Blog
October 18, 2026
LED Neon Set Into Wood: How We Made the Machan Sign for a Children’s Clinic
A children’s clinic wanted a neon sign that felt like it belonged in a jungle. We had never set neon into wood before, so we burnt a plank of pine, cut grooves for the letters and tried it first. Here’s how the Machan sign came to life.
Neon meets wood
A neon sign for a jungle clinic
Sweetlings is a clinic in Pune for children and young people living with Type 1 diabetes. Most clinics look clean and serious. This one looks like a jungle: leafy pergolas, jungle wallpaper, zebra-striped glass, and spaces with names like Safari and Machan.
A machan is a raised platform in the trees, and the clinic wanted its Machan space marked with something playful. Not an acrylic board: bright, many-coloured neon, set into wood, so it felt natural under the leaves. That was new for us too.
Sides
Two: neon on one, the clinic logo on the other
Light
Multicolour LED neon and a glowing edge
Time
3 to 4 days to make, deliver and fit
Price
On request
This process ultimately brought a huge smile to the client's face.
Step one
First, a trial piece
We had never pushed neon into a piece of wood before, and the client wanted the wood to look burnt. We weren't sure how the finished sign would look, so we made a small trial piece to satisfy ourselves first.
It's a plank of real pine, about 2 ft long and 1.5 in thick, with the word Machan in neon. Here's how we made it.
1
Burn the face
We gave the pine its charred look with a small hand-held flame, used carefully and from a distance, so the grain darkens without the wood catching.
2
Cut the letters
Our CNC machine cut the outline of each letter into the wood as a groove, about 6 mm wide and 9 mm deep.
3
Cut the colours
Neon flex comes in one colour per length. Each stroke of each letter is cut from a different colour, then joined, which gives the rainbow look.
4
Push it in
The neon has a sleeve about the size of the groove. We pushed it in, and the fit was so tight that no silicone or glue was needed.
The idea in one picture
How the neon sits in the wood
Because the neon sits in the wood rather than on top of it, the letters look as if they grew out of the plank.
Cross-section
A groove, a sleeve and a tight fit
The groove is cut to the size of the neon's sleeve, so the neon holds itself in place.
Illustration of the trial plank, not to scale.
Up close
The trial plank, close up
Unlit, you can see the coloured neon standing in its grooves in the burnt pine. Turn it round and the wiring runs along the bare back.
In the grooves
Neon pushed into the burnt pine, no glue.
Unlit
The letters before the power goes on.
The back
Bare pine with the neon wires.
Real photos of the trial plank in our office, only light and colour corrected.
Step two
The final sign: two sides and a glowing edge
With the trial done, we made the sign for the clinic. It hangs in the middle of the space, so people see it from both directions: Machan in neon on the way in, and the Sweetlings logo on the way out.
Neon on the front
Machan in LED neon, every stroke a different colour, on a wood-finish face with a wavy, torn-paper edge.
The clinic on the back
The Sweetlings logo in raised acrylic, and "Centre of Excellence for Type 1 Diabetes, Children & Youth" in copper mirror-acrylic letters.
A glowing edge
The sign is two layers with a gap between them. A white LED strip in the gap lights the edge all round, from the same power supply as the neon.
Hung on rope
Thick jute rope, tied round the top of the sign. The driver hides in the false ceiling and the cable runs down along the rope.
Up close
The details on the final sign
The glowing edge, the copper letters and the rope, before the sign left our office.
The edge
Two layers, lit between.
Copper letters
Mirror acrylic catches the light.
The rope
Thick jute, knotted at the top.
Real photos from our office, only light and colour corrected.
Edge on
The final sign and the trial, side by side
Look along the edge of the final sign and you see the white LED strip in the gap between its two layers. Look along the trial plank and you see 1.5 inches of solid, burnt pine.
Final sign
The LED strip between the layers.
Trial plank
Solid pine, neon glowing on top.
Real photos from our office.
At the clinic
Hanging under the leaves
At Sweetlings the sign hangs from a pergola beam under a canopy of leaves: Machan as you walk in, Sweetlings as you walk out.
Coming in
Machan in neon under the pergola.
Going out
The Sweetlings side of the same sign.
Real photos at the clinic.
Same idea, another sign
The Pharmacy sign
The clinic's pharmacy has its own neon sign, made the same way: the word Pharmacy in multicolour LED neon, running down a wood-finish board beside the counter. Once you know how to set neon into wood, the shape can be anything.
At a glance
The Machan sign: specifications
Lettering
LED neon flex, a different colour for each stroke
Board
Two layers with a wood-finish face, wavy edges, logo on the back
Extra light
White LED strip lighting the edge, on the same power supply
Back side
Raised acrylic logo; copper mirror-acrylic letters (not lit)
Hanging
Jute rope; driver hidden in the false ceiling
Trial piece
Flame-burnt pine, about 2 ft x 1.5 in thick, neon pushed into CNC-cut grooves
Time
3 to 4 days to make, deliver and fit the final sign
Where it goes
Indoors
Want one?
Price and what to send us
Every neon sign is a different word, size and finish, so we quote each one on request.
LED neon sign on wood or a wood finish
price on request
Lit 3D letters and other signs
Good to know
Send the word
Your text or logo, the font you like and the colours.
Tell us the size
And where it goes: on a wall, or hanging from the ceiling.
Power
Keep a power point nearby; we can hide the driver in a false ceiling.
Where
Made in Pune.
Neon signs are for indoors. We don't usually recommend them for outdoor use: for a sign outside, ask us about lit 3D letters instead.
Questions people ask
Neon signs on wood: FAQ
Is this glass neon?
No. It is LED neon flex: LEDs inside a soft sleeve that glows like neon tube.
Can each letter be a different colour?
Yes. Each length of neon is one colour, so we cut every stroke from the colour you want and join them.
Do you glue the neon into the wood?
On our trial plank the neon was pushed into CNC-cut grooves and held so tightly that no glue was needed.
Can it be double-sided?
Yes. The Machan sign has neon on one side and the clinic logo on the other.
Can it go outdoors?
We don't usually recommend neon signs outdoors. They are made for indoor spaces.
How long does it take?
The final Machan sign took 3 to 4 days to make, deliver and fit. A new idea may need a trial piece first.
Made in Pune
From a trial plank to a smile
We could have played it safe with an acrylic board. Instead we tried something we had never done, tested it first, and made a sign that fits a children's jungle. See the rest of the Sweetlings clinic, or tell us what you'd like in neon.
See more
Our work
Sweetlings children’s clinic
The whole jungle-themed clinic, from the entrance to the A-to-Z wall.
See the job →Ideas
Personalise a clinic’s interiors
Ideas for clinics that want to look friendly, not sterile.
Read the guide →Your turn
Want a neon sign like this?
Send us the word, the size and where it goes on WhatsApp. We'll tell you how we'd make it and what it costs.
Looking for any specific product?
Drop us a line. Send us your query. And we’ll get back to you with solutions and answers.
Mitesh Sanghani
Mitesh lives, mostly for Saturdays.
But when forced to work, you’ll find him heading Orchid Digitals – a printing press in Pune.
If it’s an emergency, try looking for him in the hills behind his house. You’ll almost certainly find him… lazing under a tree, with a book in hand.
