Custom drop ceiling panels???

[Tony Rome]

I saw these a few times where a customer had their logo with vinyl applied to ceiling panels, they were a little transparent but almost more milky.
Made me wonder if people are just using lightboard panels.

Anybody have any experience with these?
Wholesale vendor for pre-cut panels?
Thanks!

 

[Mosh]

3/16" acrylic works, I did some for a bar. Blacked out most of the panel, looked pretty cool .

 

[Gino]

We did some at a bar and a few gyms. The gyms worked out great, cause half the time, you're on your back doing exercises and you get to read the ads. At the bar.... only the drunks falling off their stools look at the ceiling.

We also just do ceiling tiles. Customer gives us brand new tiles and we flatbed print them.

We've used anything from Cor-X to styrene and 1/16" acrylic for the backlit version.

 

[MikePro]

yeah, just treat it like a lightbox. "Visible opening" for graphics with increased panel-size to rest on the frame.
acrylic, lexan, coro, dibond, gatorfoam, heck...anything rigid should work. just keep in mind that these drop-ceiling frames weren't designed to hold much weight.

on a similiar note: I used clear coroplast scrap, along with some blue LED's, to jazz-up my own office not too long ago.
pretty awesome, especially when I lock myself-in & crank-up the jamz after-hours:

 

[Tony Rome]

thanks guys, that was a huge help!
If it no light needed to come through I saw a company online that uses 3/16" foam core...that sound right?
I am worried about dinging the edges on installation and it being durable, but no way I would use gatorfoam either.
Thanks!

 

[MikePro]

perfect opportunity to ding all the edges you want, since the drop-ceiling frame is a 3/4" perimeter that will hide any flaws at the edge of your panel.
besides, have you ever moved drop ceiling tiles before? you almost always chip the corners/edges, its inevitable but hide-able.

3/16" foamcore should be fine. basically anything that doesn't sag like paper when you lift it up by the 4-corners.

 

[Tony Rome]

GREAT.
I am all set.
Thanks again!

 

[FS-Keith]

gatorboard is much more rigid then foamcore fyi

 

[Pat Whatley]

Backlit panels - go get the standard "cracked ice" panels from Lowe's or Home Depot, flip them over and apply graphics to the smooth back side of them. Install with the smooth sided down, the cracked ice side makes a great light diffuser.

 

[Biker Scout]

That's a great tip Pat.

I'm doodling out a ceiling project myself. It involves 24 pieces of Dibond cut to 2x4 and 50 yards of RGB LEDs!

 

[Tony Rome]

gatorboard is much more rigid then foamcore fyi

yeah, I know...and waaay more $$$.
Spielling, lol.

 

[Tony Rome]

Backlit panels - go get the standard "cracked ice" panels from Lowe's or Home Depot, flip them over and apply graphics to the smooth back side of them. Install with the smooth sided down, the cracked ice side makes a great light diffuser.

nice! thanks!

 

[Typestries]

There is also the option of flatbed printing directly onto traditional ceiling tiles, which is of course a trade service we offer.

Use caution when replacing tiles in commercial buildings. Traditional tiles are part of a buildings fire safety engineering. Besides the possibility of your client failing a fire inspection, you open yourself to huge liability should a fire happen. Foamcore and gator are not suitable replacements for tile in commercial applications.

Side note-those blue LED's in the tiles are sicko. Nice work!

 

[Locals Find!]

Use caution when replacing tiles in commercial buildings. Traditional tiles are part of a buildings fire safety engineering. Besides the possibility of your client failing a fire inspection, you open yourself to huge liability should a fire happen. Foamcore and gator are not suitable replacements for tile in commercial applications.

Just wanted to add to this. Be aware in many older buildings ceiling tiles may be made with asbestos and you might be on the hook for remediation if you disturb them. So exercise caution.