Sign we made

[Larry Bratton]

This is a sign we made for one of our projects. The back is made from Extira and painted with exterior latex. It was routed to accept a 1/4" thick prefinished material . The prefinished material had the letters and logo routed into it as an inlay. The letters and logo are all acrylic, covered before laser cutting with black reflective acrylic tape. The colored medallion at the top left was made by printing on the Canon printer, fitted to a piece of laser cut acrylic, adhered with 3m adhesive, then covered with 1/16" clear acrylic. The medallion had 1/16" holes punched in it to accept brass escutcheon pins that hold it to the back and lend decoration.

The acrylic letters were adhered to the backing with Weldon #16.

[Mike Null]

Nice work and explanation. Thanks

[Joe Pelonio]

Yes, beautiful sign and thanks for sharing the details of construction.

One thing, when I attach acrylic letters I always use bits of DS foam tape
and silicone, so that if I ever have to replace one that got hit by a rock or other vandalism, I can get it off. On the other hand, your way you may get to do the whole sign over!

[Scott Shepherd]

Nice looking sign, Larry, thanks for sharing it along with the manufacturing process. Very clever method for all the different pieces and a nice looking end product.

Great job!

[Steven Smith]

WOW... I'd hate to have to work that Sunday shift!

[Larry Bratton]

WOW... I'd hate to have to work that Sunday shift!

Stephen:
Oh, I forgot to mention. That Sunday shift isn't forever. That particular part of the sign is on magnetic media and has a piece of galvanized steel behind it. They get a replacement sign that's part of the deal. When they finish leasing all the apartments, their won't be a need to be open on Sunday. So the manager will simply walk out with her new office hours sign, pull the old one off, pop the new one on and it's changed. That's a great selling feature to a developer.

[Larry Bratton]

Yes, beautiful sign and thanks for sharing the details of construction.

One thing, when I attach acrylic letters I always use bits of DS foam tape
and silicone, so that if I ever have to replace one that got hit by a rock or other vandalism, I can get it off. On the other hand, your way you may get to do the whole sign over!

Joe:
Good idea. I appreciate the tip.

The prefinished insert is removable. If it were to be damaged it can be pulled out and reworked or replaced. It is also possible that the project could be sold and the name changed. The sign then, of course, would be redone, but the option would be there to keep the main structure and redo the insert.

[Larry Bratton]

Nice looking sign, Larry, thanks for sharing it along with the manufacturing process. Very clever method for all the different pieces and a nice looking end product.

Great job!

Scott:
This client is a large developer. They don't mind paying for what they get, but I am working very hard to capture their business on a long term basis, so I'm giving them a few extras. Note also, those are 1/2" letters. I cut them twice and glued them up with Weldon #16. They really liked this product. I have already done one like this one on another their projects and have yet another one to go. The two projects together are right at 600 units. A bunch of work for sure.

[Scott Shepherd]

WOW... I'd hate to have to work that Sunday shift!

I'd love to have that shift! Only 4 hours on a Sunday? I wish that were possible!

[Keith Outten]

Nice work Larry, I like the mix of different materials, colors and tecniques on signs.
.

[Larry Bratton]

Nice work Larry, I like the mix of different materials, colors and tecniques on signs.
.

Ken:
Yes, I strive to create signs that save manual labor, especially painting. Nothing is painted on this sign except the back, which was primed, and painted by spraying it. Everything else is prefinished material. Everything is machine made, either on the laser or CNC router. The manual labor comes with the installation. Those post holes can be difficult at times. We use a gasoline auger but sometimes the ground is not suitable for augering and has to be hand dug. I think I am going to start investigating the dirt before giving a quotation. We put in posts for handicapped parking too, and that is a big labor item on one of these projects.

[Scott Erwin]

I agree with Steve....I calculate it to 16 hours....
1:00 AM to 5:00 PM -----

Now I know this is a normal shift for some of us, but NOT on Sunday....
Maybe Tues or Wed....but not Sunday....

[Larry Bratton]

They rent more apartments that way!!
(We fixed it guys, right after it was installed) Thanks for commenting anyway...Hey..it does look good!