Made in Canada
How to build an LED neon heart?
The first step in the production cycle for our hearts starts at a CNC machine. The CNC machine takes the design that we originally created in a computer assisted drafting program and cuts out the heart frame from a large sheet.
After that the heart frames are sanded, and cleaned and ready for their magnet to be attached.
The 1/2" X 1/2" x 1/8" thick neodymium rare earth magnet provides 9.1lbs of pull force and is coated in nickel, copper, and more nickel. This provides more than enough support for the light-weight neon heart. We adhere the magnets with an industrial-grade 2-part epoxy so as not to damage the heart with any mechanical fasteners
Next, the hearts are ready for their neon to be installed however first a team of electronics technicians must cut the LED neon to the proper length.
After the neon is cut to length, the wire that connects the heart to the power supply must also be cut to length followed by stripping & tinning the wires before being soldered to the LED neon itself. Now the neon can be inlayed into the wood frame. This is a careful and delicate process as technicians must be careful to not damage the LED neon or the wood frame.
Once the neon has been inlayed and the wire run through the bottom hole out the back of the heart a DC barrel power connector must be installed onto the wire. After the connector is installed it is time for quality control check to ensure that the connector and the neon is functioning properly.
Once the quality control check is complete the heart is now ready to have its MADE IN CANADA laser-engraved onto its side.
The heart now just needs to await a buyer to purchase one before we laser-engrave their order number onto the other side. This gives the heart a unique number that will never be duplicated into the future as well as lets us know who the heart originally belonged to.
This heart number will also be hand-written onto our Certificate of Authenticity Card which is printed at The Printing House around the corner from us. The heart number is also hand written onto the box label itself so we know which mailing label belongs to which heart.
This heart number will also be hand-written onto our Certificate of Authenticity Card which is printed at The Printing House around the corner from us. The heart number is also hand written onto the box label itself so we know which mailing label belongs to which heart.
Another component that no heart would be complete without is the steel base plate that the magnet adheres to. This steel plate is cut, and bent at a local metal shop. It then goes to our friendly neighbourhood powder coaters which are only steps away from our location on Fewster Drive in Mississauga.
Of course now that the heart is completed and ready to go out the door the final steps is for the heart to be packaged, a mailing label printed, and off to the shipping company.
We are conveniently located next to Canada Post's Largest Processing Plant in Canada. Gateway Postal Facility processes 70% of all parcels mailed within Canada and is 1.1 million square feet. They can handle processing 1,250 parcels a minute which makes it an excellent location for us to hand deliver our hearts to.
Now you know how it's done and understand why each heart takes almost an hour of labour in order to build and why yours is so unique.
As of the beginning of March we have 5 full time people cutting/sanding/soldering/packaging your hearts 5 days a week, 9 hours a day in our little heart factory in Mississauga.
As of the beginning of March we have 5 full time people cutting/sanding/soldering/packaging your hearts 5 days a week, 9 hours a day in our little heart factory in Mississauga.