Home made Christmas gifts?

every year i try to go out of my way to build something special for a member of my family.

last year i built my Father a bench from an old Dodge tail gate.





this year I will be building a lighted sign for my father in law's man cave. He is a retired Marine that now serves as a police officer here in Washington state. His man cave is actually a barn that he has converted into the ultimate man cave. has separate rooms for Poker, theater, bar and his "Marine" room.

So i started looking for designs online and this is the design that i chose.





I then drew it up on CAD.



when i traced the outline in CAD it was pretty screwed up. I had to change the design slightly but it cleaned up well.


then i printed it out to see how it looked.






then i sent the file over to a buddy that has access to a water jet.




i had it cut out of 12ga. cold rolled steel.



The plan now is to build a small 1-1/2" deep box behind the plate. this will house the wiring for my led lighting. I have a sheet of transparent red acrylic that i will be attaching behind the design face. this will create a lighted wall sign that will glow red thru the cut outs. should look pretty cool.

will post more as it progresses.