Playground signs without rounded corners?!

[Pat Whatley]

Had a city maintenance guy come by today with a giant stack of signs they'd ordered for the playgrounds around the city. They'd ordered them from the company that builds the playground equipment so they'd gotten them pretty cheap. He was looking for somebody who could round all the corners for him.

The SAFETY RULES signs are all aluminum with square corners, a real safe combination to stick on a pole where kids are running around.

 

[Pro Image]

That's why they got them so CHEAP.......

 

[Gino]

I don't know why these stupid municipalities allow square corners..... and how many of them don't understand the significance to rounded corners.

 

[Pat Whatley]

Thankfully this guy realized the problem. A lot of the maintenance guys wouldn't have paid any attention to it.

I don't know which shop it is locally that's doing it but somebody is sticking square cornered aluminum signs in parking lots all over town.

 

[Marlene]

again, another thing real sign people know. there's a whole lot more to being a sign person than buying a 'puter and a cheap e-bay plotter.

 

[gnemmas]

Or the municipal worker did not spec correctly. If the signs are going on walls, square corner won't matter.

We do charge for rounding corners, do you?

 

[Pat Whatley]

No. I quit shearing my own aluminum and just started having my suppliers do it for me. They don't charge me to round them, I don't charge the customer.

I actually don't even give the customer the option, nobody has ever questioned it.

 

[UFB Fabrication]

I have started offering the edges wrapped in Barbed wire thats pre rusted

 

[Bigdawg]

Do you round ALL aluminum? We do on any post signs... but I haven't been on flat against the wall signs...

 

[gnemmas]

Our supplier charge for corner rounding, it make sense: 100 blanks, 400 corners, time plus wear of the equipment.

As a business person, we know it cost extra.

 

[Gino]

We don't round all aluminum. In some cases it's up too high or flat against a frame or wall where a kid [or anybody] can walk into it and knock out an eye or something.


Here's one for you..... we do a little league baseball complex and all the sign are furnished in 4' x 8' .040 aluminum and they request the corners NOT be rounded. There are seven or eight fields here and not one sign is rounded. These signs go on the inside of a chain-linked fence. The bottoms are completely level with the 10' Warning Path' and the tops are covered with that 6" black flex piping/tubing you can get with holes in it for run-off water and drainage. They figure this will eliminate 100% of any accidents from happening. One kid fell over the fence one time clowning around and didn't get hurt in the least.

 

[Techman]

I purchase all my sign blanks and they come rounded.

Its much cheaper to order them and have them come in rounded.

 

[signgal]

Man, you people trust your customers way too much... Mr. Brown buys aluminum sign stating it is to go against the wall. You sell him square corners cuz rounded aren't necessary. Mr. Brown picks up sign and happily pays and goes on his way. Then decides the wall isn't a good idea at all and McGyvers it to the fence or 4x4. Kid comes along and cuts his hand open. Mr. Brown is in trouble. Mr. Brown where in the world did you purchase that horrible, dangerous sign?!

 

[Rick]

This is where you don't hand off a sign to anyone thinking they know what they are doing.

Most signs have some code attached to it, especially here in California.

There are general requirements for sign heights/sign edges - depending on your building code. A round corner will still not protect anyone if they are able to get under the sign... especially a playing child at speed. If a sign is on a post, and that leading edge is past 4", the sign either goes 80" at the lowest point (this adds the issue of letter height), the sign is placed in an area where people will not be able to go under it (bushy area or wall or of a path not accessed by pedestrian traffic), or you devise something where no one will have access to getting hit by the sign (Double post, or added base)

 

[Craig Sjoquist]

And they got them from a ,,playground sign maker only business..??????????

 

[petrosgraphics]

round all corners.. we use .063 alum. for all our signs... a little more in cost. much better product. you can round them yourself, or you can order them.....

 

[miguelon.lizarraga]

Is there a tool to round the corners? We cut a lot of our substrate and would love to find one...

 

[Pat Whatley]

Stacey, my 12x18, 16x20, 18x24 & 24x36 blanks come in with 1.5" diameter rounded corners.

If it's bigger we can have it sheared and rounded at no additional charge.

Even on big stuff we'll at a minimum hit it with our 1/2" corner rounder just to take the point off. I think in 18 years I've had two people mention the rounded corners on big signs. Telling them it's to keep them from getting sued when somebody gets impaled ends the questioning with a laugh and a thank you.

 

[Fitch]

"again, another thing real sign people know. there's a whole lot more to being a sign person than buying a 'puter and a cheap e-bay plotter. "

Here Here

 

[Rick]

Bunch of phooey... I run across sign people all the time who know squat about signs... and especially signs that deal with building code. Round corners will not help much if the sign is too low. Of course I am all for making all sign, circles..