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The angle on the back is a good idea. I would use actual aluminum angle for strength rather than break metal. Lord has an adhesive for dissimilar metals. There is a galvanic reaction when stainless touches aluminum in the presence of moisture, just as Gino indicated. Use a nylon washer under a...

Latex is better than oil on raw wood High-quality latex acrylics definitely have the advantage over oil based lettering enamels on raw wood (and masonry). Paint films that dry to a hard shell will usually crack and fail when there is movement of the substrate, as is the case with wood. Latex...

A paint stencil seems impractical and expensive. This is a simple pounce pattern job. It's just big. I would make 3 or 4-foot wide by 25-foot long pounce patterns and then tile them side by side. The transferred charcoal lines will be plenty good enough for professional painters to follow. Even...

Many buyers of graphic art are misinformed when it comes to intellectual property rights. Others are confused by terminology. Clients often ask me to put a "logo" on their sign when what they really want is just a piece of clipart—an image or graphic that will enhance the appearance of their...

The retainers look like the type I would make for a flexible face sign. It's hard to tell the scale from the picture. But if those retainers are three inches wide or so, that would point to a flexible face. Also, when I have put new vinyl on an existing flexible face, I usually did it in place...

The original looks fine. As well as the updates. There are no major design flaws that would make this layout a "fail." There is plenty of negative space. Margins are good. I usually look at the treatment of negative space first. It's where most layouts fail. The layout is not crowded. It can...

A lot of good comments have been made on this string, based on experience and common sense. The most common cause of plastic failure, by far, is stress. In sign making, many of the things we do to acrylic introduce stress. Cutting causes stress Whether it's from a saw blade or a router bit or...

I think Bill's post is the winner.

I appreciate when a survey gives me three measurements in connection with a pan face—the cabinet size, the trimmed face size, and the flat area of the pan. Of these, the easiest to obtain is the cabinet size. So, why extrapolate? Is the extra time cutting into the profit on the job. If so, the...

Signcomp has a trim cap system that uses metal "clips." It looks like the clips are screwed or riveted to the returns first and then the trip cap snaps in place. But I don't think it has been on the market for fifteen years. Maybe it lasts longer than screws, maybe it doesn't. It's advertised as...

Eliminating your competition is a big plus. And if they are a dealership, their prices will typically be on the high side, which will only benefit you. I would view this new business as a potential ally rather than an enemy. You never know when they will be able to help you. The list is long of...

I believe a good painter can use a cheap gun or a nice gun. The cheap ones aren't machined as perfectly, settings may not hold as well, and parts may wear out quicker. But they work well enough for the quality of finish required for sign work. In most sign shops the level of quality does not...

I'm surprised that no one has mentioned the cleaner that we used for decades to prep glass for gold leaf—Bon Ami. Every sign guy carried a bar in his kit. Lather it on, let it dry, then wipe off the dried film with clean cotton rags. If it struggled to come off, the surface was not clean enough...

The industry standard has always been 7328 in Plexiglas. I don't remember the Acrylite equivalent. You want to avoid seeing the tubing through the plastic, which can sometimes happen with the more translucent whites. On the other hand, a dark translucent vinyl on the first surface may change...

On painted cinderblock our practice is tape plus clear silicone.

The redesign is a vast improvement. The original is ineffective and will be ignored—for numerous reasons—and it is, essentially, a waste of the client’s money. The redesign has a good hierarchy of importance. The tree graphic is good because it's a graphic—graphics tend to be memorable as a...

This is a good, concise description of the stuff you need. The rotary engraver machine is used for routing letters, numbers and graphics out of adhesive backed ADA plastic sheet. The engraver also makes the holes for the Braille beads, inserted with a Braille pen. ADA graphics and Braille can be...

This is a good point. And in keeping with that idea, the probable best solution may be to scrap the round format and replace the sign altogether with a new one in a shape that fits the composition better—a rectangle. This is an example of the proverbial square peg/round hole conflict. It is...

I agree. Smart salespeople bring the designer into the discussion early in the game. Some sales guys think they can design and look for opportunities to try and prove it. But often they create more problems for everyone involved when they venture out of their area of expertise—which is selling...

That's true. In many cases, the client will insist on keeping what they have. Still, I don't hesitate to offer improvements on a sign layout if it means their sign will be more effective. Often I will show one or two versions in addition to what they originally wanted, assuming there is enough...