Need Help: Acrylic board is 1.5 inches short of fitting properly in sign cabinet

[0igo]

okay so long story short. i need to put up a couple of acrilic boards in a sign box that is 50 inches tall. the boards i have are 48in. so the boards are just a tad bit short and fall over. what methods can i use so that the boards stay in place and that doesnt require welding. any help is appreciated. thank you.

 

[D2S]

buy the right size board

 

[Johnny Best]

Make some wider retainers.

 

[sardocs]

I was going to suggest some wisea$$ methods like cut 2" out of the middle of the cabinet or heat the plexi with a blowtorch while two friends pull hard on either end, but the two comments above make much more sense.

 

[Kottwitz-Graphics]

Yeah, don't laugh. I've done it...

Years ago, I worked at a sign shop in Mississippi that will remain unnamed... We sent a guy out to measure some Burger King faces. He got the height right, as well as the corner radius, but the width was off, by 11''. He quit several weeks later, and moved on. When the faces came in (and we are talking about pan face, embossed, painted faces), and we went out to install them, and they didn't fit, the boss was livid.... she thought that we would end up closing the shop because of the foul up. Her brother came up with the idea of taking the sign down, take it back to the shop and narrow the sign to fit the faces. We did, took it back to the shop (less than a mile), and started cutting it down. The only problem is it was a center pole, so we had to take 5 1/2" from each side. And we cut it with a sawsall, and welded it back up with the stick welder on the back of our crane truck generator in the back yard... I ended up working 17 hours that day, and working through the night. I got the worst flash burn in my eyes... We got it finished that night, and went and re-installed it the next day...

Back to the OP. For a piece of flat polycarb that small, buy a new piece... Do the job correctly, and don't skimp.

 

[Johnny Best]

Great story Kottwitz.

 

[TXFB.INS]

I know I'm from TX so higher math may not be my strongest aspect but the numbers you are listing do not add up

50 - 48 = 2 you have it listed as 1.5?

 

[Bly]

A bit of masking tape to bridge the gap?

 

[timgo]

okay so long story short. i need to put up a couple of acrilic boards in a sign box that is 50 inches tall. the boards i have are 48in. so the boards are just a tad bit short and fall over. what methods can i use so that the boards stay in place and that doesnt require welding. any help is appreciated. thank you.

 

[signage]

okay so long story short. i need to put up a couple of acrilic boards in a sign box that is 50 inches tall. the boards i have are 48in. so the boards are just a tad bit short and fall over. what methods can i use so that the boards stay in place and that doesnt require welding. any help is appreciated. thank you.

First off what is an acrilic board? In the sign industry they ate acrylic panels or sign faces made from acrylic sheets or cut from an actylic roll (not boards HD term)

Second off you do not give enough information, like what are the sizes of the top and bottom retainers? are they larger that .75"?

Is this a double sided sign or single sided.

Easiest fix would be to purchase the correct size sign faces from your sign supplier/distributor.

 

[Gino]

Okay, you have basically 3 choices.

1. As mentioned, get the correct size you need.
2. Make larger retainers. Not really recommended, as the cabinet won't have the backup built for this new size.
3. This one is proably what you'll do, knowing your appraoch to most things: since you said you need to go 50" high and only have 48", simply glue a 1-3/4" piece of material to the top. While most retainers are 2", it should cover this patch. If your lip is less than 2, then make the patch slightly smaller. If you can convert this into a hangar bar setup, then the patch is completely fine.

Aisle 35, halfway back, on the left side, about the second shelf up are the patch kits for this.

 

[HDvinyl]

4. Duct tape

 

[printhog]

LOL.. years back i had a similar experience with a sign broker. The guy's kid, a pro rodeo cowboy/sign salesman, was new to the trade and mismeasured a set of pole sign cabinets. He didnt spec any details on hangrails or extrusion sizes, and the early morning install was 70 miles up in the foothills from both our shops, so we took all the trim of the original plex sheets with us, along with acrylic glue and rivets to add hang rails on site.

When the first sign was lifted into place with the client excitedly watching, it was clearly too small. Cowboy/salesman had measured the visual opening and spec'd that as the sign face size. Excuses and blame immediately ensued. After a few minutes of back and forth with the plans, Cowboy realized he had F'd up. He asked us to "do anything we could" to save him from his dad's wrath for hosing a simple measurement. I had most of it covered... we started trimming down the extra dropstock we brought for the hangrails.. and glued it up (butted with overlap) as face extensions. Adding 4 inches all around. It was 36 degrees out, so we had to heat the glue joints with a heat gun to set the glues, and it took the better part of the morning.

By 10 am the client's all-too-crafty, freebie-seeking husband was watching us glue the panels and offering his two cents at every function, aggravating my crew and being a pest. He was insisting on discounts, free signs, or to take the signs back an remake them properly.

What Cowboy/salesman did next was utterly amazing. He pulls the hubby aside and exclaimed that since their signs were in a high wind area, we were adding "wind stiffeners" to reinforce the signs outer edges! My crew and I almost lost it.. my main installer burnt his hand with the heat gun to avoid laughing. We had to take a break to avoid that stupid smile that was forming on our faces. When we returned a few minutes later the clients were all happy.

Amazingly, the signs lasted 20 years, even more amazing, Cowboy/salesman upcharged the client for the "wind stiffeners".

I guess he was truly more salesman than cowboy.

 

[Billct2]

What Gino said. Those are your three options.

 

[0igo]

so to clear things up. i didnt go and measure out the frame. client sent me details. i just did the work and provided my service on what was asked. Client calls me back asking how much i would charge him to get it up after HE found out it was too short lol.

 

[0igo]

and i did what Gino said, looked around got some acrylic cement and bonded and extra 1.5 inches and fit perfectly.

 

[Gino]

Never mind..... you amended your thread.


Again, I like happy endings.