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6' X 20' Lighted Sign Graphic, Production Ideas.

T

TSC1985

New Member
Hey all.

I have a client that wants new graphics on his existing 6' x 20' plexiglass signs. Due to it being reused a lot there is plenty of damage on the face that he would like to cover the entire face with a solid color. We are thinking of digitally printing the entire thing in (2) 36" x 20' pieces. However the overlap looks TERRIBLE.

Is there a better way to complete this job? Possibly just butting the two pieces together or maybe some technique that I am missing? He has a small budget so we are trying to avoid having to bring this and paint the background or get new plexiglass.

Thank you for the help
 
Bradley Signs

Bradley Signs

Bradley Signs
If it has knife marks or ghosting... get new faces... it will never be right, unless it is being viewed from over 60 or 70 feet away... I seriously believe it will cost just as much in the end whether you rebuild or redo...
 
dale911

dale911

President
If you absolutely have to use solid colors and overlap, maybe butt the two pieces up perfectly, but then add clear overtop to keep them from pulling apart.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
visual800

visual800

Active Member
i would definitely get new a new face. i would also like to see a pic of that sign. Its has got to be a pan face thats there now. A sign that size would not be flat plexi
 
Johnny Best

Johnny Best

Active Member
TSC1985 said:
Hey all.

I have a client that wants new graphics on his existing 6' x 20' plexiglass signs. Due to it being reused a lot there is plenty of damage on the face that he would like to cover the entire face with a solid color. We are thinking of digitally printing the entire thing in (2) 36" x 20' pieces. However the overlap looks TERRIBLE.

Is there a better way to complete this job? Possibly just butting the two pieces together or maybe some technique that I am missing? He has a small budget so we are trying to avoid having to bring this and paint the background or get new plexiglass.

Thank you for the help
Click to expand...

If you are thinking about doing this how do you know the overlap seam looks terrible if you have not put it on the face yet. And if on a small budget and the faces look that bad, paint it.
 
H

henryz

New Member
Visiul88, you are probably right or polycarbonate. We normally put a seem after the first 4' If you go with 3m trans a seem is standard 3/16" overlap should be fine if not go with flexface and printed it.
 
Billct2

Billct2

Active Member
yea, photos and the new design would help.
But when the job starts out with "I have no money for a 6'x20' illuminated sign face" it doesn't go well from there....and then I drive by a few weeks later and they screwed coro sheets over the old face.
 
T

TSC1985

New Member
vincesigns said:
It will be easier to provide feedback if you could show us photos
Click to expand...

Billct2 said:
yea, photos and the new design would help.
But when the job starts out with "I have no money for a 6'x20' illuminated sign face" it doesn't go well from there....and then I drive by a few weeks later and they screwed coro sheets over the old face.
Click to expand...

Here is a scale version of the sign. 12" tall with 1/8" overlap printed on Oracal digital.

I seriously considered painting with translucent yellow and masking the areas for the letters and printing/placing those in later but I dont have a way to transport or a paint booth for these bad boys.

What about doing 48" wide prints butted up against each other to avoid the overlap?
 

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T

TSC1985

New Member
Ye Old Sign Smithe said:
If it has knife marks or ghosting... get new faces... it will never be right, unless it is being viewed from over 60 or 70 feet away... I seriously believe it will cost just as much in the end whether you rebuild or redo...
Click to expand...

No knife marks just lots of left over glue and ghosting, that what we are thinking of covering entirely with print. It is about 30' up on posts and view heavily from a highway. See my photo reply above
 
Billct2

Billct2

Active Member
Little hard to tell what exactly is going on, am I seeing some serious distortion in that pic? Anyhow, how about "hiding" the seam in the design, have two seams run through the areas that have panels. Less noticeable than one long one in the yellow.
 

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Gino

Gino

Premium Subscriber
If that's an 1/8" overlap, then you have some mighty small hands/fingers. :confused:


Anyway, the overlap does look bad. If you can't talk them outta of the yellow background, then sub it out to someone who has a printer that can do it all-in-one piece. Regardless of using a new piece or this one over, you can't do it, as is. That's quite evident. Do you even know how to paint with grip flex translucent paints ?? That's a lotta yellow to get down perfectly, not to mention a lotta frisket cutting.
 
Texas_Signmaker

Texas_Signmaker

Very Active Signmaker
TSC1985 said:
Here is a scale version of the sign. 12" tall with 1/8" overlap printed on Oracal digital.

I seriously considered painting with translucent yellow and masking the areas for the letters and printing/placing those in later but I dont have a way to transport or a paint booth for these bad boys.

What about doing 48" wide prints butted up against each other to avoid the overlap?
Click to expand...

+1 on overlap in line. When I have to overlap on trans I try to place it in a "busy" section.
 
T

TSC1985

New Member
Gino said:
If that's an 1/8" overlap, then you have some mighty small hands/fingers. :confused:


Anyway, the overlap does look bad. If you can't talk them outta of the yellow background, then sub it out to someone who has a printer that can do it all-in-one piece. Regardless of using a new piece or this one over, you can't do it, as is. That's quite evident. Do you even know how to paint with grip flex translucent paints ?? That's a lotta yellow to get down perfectly, not to mention a lotta frisket cutting.
Click to expand...

I have no idea how to paint with the translucent paint, outside of knowing that it existed. Is a wholesaler that can do it in 72" wide? All the ones I know cap it at 54"
 
V

vincesigns

New Member
if you are going to seam two pieces of printed translucent vinyl you have to have an overlap otherwise the two will shrink over time and you will have a gap between the 2 pieces and that will look really bad. If the sign is 30' high and you have a 1/8" to 3/16" overlap I don't think that will be easily seen. Your client will need to compromise if they want to reuse the existing faces. Otherwise retrofit with printed flex faces. You can work with AI Innovations or Z3 Graphics and they will help you with that. Their prices may end up being competitive with what you are proposing to do when you take labor into account...
 
Billct2

Billct2

Active Member
"I have no idea how to paint with the translucent paint,"
Then don't even think about trying that, it's a skill that requires the right set up and practice.
You can look at other alternatives like flex face and outsource but the big factor is your clients cheapness.
Printing and overlapping is going to be quickest and cheapest, do you even know if they'd go for that cost?
 
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