Corrugated polycarbonate material?

[Pixels Are Bad Mmmkay?]

Before I left the shop today, I had a good regular customer come by and bring me a piece of a broken sign face. I didn't get a photo of it before I left so I will post a pic tomorrow. The material appears to be approximately 4 mil corrugated plastic, but it's very hard and obviously brittle because it broke. The sign itself is one of those roadside portable backlit sign cabinets with 5 tracks (T channel) for 4 lines of interchangeable letters on both sides. It measures 8 feet wide by 40 inches tall and takes 9" tall letters. The T channel (he didn't bring a piece of it with him) is stapled to the corrugated sheet. The sign was purchased at Sam's Club, hence the cheap materials. It's three years old and both panels have gone to crap. Has anyone ever seen the material I'm talking about and who might be a supplier? I'm imagining it's probably polycarbonate because it's very rigid and silky smooth on both sides. It is also translucent white.

Just for the record, he wants to keep the cheap sign itself in service but I'm sure he's sold on having me replace the old panels with .187 polycarbonate or acrylic and new tracks from Gemini. I just want to be able to quote the corrugated stuff for price comparison. I called Grimco today and the rep I spoke with didn't have a clue what I was talking about, so I'm sending them a photo of it in the morning, also.

Any info is much appreciated. I searched the forum and couldn't find any similar posts.

 

[FireSprint.com]

We have a store called menards here that you can get clear polycarbonate corrugated plastic. It's commonly used in greenhouses. You might check with building supply stores. If it needs to be white, you could put a layer of translucent vinyl down (even on the back side if you wanted)

The stuff is typically designed to last alot longer than 3 years too.

 

[Gino]

Tell your customer, no offense, but you can get a brand spanking new one for about $350. Stop being cheap.

I would not waste my time or efforts in saving this person anything. Those Sam's Club sign are furnished to completely different specs from what sign shops use and they are not meant to last more than 4 to 5 years, max.

 

[Pixels Are Bad Mmmkay?]

Here's the material in question next to a piece of standard yellow coroplast. It's .177" thick.

 

[Pixels Are Bad Mmmkay?]

Tell your customer, no offense, but you can get a brand spanking new one for about $350. Stop being cheap.

I would not waste my time or efforts in saving this person anything. Those Sam's Club sign are furnished to completely different specs from what sign shops use and they are not meant to last more than 4 to 5 years, max.

This is a good customer and a national company. They aren't cheap at all, they just occasionally put out this message board to announce sales and local events because they feel their $350 investment is better than a $15 yard sign. I'm only looking into this material for future reference, mainly if we ever run into this stuff again.

I might be misunderstanding you, though. Are you saying they should not replace the panel with another junk panel, because I'm 98% certain that's not what they're going to do. Or are you saying don't bother replacing any panels with polycarbonate sheet and tell the customer that they should junk the sign altogether? And if you're saying the electrical components aren't up to par, I'm quite certain you're right. I can sway them toward a new sign perhaps, but ultimately it's going to be their call.

 

[Pixels Are Bad Mmmkay?]

We have a store called menards here that you can get clear polycarbonate corrugated plastic. It's commonly used in greenhouses. You might check with building supply stores. If it needs to be white, you could put a layer of translucent vinyl down (even on the back side if you wanted)

The stuff is typically designed to last alot longer than 3 years too.

We have Menards here, too. And I kind of thought this might be that same stuff. We are very likely not going to use the same material as a replacement. I'm only trying to figure out what it is, where it can be purchased, and for how much so I can do a price comparison and show that the solid polycarbonate sheet with Gemini tracks is a better and more cost effective replacement.

 

[Gino]

What I was saying and took for granted it was understood is that, the Sam's Club type signs are junk and it's a well known fact. They shouldn't expect to get anything from it, but grief.

If you were to go to the source, they cannot and will not sell you a sign with the same specs as Sam's club uses. They are made for them exclusive with not lasting long to begin with. It's the nature of the beast. If you were to purchase one from them and re-sell it to your customer it would cost 3 or 4 times as much. So, the thinking is, you can get 2 or 3 junk ones for the cost of one good one.

I would either tell them to buy another junker and use it for a few years or have you supply them one with quality and good innards. If they are a good customer show them that you care about them and explain the differences. It's their advertising dollars, but if they know the facts going in, they can then make an educated decision.

I would never doctor that old piece of crap up, unless they were paying me with a gun to my head. There's just no good sense in polishing a turd.

 

[Pixels Are Bad Mmmkay?]

What I was saying and took for granted it was understood is that, the Sam's Club type signs are junk and it's a well known fact. They shouldn't expect to get anything from it, but grief.

If you were to go to the source, they cannot and will not sell you a sign with the same specs as Sam's club uses. They are made for them exclusive with not lasting long to begin with. It's the nature of the beast. If you were to purchase one from them and re-sell it to your customer it would cost 3 or 4 times as much. So, the thinking is, you can get 2 or 3 junk ones for the cost of one good one.

I would either tell them to buy another junker and use it for a few years or have you supply them one with quality and good innards. If they are a good customer show them that you care about them and explain the differences. It's their advertising dollars, but if they know the facts going in, they can then make an educated decision.

I would never doctor that old piece of crap up, unless they were paying me with a gun to my head. There's just no good sense in polishing a turd.

That's what I figured you meant. Do you know of a good supplier for these types of sign cabinets off hand?

 

[Gino]

Off the top of my head, I think that manufacturer is in Kentucky or around there. You won't find any of the pricing Sams Club or WalMart gets, but it will be a better grade of everything. Your cost will be more than double what Sam's sells them for retail.