a sign to match these existing signs

[luggnut]

i have been asked to refinish some old signs (1989) and most can be sanded prep and repaint and reletter.... but this big one is internally lit the faces are fiberglass and are bonded (with epoxy?) to the aluminum angle frame. they were painted translucent white then masked and a opaque gray sprayed on so just the letters light up.

i would like to use the existing sign and reface any ideas? maybe impossible without going above the cost of just starting with a new sign?

but this sign matches the other smaller non illuminated ones and if i need to replace (if redo is out) i would like to find one close to the same look.

i normally order lighted cabinets from Wayne industries in clanton al , but they are the normal aluminum with lexan faces.

i have attached pics of the smaller non lit and the larger (5x10) lit

 

[Rick]

I have messed with this type of system before (that fiberglass gets yellow and chalky.... what we did was cut out the section of fiberglass where the lettering would be and attached a routed out aluminum face with acrylic backing to it.

We did all the signs on the project, so we added a 1" aluminum frame that was slightly undersized and gave the new aluminum panel a 'bladed' look to it (and hid the attachment). It looked pretty good, I'm trying to find pics of it, but that was about 10 years ago...

 

[Marlene]

Howard Industries makes post and panel signs and may where these came from.


www.howardindustries.com

 

[luggnut]

so we added a 1" aluminum frame that was slightly undersized and gave the new aluminum panel a 'bladed' look to it (and hid the attachment). It looked pretty good, I'm trying to find pics of it, but that was about 10 years ago...

come on rick get me some pics.... this sounds like a good idea, but would it save much over just getting a new sign?

 

[daveb]

The original Mfg. was probably ASI, only ones I've seen with the fiberglass faces, look nice for a few years. A big to what Rick said, we do a lot of routed faces similar to this... (my $.02) A 5x10 face is gonna get pretty heavy, may have to think about beefing up the mounting angle to 1.5'' or 2''. Just a though. And yes it should be cheaper than a new sign.

 

[Rick]

come on rick get me some pics.... this sounds like a good idea, but would it save much over just getting a new sign?

Been racking my brain, I can't remember the name of the job, but I remember some of the details... I was trying to figure out if it's on a Zip, or one of the few back-up drives I have, or DVD and then figure out which one... if it's on a zip or tape drive, then I have to find that thing... This is like 2000 jobs ago, hope I never have to redo anything on it.

I think the sign was smaller than the one you are dealing with, I remember we added some aluminum backing inside the panel because of weight concerns I think we took off around 60 pounds of fiberglass overall but added 90 pounds to the sign. I agree with Dave B, on that size, 1 1/2" - 2" might be better and probably look better.

 

[UFB Fabrication]

You can re- use the old face.

Bring back to shop and sand face down to bare f-glass.

Spray trans white

Frisket the letters and spray new backround color.

Peal frisket and satin clear.

That is the way those are made (maybe w/o clear coat)

That the way we did the 10' bottle caps Pics are in the portfolio thread.