hey everyone hoping you can give me a quick pointer

[DirtyD]

If a 4x8 sheet of Lexan comes out and hits someone it could be deadly.

Signs do fail, hurt and even kill people...

http://www.torontosun.com/2012/10/30/sandys-winds-kill-toronto-woman-hit-by-store-sign


http://abcnews.go.com/US/large-airport-sign-falls-family-kills-boy/story?id=18797015


http://news.sky.com/story/1044208/william-hill-shop-sign-fall-kills-man


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...-man-20s-came-loose-pigeon-spikes-fitted.html

So you NEVER sell to someone that is going to install ANYTHING themselves.. Because they are not professional and and it could fail..And your photos were of signs that I'm sure a professional comapny installed that RECOMENDED it done that way.......Oh and by the pan faces blow out as well.. Especially the Acrylic Pan fances.. Those are deadly.. so now what.. and I'm done arguing about something so stupid

 

[player]

Hey you just carry on...

 

[Gino]

My business and methodology has nothing to do with what is being discussed. However, experience does. Some of you guys earlier on and even recently are proclaiming how to do this and make it stand up although it might not look good it will hold up to almost anything.

Do you realize how may times I or my guys have come across someone who has bastardized a system like this ?? The next guy who has to change out lamps, ballasts or just plain service it to clean it....... how is this now accomplishes ??

You guys are so nearsighted, you can't see how pathetically stoopid your reasoning or answers truly are.

You just wanna defend a dumb side of doing things for the sake of making a dimwitted post regardless of how wrong you truly are on the overall situation.


The bottom line is..... the OPs request will be best advised to not make a sloppy quick fix to be the best answer and walk away from such a stoopid idea. The rest of you can keep on making brainless decisions and keep running a low end business model.

For those who would either replace with the proper substrates or correctly retrofitting.... kudos to us all !!

 

[Moze]

I must be missing something - what's the dangerous part of this?

 

[Gino]

I must be missing something - what's the dangerous part of this?

The dangerous part referred to when the guy was just gonna slide in a flat face and hope for the best. Now, everyone is telling him to put screws in so it doesn't fall out, so now the dangerous part is the next person who has to go up and service this monstrosity. Plus, it's still going to bow like crazy.

The OP never mentioned using lexan, acrylic or whatever, so we still don't know how things will really hold up, do we ??

Doing things correctly vs. just doing anything is the sad part. I truly believe the OP will to the right thing in the end, but all of these other 1/2 a$$ed ideas is what surprises me.

The aesthetics is one thing to be concerned about, but the actual physical way of approaching such projects is omelets ly on a different plane. Someone had written a thread about people taking tests to get into this industry. This is why, because there are so many misinformed people in this business who can't and therefor don't wanna learn.

 

[Billct2]

The OP never mentioned using lexan, acrylic or whatever, so we still don't know how things will really hold up, do we ??

His very first sentence....

I am replacing a set of old 4x8 sign faces from a sign box and the retaining slot is a hair under 5/16. I got 3/16 polycarbonate.

 

[Techman]

but when someone says I want this and only wants to pay for that you kind of have to give them what they want.

No, you do not give them what they want. They are in a contest with economics. Given the choice they will always take the side of cheap. Hence, you give them what they need.

Clients can sense a lack of resolve and will go for the jugular to win cheap. Body language and demeanor gives it all away. They will demand anything and every thing to go their way.

When you cave and do the job cheap they will pounce like a leopard on a deer when the job goes bad for any reason.

It seems there is a never ending spiral to the bottom. No confidence to charge the right amount. Low income. Desperation over money. Cut the price to get the job. End it. Charge a higher amount and do the job according to specs.

Quote an amount just shy of you busting out with a laugh. When you think of an amount and it makes you smirk then you are about right. When they say ok then say plus install.

 

[Gino]

His very first sentence....

Sorry, didn't notice that. My bad. While that makes it a somewhat stronger substrate, it still is not a good choice going flat and screwing all those screws into it, huh ??

3 months from now, you get a call to service a 4 x 8 2 sided electric cabinet. The customer says, it does not light up at night. You give him a price to come over and check things out and he says, fine. So, you get there and check the main, then the sensor or time clock and everything checks out, so you tell him you're going to go up in the box and check to make sure there is current to the sign and then the ballasts, lamps and so forth. Now, you set your ladder up and remove the side lip. Holy Bat Guano, there are a ton of screws holding the face in place. Its gonna take at least an extra 45 minutes to remove all the cscrews, lips and then drop the whole thing down without being able to slide it out...... and you're one man on a ladder. Can you do it ?? Probably not, so you go in and say what to the guy ??

I'm going to keep my price the same, even though it's going to take me an hour or two longer than I expected....... or alright, I have some bad news for you, the last guy who worked on this thing practically ruined this for you. I expected this sign to be the way a normal person would do it, but it's not...... so I'm going to have to charge you an extra $375.00 ??

 

[Moze]

Not to be argumentative, but that's why electrical service calls are T&M and hard quotes aren't given.

I still don't understand what's dangerous about inserting a 4' x 8' x .188" polycarbonate face where a formed face was.

 

[Techman]

nothing wrong with putting in a flat face in a place of a pan face.. That is if hot spots are not a bother and if it is properly installed.. With out a proper install.... However,,,, it will sag and bow and flex around with the weather. And if not held in with a good hanger bar it may very easily blow out in a wind storm thus crashing down on someones head and severing their optic nerves..

If that is not enough incentive to make sure the panel is secured and properly installed then someone should be working in a junk yard. Because that is a more suitable occupation.

 

[Moze]

I totally agree on the hot spots. With a shallow cabinet and a flat face, there will be hot spots.

I just don't understand why there's so much emphasis being put on hanger bars and screws (?!) for a 4' x 8' polycarbonate face. The same retainers that held in the existing formed faces will hold in the flat faces. And a 3/16" polycarbonate face isn't going to sag just because there's no hanger bar.