5x10 dibond/alupanel brushed aluminum finish?

[artbot]

i'm pricing out a project and it seems that the 5x10 material in dibond and all the substitutes omits the aluminum finish. does anyone know of a similar material that has brushed aluminum or stock mill finish or any raw aluminum skin on it?

thanks!

 

[Gino]

Looks like you'll have to go after the real stuff.

 

[artbot]

real stuff as in .060 3003 aluminum mounted to .25 black sentra? or real stuff as in dibond? i'm almost considering to the thing in mdf and coating it with luminore.

 

[sar bossier]

Have you tried N Glantz? They sell TONS of odd, rare stuff .... MAYBE they carry it?

866-645-2689

 

[HulkSmash]

Grimco could get it, but it'd take 3-4 weeks

 

[Dzrt1st]

Chemetal has 0.025" brushed aluminum sheet that you can laminate to a substrate. Not sure if they have 60" wide though.

http://www.chemetal.com/900.htm

 

[ChicagoGraphics]

Grimco has MaxMetal with a brushed aluminum, can you use that?

 

[artbot]

well, it's looking like i'm going to cut it out of 3/4" exterior grade mdf then dye and torch it, and then coat the top with luminore. 60" wide mill finish aluminum is not coming up. even grimco seems to not show it on their system.

attached is a rendering and a photo of luminore. haven't used it before but i keep seeing more and more of the stuff around houston in projects. seems like it's time to figure it out.

 

[Pat Whatley]

http://www.nudo.com/Sign-Panels/Functional/PolyMetal.aspx

Nudo shows they manufacture 5x10 brushed aluminum panels, might have to contact them to find a supplier. Alumapanel carries the 4x8 sheets but that's as big as they go.

 

[andy]

i'm pricing out a project and it seems that the 5x10 material in dibond and all the substitutes omits the aluminum finish. does anyone know of a similar material that has brushed aluminum or stock mill finish or any raw aluminum skin on it?

thanks!

Not sure I understand?

Do you want a 10x5 sheet of Dibond with a brushed stainless steel effect finish?

If this is what you want I can't see why you're having such huge problems... Dibond manufacture Brushed Silver material in both 8x4 and 10x5 sheet sizes. Over here we call it "Butler" finish and it's a bog standard option which we can normally get in next day. You can even go the whole hog and get composite with real stainless steel skins instead of patterned aluminium.

If you are looking for something else DON'T use mill finish aluminium. Mill ali is not suitable for use outside without some kind of surface treatment; paint, powder coat or anodising. Mill finish Blacks up with deposits caused by oxidisation then it starts to pit & pickle in the medium term.

If you want a Silver brushed material & can't get Dibond the best alternative is a sheet of Brushed stainless... 304 grade should be fine.

 

[artbot]

so far the brushed aluminum stops with 4x8. the project is interior and will be sprayed with polyester. i'll call dibond directly? grimco says no mill finish dibond or substitute 60" wide, nudo say nu-NO on 60". nothing.
thanks for all the leads. i am leaning my client to using luminore at this point.

 

[Pat Whatley]

Lean them toward doing a 4x8 sign instead of a 5x10 and your problem is solved!:ROFLMAO:

 

[Dzrt1st]

Formica makes a brushed aluminum laminate also but, max width is 48" x 8ft or 10 ft.

 

[artbot]

actually i'm looking forward to working with the a polymetal. from what i hear the hardest thing about using the material is learning the "art" of metal polishing. my girlfriend already has a top of the line polishing set up and plenty of experience polishing etched aluminum. so it should be an easy transition.

and 48" is just too small for the space. so i'm gonna go for it.

 

[iSign]

I am leaning my client to using luminore at this point.

have you spoken to them?

I thought there products would offer a good solution for a project I'm working on, but I was extremely underwhelmed by several points in the ensuing conversation.

First, I was told that they no longer sell coatings to their clients. Instead they sell the service of coating surfaces for their clients. For me, that was pretty bad news, because products that are large & expensive to ship, may be more affordably if shipped in bulk by a wholesaler... but for me to have Luminore apply a coating over there on the mainland, and then custom ship my own pallet to me here, on a barge... well you can imagine that can add a significant expense...

Then I encountered the fact that Tom, the President, was fielding my inquiries, and based on his responsibilities as an owner, he would routinely drop the ball for a week at a time, and I would have to re-initiate the conversation each time.

I finally got an email from Rick who explained that Tom was just too busy to get anything done. I wished Tom had been capable of realizing that about himself 2 weeks earlier, but rick was able to pick up the pieces. I got a quote for some $200 signs, but when I asked about a sample, they said they had a free sample on MDF. Since the job they bid for me needed to be on acrylic, I asked about an acrylic sample (for backlit opacity verification) ...and that was going to be $500...


...so, I said fine, I'll take the free one... and the copper patine sample I received looked like a blend of babys#it brown, and snot green vomit, as it would look dripping down a toilet bowl in a frat house... and I told them so...

...anyway, I hope you have better luck with them than I did!

 

[artbot]

when i say "luminore" i mean polymetal. smooth-on has a version of the same. i have a bunch of bookmarked companies on anther computer that do luminore-esque products.

the whole system is extremely forgiving. hell, you can make "poly-bronze" by putting bronze powder from the art supply store in just about anything and it will come out looking like perfect polished bronze.

the sales pitch is to convince the customer that there is this secret polymer that makes it work. there really is no secret polymer (at least for interior). almost anything will work. there is one company that actually sells about twice as many ores as luminore. that is the one that i will be getting my ore from.

the real secret is in the polishing. i've got the entire line of nuvite compounds, a cyclo polisher, tons of 3m buffing pads and 3m trizac. the secret, to me, is in the machining of the material down to a polish. that takes experience. ...knowing what it will take, what to look for, etc.

 

[daveb]

Artbot, if you need larger sheets of aluminum in the future you'll have to go to a aluminum wholesale supplier (not sign suppliers). There's 2 or 3 in the St. Louis area we buy from, stock up to 6x12 sheets in 080 and 090, they're who we buy all of our aluminum sheet stock, angle and tubing from. Alucobond makes composit panels that large up to 1/4'' thick in all kinds of finishes but it's hard to find a supplier, in your area though maybe not that hard. Alucobond is geared more toward architectural uses, been around for years,
Would really like to see the finished product when you get done, I've been trying to find a project to use poly-metal on for a long time. I like to experiment... the boss, not so much.

 

[Pat Whatley]

Thought of another line that might help in the future. Alpolic makes architectural quality panels that for some reason have never been embraced by the sign community. The samples are absolutely incredible.

The frLT line comes in 5x10 sheets and in a brushed aluminum finish. Don't know where to get it, don't know how much it is, I just know the samples I've got are bad assed and a lot more suited to the kind of work you do than what I do. Might be worth looking at for the future.

http://alpolic-usa.com/products/?product_name=frlt

COLOR CHART

 

[smdgrfx]

artbot - check with Allied Plastic Supply in Houston. They had a mill finish multipanel in 5x10 last time I checked. I think it was painted one side, mill finish on the other for about $130 and price was going up on their next order.

 

[artbot]

thanks. i'll call them tomorrow.