I can't remember the name of this substrate. Kinda of a aluminum finish with a sintra(Hard Plastic) interior. I know I've seen it before, but I can't,,,,, what the heck is it. Although, I really think it 1in thick Sintra or similar product. This is for a sign that got vandalized and I need to get new letters. I didn't do the original sign.
Posted by Dave Sherby (Member # 698) on :
That looks like a Gemini laminated letter. They make them with an aluminum laminate on 12 lb.foam or acrylic. They have 21 different aluminum finishes and 22 painted colors and various foam thicknesses. Look at pages 136 through 139 in your Gemini catalog.
Posted by Brad Ferguson (Member # 33) on :
Alicia,
It's very possible this is a laminated PVC letter, Sintra or similar, like Dave said. You can easily find out if you are able to destroy one.
We've made thousands of PVC letters at our shop, many laminated with Chemetal, Formica and similar laminates.
The faces are blue? It's also possible that it's simply painted PVC. When I put heavy coats of Matthews paint on PVC letters, the edges look like in the photo and the faces almost look like a smooth laminate, though they are just painted, not laminated.
My boss loves PVC because it's so damn cheap. For the same reason, he would never have us laminate aluminum to PVC and then paint it blue, unless it was spec'd that way by an architect, or if a textured aluminum face was called for. He would say, "If it's going to be blue, just paint it and forget the laminate." Laminating the face at our shop always requires the extra step of masking the face to paint the edges.
I have always had mixed emotions about installing flat cutout PVC letters outside. Acrylic certainly yields a better quality and longer lasting FCO letter. I check out some of our more questionable installs from time to time (1-1/2 inch thick letters painted black, facing south, for example).
But PVC is here to stay. Until the oil runs out, of course. Then we will make a PVC-like substitute out of genetically modified soybeans. From the farm to your router table —sounds wonderful, doesn't it? But at least we won't have to eat the letters. I hope.
Brad
Posted by Brad Ferguson (Member # 33) on :
I've been doing some extracurricular reading on PVC and sustainability:
According to Property Hive.com,"Waste, recycled PVC is broken down into small chips, impurities removed and the product refined to make pure white PVC. It can be recycled roughly 7 times which gives it a life span of around 140 years."
The number of products that contain or are made from PVC is enormous. It's all in the additives, such as plasticizers, UV inhibitors, heat stabilizers, etc., each blend allowing it to be used in a different way. And it's been around since the mid 1800s, a factoid from Wikipedia.
What will they make next? Pants?
Men's black trousers, Feb 2013, Ralph Schulz
Apparently, you can improve the fit with a heat gun and moderate squeegee pressure. Okay, I made that part up.
Posted by Sonny Franks (Member # 588) on :
thanks Brad - you're a hoot.....
Posted by Dale Feicke (Member # 767) on :
Well Brad, if you'll remember when PVC first came out, it would deteriorate..........especially if it were outside, exposed to sunlight.
Evolution........it doesn't now. It's much more durable, and holds up quite well.
Look at all the plastics in general....water mains in cities, tubing to encase miles of fiber optic phone lines, natural gas pipelines, and on and on......
Posted by Brad Ferguson (Member # 33) on :
Good point, Dale. It may be that PVC has a bad rep among some of us that is no longer valid.
The one job that I have been keeping my eye on is a sign for an optical center that has inch-and-a-half PVC letters, painted black, facing south. They are glued to a PVC panel of the same thickness. This was installed last year. I asked my boss at the time, "Are you sure this won't be curling and warping next year?" He just gave me a blank stare. It was that look that says, 'nobody's paying you to think.' Heck, maybe the sign will last forever.
But I don't think I'm ready for PVC pants, yet. They'll probably make me look fat.
And you know that somebody somewhere is going to try using translucent. Ick! Don't think about it.
Posted by Ian Stewart-Koster (Member # 3500) on :
Where's the 'Like' button? Posted by Si Allen (Member # 420) on :
For Brad:
Posted by Dale Feicke (Member # 767) on :
Hmmmmmm......wonder how much PVC is in those...uh...."accoutraments" ???
Brad, as much problem as we've had over the years, with PVC mounted on different surfaces or dissimilar materials attached to each other, I'm wondering if maybe those inch and a half PVC letters on that sign might not just be OK, since they're attached to the same material. Their expansion rates should be the same. OR...maybe the whole thing will go bad, all at once!!!
Posted by Alicia B. Jennings (Member # 1272) on :
I don't know, I still think that PVC can warp in the proper conditions,,,, Posted by Mikes Mischeif (Member # 1744) on :
Mudflaps are made of pvc aren't they.....
Posted by Brad Ferguson (Member # 33) on :
You know, I've got so many possible jokes in my head now. And most of them qualify as juvenile.
A calender(ed) girl? A partial wrap? Etc., etc.
............
Honestly, though, Alicia, how the heck did you change her that way? Is that the Photoshop feature that Mike Jackson described in the latest SignCraft?
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