Channel Letters on "Accordion" Style facades

[JStein]

Hello,

I was wondering if anyone has had experience installing Halo-Lit Channel Letters on walls that have a sort of triangle indentation like shown in the photo attached. We are concerned that the light will appear uneven since the distance from the Leds varies as it goes from letter to letter.

Any suggestions on how to avoid this, or if it would even be as noticeable as we think it might be?

 

[Zendavor Signs]

We did channel lettering on a ribbed building, where the ribs were a little deeper than typical pole shed buildings. The halo effect looks “pixelated”. It’s not terrible, but this case is a lot more dramatic. I think you would need a backer to make it look good.

 

[JBurton]

Go for a background like zendavor says, it will also give you the flexibility in mounting points to miss all those deadman blocks. What are those supporting anyway?

 

[JStein]

We’re in Southern California and those supports are for earthquake proofing. Thank you for the input. I’ll update on what we end up doing.

 

[Signarama Jockey]

Yeah, I totally agree. You could try getting tricky and having the backs of the letters angle in and out, but why go through all of the trouble? A backer board would also mean that you have more control, and could assemble everything ahead of time.

Also, I don't know what to make of all of the square panels that are sprinkled over the wall. They look like tie rods. And it looks like parts of that facade have been cracking and getting ready to fall off. I can't tell if those are just greebles to add character, or if there really something seriously wrong with that wall. (edit just read your earthquake proofing explanation). If that's the aesthetic, then you might have to set up your channel letters to play well with them.

Good luck. Let us know how it goes.

 

[White Haus]

We’re in Southern California and those supports are for earthquake proofing. Thank you for the input. I’ll update on what we end up doing.

Do they have to be installed so randomly or is there some kind of method behind that madness?

 

[JBurton]

Do they have to be installed so randomly or is there some kind of method behind that madness?

My money is on a retrofit job, these weren't planned when it was built, but added at a later date, avoiding other obstacles in the structure like electrical, waterlines, odd beam terminations. It really is willy nilly though.

You could try getting tricky and having the backs of the letters angle in and out, but why go through all of the trouble?

See, one of these days, 3d printing would make such a change trivial... I'm thinking about the time star trek replicators are popular.
But, just thinking here, wouldn't you need to make a kind of 'false back' to mount the modules to that follows the angle more than the actual back of the letters, so that the module spacing itself is consistent and in the same plane as the wall? Like, if the can is angled, to match the wall, it would give a consistent halo spread, but the intensity would change from brightest at the peaks and dimmest at the vallies.

 

[Signarama Jockey]

My money is on a retrofit job, these weren't planned when it was built, but added at a later date, avoiding other obstacles in the structure like electrical, waterlines, odd beam terminations. It really is willy nilly though.

See, one of these days, 3d printing would make such a change trivial... I'm thinking about the time star trek replicators are popular.
But, just thinking here, wouldn't you need to make a kind of 'false back' to mount the modules to that follows the angle more than the actual back of the letters, so that the module spacing itself is consistent and in the same plane as the wall? Like, if the can is angled, to match the wall, it would give a consistent halo spread, but the intensity would change from brightest at the peaks and dimmest at the vallies.

Yeah, you'd have to keep the plane of the letters straight on. I was thinking like you said, angled cans to give a consistent halo spread. But, this is impractical. Like you said, 3d printing and advanced fabrication would make it possible, But imagine having to puzzle through something like this without a computer. Here is what I was initially thinking, but it dawned on me how crazy something like this would be.

 

[Notarealsignguy]

Do they have to be installed so randomly or is there some kind of method behind that madness?

Yeah no crap. You know they didn't build the building with randomly placed structural elements, you would think they would at least measure those things out so it didn't look like such a "not my problem" job.

 

[JStein]

Do they have to be installed so randomly or is there some kind of method behind that madness?

Honestly I just moved to Southern California and don't know why they are like that. I'm guessing because it is an older building there were weak spots that developed so they had to reinforce it in specific spots. I agree that it looks terrible but what can you do?

 

[White Haus]

Honestly I just moved to Southern California and don't know why they are like that. I'm guessing because it is an older building there were weak spots that developed so they had to reinforce it in specific spots. I agree that it looks terrible but what can you do?

Cover them up with some nice sign boxes/backers!

 

[JBurton]

You know they didn't build the building with randomly placed structural elements

More like it was cheaper to alter the placement of the reinforcement than to reroute other utilities. A fire suppression system for example, or a mains feed down to a breaker box, would be a significant cost to reroute, vs installing the plates and tensioners 6" one way or another.

 

[Broome Signs]

don't over think it
you need wide beam angel on the LEDs and stand them off as far as possible,
go for a 3000k or 4000k will be softer light than the 6000k and work better with the grey

if it was me. I would mount them on a clear perspex back panel with some nice wall supports, make a future out of the perspex rather than try to hide it
nice touch is to put a 45 degree bevel on the rear side of the acrylic leave as mill finish, it will light up and give a nice border to the sign

Philip