Formed Acrylic Letters

[Doc Savage]

We have a project in house right now that we need to have some acrylic letters 1" thick formed to a radius of 18'. We have tried the standards like Gemini and Hendricks. Does anyone know of a place that can form these letters? The customer is demanding uniform thickness on the letters. Which puts using 3D routing further down on the list as the letters would need to be cut from thicker material than 1". Any leads would be helpful.

 

[J Hill Designs]

bit more info pls. doesnt really make sense. maybe its just too early...

 

[MikePro]

if you DO go the route of 3D routing, i'd suggest HDU foam. much smoother finish.
are you misinterpreting? maybe it is acceptable to simply route your acrylic letters and mount along/atop a radius?

otherwise, it might be worth a sample to try: if the letter is large enough, HDU should have enough flexibility to bend into an 18" radius. It won't hold it, but could work if you were able to secure to something from the backside.

 

[Moze]

If I'm understanding: The wall has an 18' radius and they want the letters to basically have curved fronts and backs to match the radius of the wall?

If so, I bet they stop demanding uniform thickness once they see the price.

An 18' radius is fairly large, can you not just stud-mount standard dimensional letters and call it a day?

 

[Doc Savage]

Can't do HDU. They must be acrylic, this conversation had been had many many times. The letters are being mounted to the face of a 1/'4 acrylic panel that is bolted to the outside of a 18' (that feet not inches) diameter 4" square tube circle. We have already tried the routed flat letters but they are not happy with what the call the wavy effect that the flat acrylic letters are inducing in the 1/4" acrylic panel. The 1/4" acrylic panel is second surface direct printed and there is some waviness to the final result.

Mikepro,

There is no top edge to attach to these are surface mounted on a 1/4" acrylic panel.

This customer is rather particular and the designer on the job will not bend on material, they must be as specified.

 

[J Hill Designs]

aint gonna happen, IMO

 

[Doc Savage]

Attached is an image of what the design looks like.

 

[Moze]

Can't do HDU. They must be acrylic, this conversation had been had many many times. The letters are being mounted to the face of a 1/'4 acrylic panel that is bolted to the outside of a 18' (that feet not inches) diameter 4" square tube circle. We have already tried the routed flat letters but they are not happy with what the call the wavy effect that the flat acrylic letters are inducing in the 1/4" acrylic panel. The 1/4" acrylic panel is second surface direct printed and there is some waviness to the final result.

Mikepro,

There is no top edge to attach to these are surface mounted on a 1/4" acrylic panel.

This customer is rather particular and the designer on the job will not bend on material, they must be as specified.

Your design shows squared off faces and backs, but it sounds like you're wanting 1" thick acrylic with convex faces and concave backs and the backs have the same curvature as the acrylic panel...?

 

[Doc Savage]

If I'm understanding: The wall has an 18' radius and they want the letters to basically have curved fronts and backs to match the radius of the wall?

If so, I bet they stop demanding uniform thickness once they see the price.

An 18' radius is fairly large, can you not just stud-mount standard dimensional letters and call it a day?

Basically your right. It is a hanging display that has a 4" x 4" aluminum tube with an 18' radius.

At this point we are simply trying to make them happy so that we can get paid. We are loosing money on the job now. Their material demands are so strict that we have had to buy special materials for this job because industry standard materials would not cut it. After 4 months of bickering over materials and processes they finally approved the design only to dislike the finished result after approving the sample.

 

[Doc Savage]

Your design shows squared off faces and backs, but it sounds like you're wanting 1" thick acrylic with convex faces and concave backs and the backs have the same curvature as the acrylic panel...?

That is correct. What I showed is how it looks now. What they want is to have the fronts and backs curved to match the tube.

 

[Moze]

You would need to do some math to determine the needed thickness, but you would have to start off with 1½" ($$$$$$$$) or possibly thicker ($$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$) acrylic. From there, the only way I can think to achieve the curvature is to build some jigs (time/$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$) and use a belt sander or router to take off the excess material (time/$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$).

...And that's hoping the letters are going to be painted. Either way, you then have the fun task of smoothing and polishing the sanded surfaces (time/$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$)

 

[J Hill Designs]

create a 3'x3' work table out of steel, set at an 18' diameter, heat acrylic, press onto steel surface

 

[Techman]

Did you know this requirement before you started?
Did they tell you about this requirement before starting?
OR, was it an after thought?
After thought requires more money from them.

route mdf letters with the face curve and the back curve.
Get your acrylic material and heat it and form it onto the MDF letters using a vacuum table. But this is not a mandatory step. But it may help
use your mdf letters as a template to trim the back of the letters if necessary.

chemical polish the faces if needed.

done.

Not cheap any way you do it.

However, I would tell them its goona cost more.

 

[Gino]

I believe there are a few ways out of this, but has your customer changed direction or their mind, since you are at a stand still and not being able to please them ??

It appears they are being unreasonable or you didn't quote this properly and are now looking for a quick-fix.

Need to know some more particulars, cause if you quoted it wrong, I would fear it's gonna be on you to make good. If however, they changed their mind and are holding you to tolerances you had no idea of in the quoting stages, I would tell them it's gonna cost them more and be honest with them and how difficult they are being with the parameters.

 

[Techman]

second thought. If those letters are already done..
Heat them in an oven to about 300F
lay them on a surface with a 18ft radius
let them set a while.
They will form to the radius.
Take ti out when it bends
let it cool.
Chemical polish if needed.

 

[John Butto]

To bend a 1" thick cut out acrylic letter to a curve would be a task. If it is a circle at least the molds you build could be used for all the letters as far as the curve on the back. Do not know how big your letters are but some big heating elements are required. Good luck and if you find a solution please post it with the results.

 

[synergy_jim]

this may be one of the most ridiculous requests I have ever heard. Flat letters across 18' might only gap 1/8" on the ends.... Tell them you want a toilet made of gold, but thats not feasible either.....

 

[Techman]

Some bondo behind the letters will hide the gaps perfectly. That is if the plastic is clear. KISS every thing.

 

[TammieH]

I do not see anyway possible to make these letters given your specs and the customer desire to pay for what they want.

You are asking for custom formed or molded letters 1" thick, good luck with that and at a specific radius...Think about it!

There is not a company supplying letters with curved radius backs and fronts to fit every radius out there.

high density foam is the only way out and you say the customer has to have acrylic

I would give them a price on routed foam, if they don't like it,

just tell them good luck!

 

[iprint]

second thought. If those letters are already done..
Heat them in an oven to about 300F
lay them on a surface with a 18ft radius
let them set a while.
They will form to the radius.
Take ti out when it bends
let it cool.
Chemical polish if needed.

This. Or at least a variation of it. Make your form with an 18' radius large enough to do one letter. Put your already cut letters on top of the form and place it into an oven and heat till it softens the acrylic enough to drape over your form. Pull it out of the oven and let it cool. Repeat this till you are out of letters. Just be sure to keep an eye on them while heating so that the letters nor your form catch fire.
Or you could find someone that does vacuum forming/bagging if you are not comfortable trying this.

One more note. If you attempt to do this yourself, when you place your acrylic on the form, make sure that it is square to the radius so that when you install them they do not install crooked.

 

[Doc Savage]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I am not sure what the latest is on this project.

We are really looking for a company that is setup to do the forming for us. We are not setup to do forming and have no desire to get into that business. When it comes to formed acrylic we have and will continue to farm this out. I was hoping that someone out there knew of a company that does this kind of work.

And believe me when I say I know this situation is way out of hand. Every time we have tried to make a change to their spec that would make the sign cheaper for them and easier to build they have fought us each time. This sign took 4 months just to get approved and documenting why we could not do some of the things they have asked.

One of these was that the sign hangs on 4 coated stainless wire ropes. It is an indoor sign and we suggested that on an indoor sign they did not need both stainless and plastic coated. But they had to have it. When we submitted drawings to them they did not want us to strip the coating off the wire where it was inserted into the anchors at the top and bottom. We actually had to have the wire manufacturer instruct them that if they hang a 1/2 ton sign off those cables with the coating inside the anchors they were assuring it would fall down. That is hoping we would get all 4 cables installed and hung before one of them came apart.

The sad part was we had to explain all of this to a certified architect.