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.