Cut out letters from ACM?

[gnubler]

I have a customer with used 3mm ACM panels wanting to make cut out letters with it to be installed on a building. The backs of the panels still have the liner intact so the faces are clean, she wants them painted red and then letters cut out. Can or should this be done, or is it the wrong type of material? What would be the best way to install them so they project from the building? Other suggestions always appreciated.

 

[Texas_Signmaker]

Anytime a customer starts talking about reusing an old sign face my immediate response is to refer them to someone else

 

[Boudica]

It can be done. Paint the sheet, tape it with a low tac application tape, and send it to a CNC place.

Edit, when we have done this with 6mil sintra... We paint after the letters are cut out. For ACM, we would print on the FB, then tape and cut.

 

[gnubler]

Sounds like a lot of work to "save money". I'm going to compare that with just ordering some stock channel letters, the business name is only six characters.

 

[Billct2]

Sure, cut the letters, roll the faces red, install with thru the face screws with blocks of pvc to offset.
Might not save any money but the material will be reused and the customer will be happy.

 

[Z SIGNS]

In my shop it cost the customer more if they want to use their material. Think about it. Go to the customer and pick the sheet up. Order some red paint and rollers. Paint the board and hope it sticks and looks good.
A new sheet of red acm cost $75. I would happily spend $75 to not have to deal with the above.

 

[gnubler]

In my shop it cost the customer more if they want to use their material. Think about it. Go to the customer and pick the sheet up. Order some red paint and rollers. Paint the board and hope it sticks and looks good.
A new sheet of red acm cost $75. I would happily spend $75 to not have to deal with the above.

Exactly. I already got back to the customer and told her it would probably end up costing more versus just ordering stock channel letters.

 

[signage]

In my shop it cost the customer more if they want to use their material. Think about it. Go to the customer and pick the sheet up. Order some red paint and rollers. Paint the board and hope it sticks and looks good.
A new sheet of red acm cost $75. I would happily spend $75 to not have to deal with the above.

This here remind me what I was taught many moons ago......ask the customer when they go out for dinner do they take their own stake and ask the restaurant to cook it!

 

[Gino]

Ya just hafta be honest and upfront. If ya can do it, do it. If ya can't, don't and explain it to them.

Do any of you use cut-offs for jobs ?? They were already paid for and according to many here, should be tossed. Now, who's using old material ??

If something is bent, has holes in it, very very old, use your best judgement.

 

[gnubler]

I'm all for reusing old material, if it makes sense. My main question was is 3mm ACM a good material to make cut out letters to install out on a building? Sounds like a few have done it.

 

[signbrad]

ACM is not the best material for flat cutout graphics. It tends to delaminate, though not always. Most vendors do not offer long warranties because of this. Nudo Products, for example, gives only a "5 Year (Limited)" warranty. They want you to put a trim cap on the material.
I would do ACM cutouts for someone, but make it clear to them there is absolutely no guarantee that it won't delaminate.

I have seen both ACM cutout letters and ACM routered faces delaminate, so I don't trust it. Also, not all ACMs are equal. Some of the first ACM makers offered a 15-year warranty on their panels, but 5 years is far more typical these days. There are "interior" and "exterior" grades. There is surely variation in materials among the makers—the skin thickness, the aluminum alloy, the finish paint, the adhesive, the core composition. Yet they all look frighteningly the same, don't they?

I prefer acrylic or aluminum for FCO letters, and .080" aluminum for routered faces. These materials have proven track records. Indoors, PVC or Gatorfoam works great. Of course, if you make ACM cutout letters that regularly last 10 years, then I would be comfortable using them, too, using the exact same brand and production method. But I prefer that others do the experimenting. I would not make a good test pilot.

Would the cut direction make a difference on your used material? Would a down-cutting bit be better than an up-cutting bit? Or would it even make a difference? I don't know.

Brad in Kansas City

 

[gnubler]

Thanks for the informative reply, much appreciated and filed away into the sign shop bible. I'm steering my customer away from this and quoting actual dimensional letters that I'll outsource.

 

[gnubler]

Sounds like the right way to do it, but that's a hard sell around here. I gave my customer a price on formed letters - they'll probably spit their beer laughing, grab a jigsaw and red spray paint, and cut out their own damn letters on the old panels. "How hard could it be?"

 

[signbrad]

Thanks for the informative reply, much appreciated and filed away into the sign shop bible. I'm steering my customer away from this and quoting actual dimensional letters that I'll outsource.

Flat cutout acrylic letters are less expensive than formed letters. Stud mounted, with spacers, effects a "projecting look." It's just that there aren't any returns. I have, over the past 40 years, installed hundreds and hundreds of acrylic letters in 3/16" and 1/4" thicknesses, mostly hand cut. Cast acrylic cuts cleanly and holds it color well, and they last a long time unless they're broken by thrown objects.
Of course, Gemini's formed letters are practically indestructible. They are not acrylic.

Brad

 

[rossmosh]

Assuming you have a CNC; cut the letters and let them paint them. Simple simple.

 

[Johnny Best]

Sounds like the right way to do it, but that's a hard sell around here. I gave my customer a price on formed letters - they'll probably spit their beer laughing, grab a jigsaw and red spray paint, and cut out their own damn letters on the old panels. "How hard could it be?"

I think some of those people who smell of beer they spit up are part of this forum. You can tell by the red trigger finger from the spray can.

 

[gnubler]

Sounds like the right way to do it, but that's a hard sell around here. I gave my customer a price on formed letters - they'll probably spit their beer laughing, grab a jigsaw and red spray paint, and cut out their own damn letters on the old panels. "How hard could it be?"

I just came across this old thread of mine searching for something else. My customer ended up doing this themselves, obviously on the cheap. Looks so bad, totally amateur. 3mm ACM spray painted red and attached flat onto the front of their building, screwed right through the faces. I found out they went through permitting for it, too.

 

[Boudica]

I just came across this old thread of mine searching for something else. My customer ended up doing this themselves, obviously on the cheap. Looks so bad, totally amateur. 3mm ACM spray painted red and attached flat onto the front of their building, screwed right through the faces. I found out they went through permitting for it, too.

picture!!

 

[gnubler]

No can do. Customer would likely see me and ask if I was admiring their crafty handwork, and my inner savant would probably blurt out the honest truth. They aren't even horizontally centered under the roof peak...like, off center by several feet. Oy vay.

 

[Scotchbrite]

Just park a few blocks away and do a walk by across the street.