Looking for a stud placement chart for letters

[StarSign]

Putting together some systems and was wondering if anyone has a chart reflecting stud placement for flat cut letters. I did a search and didn't come up with much thanks in advance.

 

[Billct2]

Not sure there is such a thing, unless you are lining them up for a mortar line or raised seam
We just use common sense based on the thickness of the material, the particular letter and letter height.
Three studs on a T may be fine till it gets large enough to need 4 or 5.

 

[Gino]

I agree 100% with Bill above, but you also need to know what substrate you're using, heights, interior, exterior, thickness and length of studs being used.

 

[Andy D]

I would think there is way too many variables to standardize stud placement.
My rules of thumb are:
- Try and have at least three per piece, in case one fails.

- Make the stud placements for letters that are exactly the same in the same place, but if they
are only similar make sure the stud placement very different.

- Make sure letters like "S" and "O" can't be installed upside down.

- Too many studs are better than too few, you can always remove ones you don't need.

 

[StarSign]

I was thinking the same way thanks

 

[Billct2]

Yes, definitely mark on the backs of the letters & pattern their number (& direction for ones that can get confused).

 

[James Burke]

From what I've seen with the stainless waterjet letters I've ordered from Matthews:

Punctuation = 1 stud
Three studs on most letters, except the letter "I".
Four studs on wider letters such as M,W,Z and so on.

I honestly can't see a purpose for any more than four studs in any situation, and obviously the larger the letter, the larger diameter the stud needs to be.


JB

 

[John Miller]

All good advice. We cut a ton of acrylic and PVC letters. When I do the cut file I place .06" pockets where we will glue the threaded acrylic pads that receive the studs.. The letters are cut face down. All reoccurring letters are copied from the first one so that when installing, there is no need for numbering.

 

[StarSign]

We do our fair share of flat cut aluminum lettering and I am just looking for a more efficient way to stud lettering. We spend a lot of time matching letters to the pattern to mark stud placement.

 

[John Miller]

We do our fair share of flat cut aluminum lettering and I am just looking for a more efficient way to stud lettering. We spend a lot of time matching letters to the pattern to mark stud placement.

What thickness of aluminum & how do you attach the studs to the letters?

 

[StarSign]

Most of the time it's .125 or .25 once in a while we go up to .5 we use this to stud https://studweldprod.com/product/hbs-cdi-2302/

 

[MikePro]

studs can be attached many ways, drill&tap/drill&epoxy/stud weld. we do it all, depending on the situation or if stand-off is desired.

Grew up in the biz marking targets on a pattern by hand, transferring to backside of letter, & drill-pressing but now our stud targets are manually-placed in the layout/design software & CNC'd, so that we can also penplot it in the mounting pattern.
If the project requires duplicated letters, then I'll make a key set and copy/paste the letters with targets to the whole, so that I don't have to keep track of multiple versions of identical letters.

in terms of automation, good luck. Infinite possibilities between scales/fonts/materials/mounting-style BUT i've "cheated" before by inlining letters and applying copies of stud targets to a path, My Enroute software allows for optional quantities/spacing/offset% BUT you still have to manually select/move/edit/delete to your liking....

 

[Andy D]

We do our fair share of flat cut aluminum lettering and I am just looking for a more efficient way to stud lettering. We spend a lot of time matching letters to the pattern to mark stud placement.

We always mirrored the letters when cutting and let the router drill the holes for the all-thread, that way you know the pen pattern
and the studs are a perfect match... no lining up on a pattern and then marking the drill spots after the fact.
Even with .125 which would need to use stud weld, you can still mark the spots, when routing, for the studs to go.

 

[Andy D]

BTW, anytime I did have to line up letters on a pattern and then mark the drill spots, I found the best/easiest/fastest way
was to put a sheet of styrofoam on my work table, put the pattern on that, line up the letters using a speed square & once
lined up, just push down on the letters letting the studs pierce the pattern.