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Structural Engineers or Mechanical Engineers?

signspark1988

New Member
Guys,

If I need someone who can take a creative mock-up electrical blade signs and need someone to interpret the drawings to make production files. Am I needing a structural engineer or mechinal engineer?
 

equippaint

Active Member
Structural unless the blades serve some sort of purpose. Why don't you just call an engineering firm and ask? I don't think it's that cut and dry plus you're going to find that having the title doesn't mean that they are going to do the type of work you want.
 

spectrum maine

New Member
It all depends on the size of the sign, the city its going in etc....Most sign companies do not have an engineer on their staff. Most cities require ul listing on electrical signs but ul has no say in structural integrity. have a designer design it up with end views & cross sections exactly as it is to be built, then send it to a sign engineer for a stamp. Most structural engineers just overbuild the crap out of things so they can sleep at night.
 

Evan Gillette

New Member
Like others said it totally depends on the project, size, etc. But in general you should be able to go to any engineering firm to have technical drawings made. If it is not huge or heavy or unusually complex then you likely do not need engineering for it anyways. From my experience most municipalities will permit simple signs without an engineer stamp even if the permit application says so. Anything with a large liability should always have engineering done regardless of requirements.

If you are having someone else manufacture the sign then they can likely do all the drawings themselves, no need to pay for the work twice just so they have a nice drawing to work from. If you are doing the manufacturing then make your own production drawings/specs and have that ready if you need any engineer to do load calculations for a stamp.

More details would allow a better answer, but in general you can pick any local firm or an online firm that specializes in sign like mentioned above.

As far as titles go they don't mean much depending on who you talk to, I am a mechanical engineer and at one on my former occupations we had civil, aerospace, composite and industrial engineers all with the same job title doing the same work. The only real thing that matters is that someone has a license to sign off on the final draft.
 
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