posted
First off Thanks! I am thinking of cutting out 1/2 polymetal letters to put on this roof and do not want go through the face of the letters as I assume it will look poor. I am open to using a different material as well since I am still learning. The first image is the concept, and then the sheetmetal material, then how the previous letters were installed, and last how the previous letters were covered. Any ideas would really help!
posted
You can cut the letters out of many different kinds of materials . . .
About the only way you're gonna be able to mount them without hardware . . . or at least without creating holes is to use silicone adhesive . . . since it's actually a roof, and you're still in a learning curve, I would avoid stud-mounting them.
However, for the optimal, ideal learning experience, you could stud-mount them and learn all kinds'a new stuff, like . . . how to fix a leaky roof . . . how to fix a slightly crooked stud-mounted letter and also learn WHY the letter comes out crooked even though your dang pattern was PERFECT (when you figger that one out let us all know)
Whatever you learn, above all learn to have fun and enjoy what you do for a livin' . . . this web-site will help with that.
-------------------- Signs Sweet Home Alabama
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"Look like a girl, act like a lady, think like a man, work like a dog" Posts: 5758 | From: "Sweet Home" Alabama | Registered: Mar 2003
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posted
That looks like a job I did recently. If so, the roof "shingle" material is stamped out of sheet metal, and not real heavy stuff. And you probably don't have any idea what's underneath it.
I kinda agree with Sheila about the down side of drilling holes. I think I'd consider cutting the letters out of the lightest weight material I could find (maybe foam or one of the light aluminum/composite materials). Then put generous amounts of silicone or polyurethane adhesive on the back, several pieces of VHB tape.....and stick them down. The tape will hold them for a good while by itself, but the adhesive will make sure they stay put, and no water leaks.
-------------------- Dale Feicke Grafix 714 East St. Mendenhall, MS 39114
"I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me." Posts: 2963 | From: Mendenhall, MS | Registered: Apr 1999
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Brent, good question. I don't know I leaned on it and it felt solid. My guess would be wood.
Thanks Dale, I am wodering if an adhesive will set in 40% cold weather.
I just got an idea to put a screw at the edge of the sheetmetal to support the letters and then just use adhesive???? Are there adhesives that set up when it's 40%?
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Silicone will set up at 40°. It just takes a little longer. When the weather is cool, I silicone, tape them in place, and remove the tape the next day.
-------------------- David Harding A Sign of Excellence Carrollton, TX Posts: 5084 | From: Carrollton, TX, USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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posted
second vote for silicone, let sit for couple days actually.
-------------------- You ever notice how easily accessible people are when they are requiring your services but once they get invoice you can't reach them anymore
posted
Bruce, if you own a router why not cut a smaler copy of Dibond. Screw and maybe use a glue to mount them on the roof. Or use distance bolts...depending on the strenght of the roof stuff. That would make a good and solid base to glue the single letters on top of it...
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Thank you David........I´m around here for years now but didnt post a lot. From time to time i feel that i must stay in contact with this brillant place. There are a lot of thinks i have learned and tried over the past years. Won`t miss that inspiration.
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the first sign shop I worked at made letters out of styrofoam- they had templates made out of thin wood, layed them out onto the styrofoam sheets, used a hand router to cut them out, laytex paint on the foam, silicone to mount them to walls and buildings- drove by one just last week- it has been up since 1987
-------------------- Michael Clanton Clanton Graphics/ Blackberry 19 Studio 1933 Blackberry Conway AR 72034 501-505-6794 clantongraphics@yahoo.com Posts: 1735 | From: Conway Arkansas | Registered: Oct 2001
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posted
Bruce, I have always preferred mechanical fasteners for cut-out letters, rather than glue. A flat-head machine screw can be used with countersunk holes throught the faces of the polymetal letters, making for a solid stud mount, but of course the screw heads would be visible. A variation would be making your own glue pads. Cut squares of the same polymetal you are using for the letters and drill countersunk center holes in them. Then mount the flathead machine screws to the squares, nutting them tight on the back side. This gives you a square glue pad that can be glued to the backs of the letters, yielding a nice blind mount. I would use Lord's adhesive rather than silicone to mount the pads to the letters. And gluing polymetal to polymetal usually results in better adhesion. Then mount the letters as you would any stud-backed letter. LIBERALLY coat studs to seal holes. An easy way to do this is to simply poke the stud unto the nozzle of the silicone tube. Additionally, you can put a second nut on each stud to serve as a stop. This can help the stud from sliding further into the hole before the silicone sets up, compromising the seal.
If you prefer to avoid the penetration of a stud mount, then Stefan B's method should work great. The smaller, "underneath" set of letters he describes can be fastened with flathead sheet metal screws into the roofing. I would probably use silicone at each screw penetration per Ray's suggestion. Or, use a rubber washer on the screw, such as many roofing screws have. After all the underneath letters are mounted, tape/silicone the full-size letters to them. Also, if you make the underneath set of letters undersized enough, there might be room to tape registration pieces, maybe little squares of polymetal, onto the backs of the full-size letters at the perimeter. Does that make sense? This would make the final fitting of the full-size letters go very, very quickly, with no adjusting or tweaking.
Brad in Kansas City
-------------------- Brad Ferguson See More Signs 7931 Wornall Rd Kansas City, MO 64111 signbrad@yahoo.com 816-739-7316 Posts: 1230 | From: Kansas City, MO, USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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posted
I'm not sure who is removing the existing sign, but make sure the old holes get filled.
-------------------- “Did you ever stop to think, and forget to start again?” -Winnie the Pooh & A.A. Milne
Kelly Thorson Kel-T-Grafix 801 Main St. Holdfast, SK S0G 2H0 ktg@sasktel.net Posts: 5496 | From: Penzance, Saskatchewan | Registered: May 2002
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Are done with that sign yet Bruce? I think it's a gonna be harder just to get UP there to install the letters than actually installing the letters. Hope you got real long arms.
-------------------- Signs by Alicia Jennings (Mudflap Girl) Tacoma, WA Since 1987 Have Lipstick, will travel. Posts: 3814 | From: Tacoma, WA. U.S.A. | Registered: Dec 1999
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If you'd like, I could send them a really, really expensive estimate, and that's make your's look like a real bargain!!
-------------------- Signs by Alicia Jennings (Mudflap Girl) Tacoma, WA Since 1987 Have Lipstick, will travel. Posts: 3814 | From: Tacoma, WA. U.S.A. | Registered: Dec 1999
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. . . That is pretty much 'me' in a nutshell . . . altho' I'm still workin' on the 'think like a man' part . . . very confusing at times. Logic seems to reign supreme while complete stupidity abounds and aloofness defines and elevates credibility among male peers . . .
Shux. Nothin' personal to you gentlemen out there . . . 'y'all cain't figger us out neether.
Anyway thanx. . . . I've had that personal slogan on every truck I've had since I went into signbiz in 1988. Around that time an old friend brought by a box of 'printers' items he tho't I could use. There were these 'sayings' he had to typeset for his class and that saying was in the stack.
It's old & yellowed, I still have it pasted on an old peice of plywood hanging in my shop.
The best way I have it displayed is on the panel Letterhead Pat King painted for me before he died. Probably one of the last panels he painted.
-------------------- Signs Sweet Home Alabama
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"Look like a girl, act like a lady, think like a man, work like a dog" Posts: 5758 | From: "Sweet Home" Alabama | Registered: Mar 2003
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. . . sorry about that Bruce . . . Won't happen again mate!
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