Electroluminescent sheet cutting

[Quack]

Hi,

I am wanting to make a panel, with 36 individual EL backlight pads.

Does anyone know if i must order the pads individualy, with electrodes all
prepared, or if i could cut up a larger sheet, and 'add electrodes' to the
patches ?

I was looking at the following, which seems to be the cheapest price i can
find;
http://www.luminousfilm.com/catalog_sheet_el.htm

I was thinking of perhaps heating up some metalic pads and 'pushing them on'
to the top and bottom of the sheet - but somehow i doubt this will work
Anyone tried anything like this ?

I have found another one, at rs components (www.rswww.com #267-8784), which
is a 12x13cm sheet with a contact all the way along - to allow it to be
cutup smaller and still have a connection.
However its quite small, and expensive compared to larger sheets.

Any ideas ?

Alex.

 

[Rich Grise]

On Fri, 10 Dec 2004 14:25:47 +0000, Mike Harrison wrote:

On Fri, 10 Dec 2004 14:20:25 +0200, "Quack" <alex+google@vuetec.com> wrote:

I am wanting to make a panel, with 36 individual EL backlight pads.

These are not trivial to terminate as you need to connect to the transparent top electrode. You can
buy stuff which is designed to be connected to with clips - you can cut it but you need to have one
of the original edges as these have contact points.

Using seperate ready-made panels would be the best option, as these will be properly sealed for
longest life.

I'll second this. If it's for production quantities (i.e. > 10,000) then
it's worth it to have one custom-designed.

Maybe even fewer, depending on what their NRE (Non-recurring engineering,
i.e. one-time design) is, and if your accountant can justify it.

Good Luck!
Rich

 

[Henry Kiefer]

Does anyone know if i must order the pads individualy, with electrodes all
prepared, or if i could cut up a larger sheet, and 'add electrodes' to the
patches ?
You can cut it simply but it won't last so long as properly sealed types

because of humidity intrusion.

cu -
Henry

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[Quack]

You can cut it simply but it won't last so long as properly sealed types
because of humidity intrusion.

It will be resealed in a double sided clear laminate type material. This
final product is intended to be a 'mat' of sorts (but not for walking on).
So i think they wont need to be individually sealed if the mat itself it
sealed properly.

The problem is more of a 'can i add electrodes'. Any ideas how this can be
done ?

I realise some material comes with one side ready for 'clips', but they are
'small pieces' and expensive.
I want to use a large cheaper mat, cut it up, add electrodes and then reseal
the whole thing in laminate.


Maybe not possible, oh well.
I have already ordered the previously mentioned RS sheets (with 1 side of
clip electrodes) - i will use them for prototyping. But they are expensive
for the final product.

Thanks

Alex.

 

[Kryten]

"Quack" <alex+google@vuetec.com> wrote in message
news:31vn4hF3ed51uU1@individual.net...

You can cut it simply but it won't last so long as properly sealed types
because of humidity intrusion.

It will be resealed in a double sided clear laminate type material. This
final product is intended to be a 'mat' of sorts (but not for walking on).

Humidity intrusion is very hard to prevent.

It fully diffuses throughout the hard black plastic of silicon chip packages
within a few tens of hours.

I suspect thin plastic laminate isn't going to slow the process much.

 

[Quack]

And if you have some volume they can make custom units up for you.

These guys must be buying rolls of it, and cutting it up to order. Thats
great.
So, how to they add electrodes ?

Thanks for the link - perhaps i will ask them

The reason i am so stuck on this question is because we want to be able to
rapid prototype signage/cutouts - and the cheapest way would be to use
cutouts from large sheets and our own electrodes. We have many uses of this
stuff, and atleast in the begining large quantity custom shapes wont be
needed. Well, thats if we can add our own electrodes.

Alex.