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Thread: Dimensional Letter Problem

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jul 2005
    Location
    Sammamish, WA
    Posts
    7,630

    Dimensional Letter Problem

    I'm in a motel in the WA desert town of Pasco, where I'm installing a few hundred signs at a new medical facility. It's a wholsale job for a sign dealer and all of the directories and ADA signs are great, as usual since the manufacturer to go nameless is one of the biggest and best at those.

    On the other hand, they just got a laser and made 3 sets of logos/lettering for the walls and I have to say it was an awful installation. They used Rowmarkbrushed copper laminated onto 3/8" black acrylic. The edges were rough, looked like two passes were made. Then they used many strips of 1" double sided tape instead of 6" or 12" so I spent hours peeling them. The worst thinng was their cunning pattern idea. I admit to using it before with 1/16" or even 1/8", but with 3/8 it didn't work. They simply cut the letters/logo out of rectangles, with tabs to join sections together. Way too heavy to tape onto the wall, and after applying the letters impossible to remove the template without also pulling off the letters. Where the tabs joined was sloppy so out of level. I ended up
    holding each template up with one hand while tracing the inside of the letters with the other, and on the smallll bits had to use a mechanical pencil
    extended out a ways which of course kept breaking off.

    My customer normally used Gemini but they offered these since they were already making the rest they went for it. I have advised them to go back to Gemini, or have me make them!

    Luckily those and the larger screw-in signs are done, tomorrow just a bunch of ADA signs with foam tape to do before the 4 hour drive back.



    Sammamish, WA

    Epilog Legend 24TT 45W, had a sign business for 17 years, now just doing laser work on the side.

    "One only needs two tools in life: WD-40 to make things go, and duct tape to make them stop." G. Weilacher

    "The handyman's secret weapon - Duct Tape" R. Green

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jul 2005
    Location
    Sammamish, WA
    Posts
    7,630
    The rest of the job went smoothly, I started before 6am and was on the road before 10. The hanging signs have 2x2 wood above the drop ceiling supports
    and screws down into the tops of the rods.
    Attached Images Attached Images



    Sammamish, WA

    Epilog Legend 24TT 45W, had a sign business for 17 years, now just doing laser work on the side.

    "One only needs two tools in life: WD-40 to make things go, and duct tape to make them stop." G. Weilacher

    "The handyman's secret weapon - Duct Tape" R. Green

  3. #3
    Nice look installs there Joe! I can't say as much for the sign design. That directional sign is confusing. What's with the > and < characters? Wow, I thought that was poorly done and poorly placed on the sign. I like the shape and the look, but good grief, those greater than and less than signs are not screaming "high end" signs, when the rest of the sign does.

    Sounds like it was a huge job. Was it just you, or how many people were installing and how long did it take?

    Thanks for sharing the install photos.
    Lasers : Trotec Speedy 300 75W, Trotec Speedy 300 80W, Galvo Fiber Laser 20W
    Printers : Mimaki UJF-6042 UV Flatbed Printer , HP Designjet L26500 61" Wide Format Latex Printer, Summa S140-T 48" Vinyl Plotter
    Router : ShopBot 48" x 96" CNC Router Rotary Engravers : (2) Xenetech XOT 16 x 25 Rotary Engravers

    Real name Steve but that name was taken on the forum. Used Middle name. Call me Steve or Scott, doesn't matter.

  4. #4
    Joe

    Thanks for posting. I agree with Steve and have the same question.

    It is amazing how many signs a medical facility can use. Earlier this year I made over a 100 signs for a new out patient care center here in St. Louis and my signs were only to identify the artwork hanging in the building.
    Last edited by Mike Null; 06-28-2009 at 7:50 AM. Reason: addition
    Mike Null

    St. Louis Laser, Inc.

    Trotec Speedy 300, 80 watt
    Gravograph IS400
    Woodworking shop CLTT and Laser Sublimation
    Dye Sublimation
    CorelDraw X5, X7

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jul 2005
    Location
    Sammamish, WA
    Posts
    7,630
    My wholesale customer is a dealer for the sign manufacturer, the design from a designer hired by the general contractor. I did have help with the 3 hanging signs where 4 hands are needed, the rest I did by myself, probably took a total of 12 hours of which 3+ was the dimensional letters, 3 sets. When I do them and the templates myself they go up in about 20 minutes each. The bulk of them were the ADA room identifiers and wayfinding directionals, that went quickly but there were lots of them.



    Sammamish, WA

    Epilog Legend 24TT 45W, had a sign business for 17 years, now just doing laser work on the side.

    "One only needs two tools in life: WD-40 to make things go, and duct tape to make them stop." G. Weilacher

    "The handyman's secret weapon - Duct Tape" R. Green

  6. #6
    Just VHB'ing them to the wall Joe? (the majority of the signs you mentioned)
    Lasers : Trotec Speedy 300 75W, Trotec Speedy 300 80W, Galvo Fiber Laser 20W
    Printers : Mimaki UJF-6042 UV Flatbed Printer , HP Designjet L26500 61" Wide Format Latex Printer, Summa S140-T 48" Vinyl Plotter
    Router : ShopBot 48" x 96" CNC Router Rotary Engravers : (2) Xenetech XOT 16 x 25 Rotary Engravers

    Real name Steve but that name was taken on the forum. Used Middle name. Call me Steve or Scott, doesn't matter.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Jul 2005
    Location
    Sammamish, WA
    Posts
    7,630
    Yes, but I had to wait on most of them for the second day, because as usual, the painters will still working Friday. As you know, VHB won't stick to wet paint!



    Sammamish, WA

    Epilog Legend 24TT 45W, had a sign business for 17 years, now just doing laser work on the side.

    "One only needs two tools in life: WD-40 to make things go, and duct tape to make them stop." G. Weilacher

    "The handyman's secret weapon - Duct Tape" R. Green

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