon strips
• Bend LED Neon strips
• Soldering
• Aging test
• Packaging