How we work

 We start with glass tubes, usually between 10mm and 15mm. There are several companies that supply us with this glass.  We use only superior quality glass.  Variations in clarity and color of the glass and the coatings applied determine the overall lighting results. Clearer tubes allow the true color of the gas to show; colored glass changes the hue and intensity of the color, so the quality of the glass is crucial.

Next, over an open flame, the tubes are bent into various letters and shaped based on a pre-designed pattern, the design and complexity of which is typically limited only by the skill of the tube bender. That’s why smaller signs are not always easier to produce! 

Once the desired form is reached, the ends are capped off with glass electrodes. Wires inside these electrodes pass from the inside of the tube to the outside. One of the ends also has a small tube that is sealed to a pumping system. The pump creates a vacuum inside the tube while a high voltage transformer bombards the remaining air particles to approximately 500 degrees. This removes any possible impurities that may be inside the glass tubes.

An inert gas (neon, argon, xenon, or other noble gas) is pumped into the tube once a high vacuum is achieved. The small tube connected to the pumping system is then heated and pulled away, sealing the main tube in the process.  Electrical current bombards the inert gas atoms with electrons, knocking neon's atoms out of their orbits. The electrons collide with other free electrons sending them back toward the atoms. As the electrons are absorbed into the atom, energy is given off as light.