Need Help Drawing for dimensional letters?

[Breezy85]

Forgive me, I'm not entirely sure what it's called because I've never made one before. We have dimensional address numbers going up sometime this week for a customer, and the installer requested a drawing for placement. My boss said from what she's heard that's something we can do on our plotter by trading out the blade with a pen. Neither of us have done that before, so I am not sure exactly how to go about it. Any help is appreciated!

 

[Gino]

What kinda plotter (and size) do you have and what's the size of the numbers ?? What are the numbers going on ?? Wood, cement, brick, block, stucco...... ?? And last, how are they being mounted ??

 

[Breezy85]

What kinda plotter (and size) do you have and what's the size of the numbers ?? What are the numbers going on ?? Wood, cement, brick, block, stucco...... ?? And last, how are they being mounted ??

We have a Graphtec F8600, the outer most rollers measure out to 64".

There's actually two different jobs needing this. The address numbers are going to be HDU Foam with Brushed Silver Metal Laminate, measuring 24.75" tall and overall width 64.5". They're being mounted with VHB tape and silicone to the face of the building which I believe are stucco.

The second job is 12" dibond numbers going above truck loading docks on a warehouse, also on stucco, and also mounted with VHB tape and silicone.

 

[Mosh]

You should be able to get a pin for that plotter..

 

[Breezy85]

Did you order the letters or make them in house? If you got them from Gemini you should have ordered an install temple. If these are stud mounted you will def need that.

I'm not sure where my boss is ordering these from. Neither in house, we don't have the equipment for that. The dibond numbers for the second job have been routed already by a local business that we've used previously.

 

[shoresigns]

If they're being mounted with VHB tape, your installer just needs a life sized printout of the outlines of the letters so they can get the spacing/positioning right. You can draw it with your plotter if you have a pen attachment, or just print it on a wide format printer.

For stud mounted letters, you just add small circles to mark the stud positions.

 

[Breezy85]

If they're being mounted with VHB tape, your installer just needs a life sized printout of the outlines of the letters so they can get the spacing/positioning right. You can draw it with your plotter if you have a pen attachment, or just print it on a wide format printer.

For stud mounted letters, you just add small circles to mark the stud positions.

Yeah and that's what we were planning to do with our plotter. We have a pen attachment and I can look up videos on how to switch that out. I've just not done that before.

 

[Breezy85]

I got it figured out. Took the pen out and all the pieces for it. Seems easier than I was expecting it. Haha

 

[Gino]

Those 24" letters should be stud mounted and not depend on tape and silicon to hold them on stucco.

Why on earth would someone cut out dibond for individual letters, unless they're like an inch thick ?? The idea is to have some relief so it looks nice. For a truck warehouse, I'd just put up a solid sign and be done with it.

 

[Breezy85]

Those 24" letters should be stud mounted and not depend on tape and silicon to hold them on stucco.

Why on earth would someone cut out dibond for individual letters, unless they're like an inch thick ?? The idea is to have some relief so it looks nice. For a truck warehouse, I'd just put up a solid sign and be done with it.

I thought they would be stud mounted, but when I double checked, that's what she told me.
The truck warehouse, there's 13 docks they need outside and inside numbers for. I don't handle that end of it.

Also it seems this area has a lot of PITA and uptight property managers about screwing stuff into the outside walls. We just dealt with one for another job for channel letters, picked apart every little thing and took forever to get their approval.

 

[jfiscus]

We just cut an 1/8" offset "paint mask" for our installers from low tack vinyl. they apply that to the wall and put the letters in the holes. After the letters are applied, they pull the mask off.

 

[ams]

The way I make templates is to get brown craft paper (shipping warehouses, shipping stores and sometimes storage companies have them) you can either print on them just like regular vinyl or you can put a pen in your plotter and do a drawing.

 

[fresh]

i'm not sure if anyone said this yet, but its called a Paper Pattern.

 

[GaSouthpaw]

We just cut an 1/8" offset "paint mask" for our installers from low tack vinyl. they apply that to the wall and put the letters in the holes. After the letters are applied, they pull the mask off.

This is my preferred method. And then you run into the installer who's not smart enough to use this method.
It doesn't make me want to beat my head against the wall- it makes me want to beat their head against the wall.

 

[Breezy85]

You should be able to get a pin for that plotter..

I'm assuming we'll need to use something flat under the craft paper like in this video, right?

 

[TimToad]

That large size of letters will never hold on stucco given the weight of the HDU and laminate face. Especially in the Pacific Northwest where the stucco will be wet for 8 months per year and dry out and then wet again. VHB and silicone are tough, but they aren't magic, anti-gravity boots.

If a client would rather have giant gobs of silicone and VHB tape damage to deal with rather than a series of 1/4" holes that are easily filled and painted over if a tenant moves out or have letters fall off and potentially injure someone, then your boss needs to spend less time out of the shop selling these jobs and more time learning how to actually give the clients the best, tried and true industry standard options for installation. If you've ever tried to deal with globs of silicone on a wall after some amateur overdid it to get dimensional letters to stick, you'd know exactly what I'm talking about.

 

[Breezy85]

That large size of letters will never hold on stucco given the weight of the HDU and laminate face. Especially in the Pacific Northwest where the stucco will be wet for 8 months per year and dry out and then wet again. VHB and silicone are tough, but they aren't magic, anti-gravity boots.

If a client would rather have giant gobs of silicone and VHB tape damage to deal with rather than a series of 1/4" holes that are easily filled and painted over if a tenant moves out or have letters fall off and potentially injure someone, then your boss needs to spend less time out of the shop selling these jobs and more time learning how to actually give the clients the best, tried and true industry standard options for installation. If you've ever tried to deal with globs of silicone on a wall after some amateur overdid it to get dimensional letters to stick, you'd know exactly what I'm talking about.

*shrug* Well it's not my call, unfortunately.
The warehouse ones actually have an awning over, so those ones shouldn't be as exposed to the elements.

 

[eahicks]

Just order Gemini letters, with studs or pads. Order the patterns to go with them. People complicate things that should be so easy.

 

[Marlene]

Just order Gemini letters, with studs or pads. Order the patterns to go with them. People complicate things that should be so easy.

Totally agree.

 

[ams]

VHB to stucco will fail, be prepared for it. You can buy a tap and die set and make your own studs easily.