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Mounting Acrylic Letters - change of plans

C2 Media

New Member
I ordered cut acrylic letters with posts for mounting in a brick wall. There are A LOT of letters, many of which are small, and the client has decided they don't want that many holes drilled into the wall. So now I will need to mount the letters in a runner of some kind, and mount that to the wall using just a few mounting points. So what type of runner should I use? They are just white letters on a red brick wall.
 

Notarealsignguy

Arial - it's almost helvetica
I'd lean towards aluminum mounted with spacers or made into a pan like a raceway and painted black.
You could get fancy and take a picture of the brick in that same spot, print it, stick it to the aluminum and then mount your letters.
 

visual800

Active Member
paint the backs of the acrylic letters with 2 part epoxy primer and you can silicone them to new substrate and not have to drill anything

I would use a latex painted aluminum backing with a color that complemented the brick and silicone the acrylic to it
 

Johnny Best

Active Member
I would have to see how big these letters take up in space and layout to the wall space before giving any advice on mounting to runners. Mounting letters to runners that do not match backgrounds can be ugly.
 

Billct2

Active Member
We use whatever we have in the cut offs bin, aluminum, ACM, flat stock. Paint to match wall.
 

gnubler

Active Member
I'm dealing with the same type of project only with larger 10"/7" (uppercase/lowercase) acrylic letters on a stucco facade exterior. I'm curious how this would be assembled at the shop. Lay the runners/rails out on the table and mark holes with the drill pattern template? I'm quoting my job with post mounted Gemini letters.

Some other threads with similar questions:
 

Johnny Best

Active Member
So your going to have a runner, metal, acrylic, ACM and mark and drill holes where studs go through. Are you going to but a nut on the stud to hold the letter in place on the backside? How are you attaching the runner to the wall, since all the nuts on the back will keep it from being flush?
 

Signscorp

New Member
Clear acrylic with stainless steel standoffs would be the way we would go. You can use frosted acrylic if you want more contrast.
 

Notarealsignguy

Arial - it's almost helvetica
Some will say "what is a pan face" some others don't have a metal break.
Where there's a will there's a way. Before I got my fancy new tools, I used to cut a light straight line with a grinder, clamp it to the table, clamp a 2x4 to the other side and bend it. It brakes right on the score if you do it right.
 

gnubler

Active Member
How thick of acrylic? What height should the runner/rail be in relation to the letters? In my case of the 10" capital letters I think I'm going to have to run two parallel rails so each letter gets at least two contact point on the rail (eg: capital T or I).

Seems like most of you recommend painted aluminum rails standing off from the wall, which is what I was envisioning.

My project is a single line of text that'll span about 14-15 feet, so I was thinking of putting it together in two 8-foot lengths.
 

Billct2

Active Member
since all the nuts on the back will keep it from being flush?
Depends, if there are lots of nuts, just trim the bolt flush, it'll lay flat. If there aren't many use 1/4" stock and countersink
 

okeesignguy

New Member
I ordered cut acrylic letters with posts for mounting in a brick wall. There are A LOT of letters, many of which are small, and the client has decided they don't want that many holes drilled into the wall. So now I will need to mount the letters in a runner of some kind, and mount that to the wall using just a few mounting points. So what type of runner should I use? They are just white letters on a red brick wall.
I would absolutely use 3M 5200 adhesive and a ribbon pattern...tape each letter into place until adhesive is dry...
Runners are ugly and tacky IMO...
I am doing a similar job this week and have done it this way for years...
3M 5200 is amazingly strong...
I never stud mount small letters...it is overkill and it is too easy to "missdrill" a little off and end up with crooked letters...
 

gnubler

Active Member
clear acrylic
No one else has chimed in about using clear acrylic, it sure would save a lot of prep time. I'm curious about how this would hold up on a west-facing stucco exterior building. How thick of acrylic? I would think at least 1/2" for a double rail installation. I came across this video put out by Gemini but they don't go into any detail about how thick of acrylic and how to line up and attach the letters to the rails beforehand. Apparently Gemini will drill/tap post holes in the letters in a horizontal line so they line up for a rail mount.

 
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