Building does sign no justice...

[SignManiac]

Building does this sign no justice...

I just installed this yesterday. The logo is not my design, the client supplied it. I personally think the earth image detracts from it. My job was to turn it into a nice dimensional piece. I think I accomplished that part.

Anyway, it's all made from 3/4" solid PVC and finished with a combo of enamel for the white background and gloss latex for all of the lettering and raised elements. Overall size is 40"h. x 60"w.

 

[TheSnowman]

Sign looks good, building is what's looking rough to me.

 

[Marlene]

in some one else's thread I posted that a design that isn't all that great can be made to look great with construction. this is a good example of this. the design is so so but the construction of the sign with the dimensional element and the care in craftmanship makes it a very nice sign.:U Rock:

 

[iSign]

wow.. nice looking round over on the edge.. amazing what that little extra touch seems to be adding to me.. and of course the prismatic "R" is awesome... so PVC holds up well to 3D carving huh? I wouldn't have thought to trust exposing the inside that much... do you use a high build primer & sand it into to a nice glossy surface (as it looks) or can you keep it a bit rough? I imagine it was pretty rough right off the table, so a little sanding I'm sure... but wondered how much labor on that...

 

[SignManiac]

Doug, I always sand and prime the PVC before painting. The face is pretty smooth to begin with, it's your edges that need the sanding. It's not that hard to finish smooth with the right tools and technique.

All of my dimensional signs, I like to use a combination of round overs, chamfer, prismatic and v-carving in each piece to add interest and variety. This sign was made only from 3/4". I cut an inside 2" wide oval from scrap material and cemented and screwed to the out edge to build it out to 1-1/2" thick before doing the round over. It's a great way to make a thick sign with thinner materials.

Edited to add: this sign came out of one 4'x8' sheet of material with some creative nesting.

 

[Mosh]

Is the sign holding up the building??? Great work!

 

[fmg]

Nice job! I'll show you some of the routed signs we have done some day!

 

[Rodi]

Nice,

Always great to see craftsmanship!

 

[SignManiac]

Is the sign holding up the building??? Great work!

Mosh it does appear that way I had not been to the building prior to install. They sent me a photo that was taken far enough away that I could not tell what the exterior was made of.

It wasn't until I got there that I said, oh sh!t. What a fugly building. I'm pretty sure the next hurricane that comes this way will wipe it out. The framing behind the plywood was atrocious. Lipstick on a pig.

 

[Locals Find!]

Very Nice.

Your client should have gotten your feedback on the globe.

Your right it does detract from your nice work.

 

[Brandon708]

You ever seen that Kolher commercial where the lady brings in a faucet and asks the designer to build her a house around it.

This comes to mind when seeing that building. But its the sign they need to build around. Great job on the sign.

 

[Marlene]

Your client should have gotten your feedback on the globe.

Your right it does detract from your nice work.

the sign is made so nice that you could have had graphic of a pile of hay and not ruined the sign.

 

[GypsyGraphics]

Beautiful work Bob... and i agree, could have been even nicer without the glob... with a few tweaks could have been a really nice logo too.

You ever seen that Kolher commercial where the lady brings in a faucet and asks the designer to build her a house around it.
This comes to mind when seeing that building. But its the sign they need to build around. Great job on the sign.

What a great analogy Brandon!!!
If only clients knew how true that was when i comes to their logo... and building their marketing around it.

It's a dream client who walks in with a stellar logo and says build me a sign around THIS.

 

[James Burke]

My eye seems to get lost between the globe, the green swooshes, and the "R". Somehow, it views the "R" as part of the graphic...or perhaps the jet stream.

And since Africa seems to be doing it's own thing with the rest of the text, all I see is "esults"...kinda sounds like an "electronic insult"...don't you think?

JB

 

[Mike Paul]

What no screw heads? must have used liquid nails...
:Big Laugh

 

[SignManiac]

I'm impressed Mike, you're the first one to pick up on that I used a completely invisible mounting system on it. And in fact, this sign was hung in under fifteen minutes!!

 

[Pinfinity]

Real nice SM...how to you treat the edges on pvc before finish coating? Sealing the edges is no easy task sometimes

 

[daveb]

Hey some of the rest of us may have noticed it but we expected nothing but the best from you (plus we weren't polite enough to think to say anything). Can't have no stinkin screw heads messing up a perfectly good sign. We stud, glue or screw from the back side, NEVER through the face with visible fasteners. Not only does it look better, around the screws is the first place weather will cause failure if there's a problem.

 

[SignManiac]

I'll draw a sketch tomorrow on my design box to show the install method. This damn iPad sucks as a design tool

 

[SignManiac]

For those interested in a good way to hang a wall sign without putting visible screws through the face, here's a method I use often. This is how this sign was put up. It took a couple of minutes to screw the hanger cleat to the wall. Put one screw in either end, set your level on top of the cleat, raise or lower till level, then finish screwing to the wall. Measure how high up the center cleat should be on top and screw that to the wall. Hang sign on the cleat and secure at the top with one recessed screw and you're done. The sign cannot move at all because of how the sign and wall cleats miters lock in together. This is basically a simple Z clip system that I make up with scrap materials I have around the shop.

I know many of you already use this method but for those who don't, consider it on your next install. Makes for a fast and professional looking install. I hope I explained it well enough.