Backlit, routed ACM

[signbrad]

Hi Brad, I think I remember you from Letterville. Our Buddy Michael Boone came to visit my shop once, good man. What type studs do you weld to the back the aluminum and how close together? So, if the sign is 14'' x 96'' long, would you use like 3 pieces of 3/16'' acrylic instead of one piece? I have a new spool gun for my welding machine and a bottle of argon. WIll that work well for this?

Michael Boone left us too soon.

Cutting a 96-inch piece into three smaller pieces is common for me. If you make any vertical braces on the back of the face, you'll need to cut it anyway. Put a brace behind any seams. Use 3/16" studs made for stud welding. A regular MIG would not work well. The brand I've used is a LYNX4. I think my boss got a thousand off at a sign show. Use your judgment on quantity and spacing. 1-inch apart is probably too many. 6 or 8 inches maybe not enough. The plastic should be flat against the back of the face. Of course, painting should come after stud welding.

Link:
Stud welding is easy

 

[3Dsigns]

Would anyone be willing to make these faces for us? I don't have a stud welding setup. Just a mig welder. I'll get you the specs if anyone wants the job.

 

[Faith Sign Co]

Magic!

Production Stud Welding Systems | CNC Stud Welding Systems

www.studweld.com

But really, this machine is critical if you want to do push through copy that will last. Glue and tape are really only temporary solutions, epoxy works but is hard to deal with, especially with smaller parts like insides of A's. Though at least with push through, you have the edge of the acrylic helping to keep the piece in place. When it's just backed up it tends to sliiiiiiide downward. We route out of .75" clear, leaving a small lip, then add a sheet of .177" white poly behind that. It is feasible to glue acrylic to poly with channelbond, but if you don't have a very uniform coating between the two, it will distort the light where the glue is leaving dark spots.

Please tell me it's white acrylic or you're backing it up with a panel of white acrylic/poly. Clear acrylic, even with white trans applied, will hot spot unless the led's are mounted to the face of the can pointed backwards.

Here's one of our sample boxes, one side 'push through', the other is just 'backed up'. Forgive the rough edges and nicked vinyl, it was done with our old router and has been hauled to many banks since then. (We don't have to use the 'routed out' notation because some suit came up with ROST so he could speed through spreadsheets faster. Surprise mr suit, it's all routed out!!!).

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Would you mind giving me a call at 636-541-8082. I'd like to ask you a few questions if you don't mind.