We have a city that requires push-through letters that have at least a 3/4" reveal and a client that wants the entire face to be lit. The cabinet is essentially a 5' diameter circle. Our concern is the polycarb face not being able to withstand the weight of the push-through letters. Anyone have any advice? We had looked at thermoforming but the lead time was too long and most vendors were only able to do 1/2" off the face.
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Push-through cabinet that is face lit?
- Thread starter amyers22
- Start date
Johnny Best
Active Member
JBurton
Signtologist
What are you referring to as far as:
As far as lighting a push through sign, pushed through polycarbonate, you'll have some artifacts where the lip of the letters rest, and if you glue it the poly will likely tear over time, and if you mechanically fasten another piece to bind the lip in place you'll have a series of mechanical fasteners to hide. Sounds like a traditional push through would work.
And as far as poly supporting weight of acrylic and aluminum, we've done push throughs where the parts were nested inside one another, as long as you have a piece of poly spanning everything and plenty of extra fasteners around the outer most perimeter, it'll hold just fine. In this picture, both the wallsign and monument have the e as a push through, with the grey circle as another pushthrough, all affixed to an outer .125" aluminum ring, that is fitted into an F trim retainer.
Reveal around the letters, or letter that protrude 3/4"?
As far as lighting a push through sign, pushed through polycarbonate, you'll have some artifacts where the lip of the letters rest, and if you glue it the poly will likely tear over time, and if you mechanically fasten another piece to bind the lip in place you'll have a series of mechanical fasteners to hide. Sounds like a traditional push through would work.
And as far as poly supporting weight of acrylic and aluminum, we've done push throughs where the parts were nested inside one another, as long as you have a piece of poly spanning everything and plenty of extra fasteners around the outer most perimeter, it'll hold just fine. In this picture, both the wallsign and monument have the e as a push through, with the grey circle as another pushthrough, all affixed to an outer .125" aluminum ring, that is fitted into an F trim retainer.
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John Miller
New Member
Why do push-thru? If a 3/4" projection is called for, bond 3/4" characters to a flat face, they will look the same as push-thru.
JBurton
Signtologist
While something like channelbond would do this, the different expansion rates of the two will literally tear the two apart over time.
signbrad
New Member
As jburton asked, what is a 3/4-inch "reveal" on a push-thru letter? Sounds like they want the letters to protrude three quarters. Unless they are specifying a 3/4-inch lip on the back of the letters.
If the letters must protrude 3/4-inch, then the final thickness of the letters will be close to one inch when the lip is included, right? I'm not sure I would trust an acrylic push-thru letter of that thickness staying adhered to the back of a routered polycarbonate face. Better for both the letters and the face to be the same plastic, and my choice for the face would probably be acrylic, 1/4-inch in thickness. The acrylic letters will bond better to an acrylic face. Why polycarbonate if it's not required?
Polycarbonate flexes more, as it is a softer plastic, and the thick push-thrus, which will not flex, may have a problem staying adhered whenever the face flexes.
And will the lip of the letters not be visible behind the translucent face? Maybe if the face is not too light in color, then the lips of the letters may not be a problem.
A thermoformed face would look good, but then the letters would no longer be push-thru. They would just be embossed (raised), as part of the face. Your client may not know what "push-thru" means, but surely the city does.
I would communicate serious reservations to the client. I would specifically warn the client that the adhesion of the letters might fail, not so much because the letters are too heavy, but because they are so thick and heavy. The whole idea seems "iffy" to me.
Good luck! And I hope you post what you end up doing.
Brad in Kansas City
Texas_Signmaker
Very Active Signmaker
It's common around here that landlords require letters to protrude from a face... but those faces are aluminum. Don't think I've ever seen one where the entire panel needed to light up.
Ryze Signs
New Member
I would just glue acrylic letters to a sheet of sign grade acrylic. Polycarbonate doesn't glue well.