Sign Builder Illustrated February 2015

Fast and easy to install with no special tools required, SignBOX II creates the perfect grid of light for optimal even illumination. Watch our time-lapse video at SloanLED.com/Race and see how simple it is to install versus a fluorescent system.

Optimizing Channel Letters

Spectacular Displays The Race: SignBOX II vs. Fluorescent

The fast lane

Vehicles as Storefront Signage

www.signshop.com

SignBOXTM II

backer panels

Number 236 | february 2015

How-To

Photography by Greg Gorman Š 2012

the epson surecolor s-series has arrived ®

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Powered by with

February 2015

48 32

54 22 32

A Signage Spectacular

BY ASHLEY BRAY

A sign breaks records in Times Square.

Getting Creative

BY LORI SHRIDHARE

Examining the versatility of dimensional signage.

38

What is a Backer Panel?

BY JOHN BAYLIS

Defining how backer panels are used in channel letter applications.

Sign Builder Illustrated (Print ISSN 895-0555, Digital ISSN 2161-4709) (USPS#0015-805) (Canada Post Cust. #7204564) (Bluechip Int’l, Po Box 25542, London, ON N6C 6B2, Agreement # 41094515) is published monthly

by Simmons-Boardman Publ. Corp, 55 Broad Street, 26th Floor, New York, NY 10004. Printed in the U.S.A. Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY and Additional mailing offices.

Pricing, Qualified individual working in the sign industry may request a free subscription. 12 issues per year. Non-qualified subscriptions Print version, Digital version, Both Print & Digital version: 1 year US/ Mexico/Canada $50.00; foreign $99.00. Agency subscriptions: 1 year US/Mexico/Canada $45.00; foreign $89.10. Single copies are $15.00 ea. Subscriptions must be paid in full in U.S. funds only. Prices are subject to change.

Copyright © Simmons-Boardman Publishing Corporation 2015. All rights reserved. Contents may not be

2

Sign Builder Illustrated // February 2015

44

The Driver’s Seat

BY MAGGIE NADJMI

LED drivers bring a high level of versatility and operational efficiencies.

48 54

Meals on (Sign) Wheels

BY MIKE ANTONIAK

Vintage VW bus is transformed into a sidewalk sign and serving counter.

Quoth the Ravens Sign

BY JEFF WOOTEN

A sign shop tackles a sandblasted project for the Baltimore Ravens.

reproduced without permission. For reprint information contact: Arthur Sutley, Publisher (212) 620-7247 or asutley@sbpub.com.

For Subscriptions & Address Changes, please call (800) 895-4389, (847) 763-9686, Fax (847) 763-9544, e-mail signbuilder@halldata.com, or write to: Sign Builder Illustrated, Simmons-Boardman Publ. Corp, PO Box 1172, Skokie, IL 60076-8172.

POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Sign Builder Illustrated, PO Box 1172, Skokie, IL 60076-8172.

Instructional information provided in this magazine should only be performed by skilled crafts people with the proper equipment. The pub­lisher and authors of information provided herein advise all readers to exercise care when engaging in any of the how-to activities pub­lished in the magazine. Further, the publisher and authors assume no liability for damages or injuries resulting from projects contained herein.

signshop.com

Simple.

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Introducing Duets Direct™ Manufacturer-direct engraving, ADA and architectural signage substrates from Gemini.

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Order your Duets Direct Sample Swatch Binder and request free color swatch and material samples at DuetsDirect.com or call 800.548.3358.

QUALITY ENGRAVING, ADA AND ARCHITECTURAL SIGNAGE SUBSTRATES MADE IN THE USA BY GEMINI ©2015 Gemini, Inc. Duets Direct is a trademark of Gemini, Inc.

Agenda

How-To Columns

20

Schooled Over Signs

FEBRUARY 2015 February 12-13: The Midwest Sign Association (MSA) Sign Show will take place at the MotorCity Casino Hotel in Detroit, Michigan. (www.msassn.org) February 26-28: The Graphics of the Americas (GOA) Expo & Conference will be conducted at the Miami Beach Convention Center in Miami Beach, Florida. (goaexpo.com)

16

Departments

16 Lighting the Way

BY MARINA BATZKE

Understanding how to work with photoluminescent materials.

20

MARCH 2015

Lighting the Way

Schooled Over Signs

BY DAVID HICKEY

Education can be your best solution when it comes to regulations.

6

UpFront

8

Dispatches

Editor Jeff Wooten shares a sign shop’s illuminating advice on working with channel letters.

The latest news from around the industry.

12

Sign Show

58

SBI Marketplace

The newest products and services from sign manufacturers.

Advertisements and announcements from the sign trade.

BACKER PANELS

Optimizing Channel Letters

60 Shop Talk

THE FAST LANE

Vehicles as Storefront Signage

Jeff Wooten takes a look at how a North Carolina-based sign company has evolved its operation over the past twenty-five years.

www.signshop.com

NUMBER 236 | FEBRUARY 2015

HOW-TO

SPECTACULAR DISPLAYS

On the Cover The world’s largest high-definition video display sign amazes in Times Square. Photo: Marriott.

4

Sign Builder Illustrated // February 2015

March 10-12: Digital Signage Expo, the world’s largest conference and tradeshow dedicated to digital signage and co-located with the Digital Content Show, is scheduled to be held at the Las Vegas Convention Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. (www.DSE2015.com) March 13-14: The Mid South Sign Association’s “New Ideas, New Possibilities” Conference happens at the Hilton Garden in Monroe, Louisiana. (www.midsouthsign.org)

APRIL 2015 April 8-11: The 2015 ISA International Sign Expo tradeshow, with educational and networking events, will be held at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. (www.signexpo.org) signshop.com

Up FRONT

by jeff wooten

February 2015, Vol. 29, No. 236

The Right Channel (Letter)

Sign Builder Illustrated (ISSN 0895-0555) print, (ISSN 2161-0709) digital is published by Simmons-Boardman Publishing Corporation executive offices

President and Chairman Arthur J. McGinnis, Jr. Publisher arthur j. sutley

Know what the client (and your shop) is looking for.

55 Broad Street, 26th floor New York, NY 10004 212/620-7247; fax: 212/633-1863 editorial editor

Jeff Wooten

323 Clifton Street, Suite #7 Greenville, NC 27858 212/620-7244; fax: 212/633-1863 jwooten@sbpub.com

R

esearch and consulting firm PwC recently surveyed consumers about the reasons for the decline in domestic box office revenues this past summer (rising admission costs, quality of movies, theatergoer behavior, etc.), and I noticed in its published report that the 3D format actually ranked last among the chief drivers of movie attendance.

However you probably won’t find that sentiment about 3D shared in the sign industry— at least when it comes to dimensional signage.

This type of work remains popular for sign shops and their customers (if they can do so staying within their budgets, which can be the tricky part on both sides).

In this month’s issue, you’ll find an interview with Jeff Croskey, vice president and general manager of full-service sign shop Creative Sign Designs in Tampa, Florida, where he discusses his company’s success with dimensional signage—monuments, pylons, architectural features, etc. (“Getting Creative,” Page 32).

I also reached out to him about his company’s work with—and advice for—channel letters.

Over the last few years, according to Croskey, Creative Sign Designs has seen many designs transform from a static, single source of light (such as internal LEDs illuminating colored acrylic faces) to the more complex signs with features like perforated metal faces, trimless faces, and multiple light sources to create a “more finished look to the sign.”

Croskey says that his company fabricates a lot of traditional face-lit channel letters and “cloud” signs using typical materials and techniques.

“However, for clients desiring a more custom design, we usually incorporate reverse-lit [halolit] or face- and halo-lit letters,” he says.

He states that these reverse halo-lit letters 6

managing editor

typically look more upscale than the traditional face-lit letters, which are commonly associated with franchise stores, fast food, etc. So extra care must be given when designing for them.

Croskey stresses that it’s important for the designer to know what the client is looking for, in order to propose the best lighting option.

“When designing a reverse-lit or reverseand face-lit set of letters, it’s very important to consider the size of the letters, as well as the colors of the faces, the returns, and the wall, in order to ensure good sign legibility,” he says. “Halo- and face-lit letters illuminated with white LEDs that are placed against a light wall surface or sign face will almost certainly wash out and not provide enough contrast to be easily legible.

“The overall appearance of the sign can also be greatly varied by the LEDs selected for illumination, such as cool white versus warm white, different colors lighting the face versus the back, brightness, and more.”

When designing and populating, you may not be thinking about servicing them later. This plays a role in the location of power supplies.

“For all exterior sign installations where reaching the sign would require a truck or rental equipment, we always try to locate the power supplies inside the building in remote transformer boxes that are easy to access and service,” says Croskey. “When a sign is more accessible, we place the power supplies in the raceway or sign cabinet.

“For channel letters, the size of the letters is an obvious determining factor, as letters with a narrow stroke do not have space for the power supplies, so we use remote transformer boxes.”

Croskey finishes by saying that it’s very important to follow all UL and NEC standards. All good advice to kick off this issue’s wealth of electronic, lighting, and 3D sign stories!

Sign Builder Illustrated // February 2015

Ashley Bray

55 Broad Street, 26th Floor New York, NY 10004 212/620-7220; fax: 212/633-1863 abray@sbpub.com contributing writers

Butch “Superfrog” Anton, Mike Antoniak, Marina Batzke, John Baylis, David Hickey, Jim Hingst, Maggie Nadjmi, Mark Roberts, Lori Shridhare, Randy Wright art

Corporate Art Director Wendy Williams Designer Emily Cocheo production

Corporate Production Director Mary Conyers circulation

Circulation Director Maureen Cooney advertising sales national sales director

Jeff Sutley 212/620-7233; fax: 212/633-1863 jeffsutley@sbpub.com west & midwest regional sales manager

Kim Noa

212/620-7221; fax: 212/633-1863 knoa@sbpub.com Sign Builder Illustrated is published monthly. All rights reserved. Nothing herein may be reproduced in whole or in part without written permission of the publisher. To purchase PDF files of cover and layouts or hard copy reprints, please call Art Sutley at 212/620-7247 or e-mail asutley@sbpub.com.

Circulation Dept. 800/895-4389

signshop.com

Dispatches

Metro Signs Scores with

Cut-out Lettering, Signs Statesville, North Carolina—Bruno Dede, president of Metro Signs, Inc., in Hollywood, Florida, has been, according to his company's tagline, creating “Signs, Graphics, Every thing” for the past twenty-plus years. In addition to nationwide accounts, Metro Signs (www. metrosignsinc.com) serves a wide range of clients located in South Florida— including the NFL’s Miami Dolphins.

Dede describes his company as “the Swiss Army knife” of graphics’ companies.

“When someone doesn’t know how to get 8

Sign Builder Illustrated // February 2015

a job done, we figure it out,” said Dede.

“We may be billed as a sign company, but we create everything from nametags to 100-by-100-foot vinyl graphics installed outside stadiums.”

When it comes to creating cut-out lettering, stand-up displays, signs, and l o g o s, D e d e t u r n s t o h e av y- d u t y Gatorfoam® graphic display board by 3A Composites USA (www.GraphicDisplay. com). Gatorfoam consists of polystyrene foam bonded between two layers of wood-fiber veneer laminate—a unique signshop.com

Watchfire LED Sign Awards Seeks Entrants

Metro Signs turned to heavy-duty Gatorfoam to complete a wall graphics project at the Miami Dolphins' NFL training facility. construction that makes this substrate rigid yet lightweight and warp-resistant; its surface also is exceptionally smooth and strong, offering dent- and scratchresistance.

Metro Signs often creates multi-layered signs with built-out dimensional lettering. Usually the shop will utilize 1/2-inch Gatorfoam as a back plate then add 1/2-inch raised Gatorfoam letters. Dede said he prefers black Gator foam for most lettering but chooses white Gatorfoam to complement gold lettering.

Some Gatorfoam projects at Metro Signs feature printed vinyl graphics applied with silicone and double-sided tape. The layers are put together on-site.

Some signage projects are screwed directly to walls on-site. Others—such as new Miami Dolphins’ logos created by Metro Signs with Gatorfoam for the NFL signshop.com

team’s training facility—are adhered to walls with silicone and double-sided tape.

When the Miami Dolphins unveiled the team’s new logo design and uniforms at an April 2013 NFL draft party at Sun Life Stadium, Metro Signs created a largerthan-life stage backdrop featuring two self-standing, sixteen-foot-tall uniformed players printed on vinyl and matte-laminated to one-inch-thick Gatorfoam that was hand-cut with a jigsaw.

S e p a ra t e h e l m e t i m a g e s w e r e mounted to 1/2-inch Gatorfoam as a dimensional layer for the player standees, which were positioned on either side of a black wooden box decorated with lettering hand-cut from one-inchthick Gatorfoam.

Positioned atop the wooden box was a Dolphins helmet image that was printed on vinyl, laminated to one-inch-thick Gatorfoam, and hand-cut with a jigsaw.

Danville, Illinois—Outdoor digital sign manufacturer Watchfire Signs is seeking submissions for its first annual Watchfire LED Sign Awards program.

With no entry fee, participants can submit up until the deadline of March 6, 2015 at midnight.

Watchfire has undertaken this program to recognize its dealer partners who demonstrate the best use of the digital component on an onpremise digital sign.

Each entry will be scored on its ability to showcase the unique capabilities of LED message boards ( i n c l u d i n g e xc e l l e n c e i n s i g n design and construction and integration or utilization of the digital component).

“Unlike most sign contests that reward excellence in all forms of advertising, we want to strictly focus on highlighting the digital components of signage and its unique capabilities” said Darrin Friskney, vice president of Marketing at Watchfire. “This is an opportunity for our dealer partners to showcase their greatest work and be recognized for it.”

Sign companies will have a chance to not only win recognition but also $1,000.

All entries should include a good image of a sign installed in 2014 with a message display on the LED portion of the sign. It must be submitted as a digital file to the secure Web site www.watchfiresigns.com/ signawards.

Meanwhile additional information, contest rules, and regulations can be found online by visiting www.watchfiresigns.com

February 2015 // Sign Builder Illustrated

9

Dispatches + 2015 Car Wrap Training Programs Mentor, Ohio—With programs scheduled in seventeen cities in the United States and Canada, car wrap installers can enhance or test their skills by attending the Avery Dennison/Mutoh® Car Wrap Training courses, Supreme Wrapping Film Workshops, and the Avery Dennison Certification Test.

Master Installer Justin Pate will teach all car wrap installation workshops.

The Avery Dennison/Mutoh Wrap Training is a two-day course recommended for basic to intermediate skilled vehicle wrap installers. The Wrap Training Course focuses on full-print commercial wraps using Avery Dennison® MPI 1005 Supercast Easy Apply RS™.

Dates and locations for the ten-class 2015 course schedule are as follows: + February 9-10: Phoenix, AZ + February 12-13: Dallas, TX + March 13-14: Atlanta, GA + April 16-17: Portland, OR + April 20-21: Los Angeles, CA + June 10-11: Appleton, WI + June 12-13: Wharton, NJ + June 15-16: Tampa, FL + September 14-15: Nashville, TN + October 9-10: Calgary, AB The Avery Dennison Supreme Wrapping Film Workshop is a one-day course for intermediate to advanced wrap installers.

The Workshop focuses on installation techniques for Avery Dennison Supreme Wrapping Films and Conform Chrome Accent Films. A complete car wrap training schedule of twelve classes is available for installers to pick and choose their sessions.

The Avery Dennison Certification Test is open to all installers; attending an Avery Dennison wrap class is not required to take the exam. Avery Dennison Certified Wrap Installers receive a free listing on Avery Dennison’s “Find an Installer” directory. In addition, an Avery Dennison Certified Wrap Installer will receive a full marketing package for their shop and for themselves to showcase their certification.

“Our goal with these programs is to provide an in-depth understanding of vinyl film installation mechanics, so installers gain a competitive advantage in the vehicle wrap industry while providing an environment ideal for each installer's current skill level,” said Bill Podojil, director of Graphics Sales at Avery Dennison.

Installers can register for car wrap classes and participants can submit questions or requests to grpd.technicalservice@ averydennison.com prior to the class explaining specific areas of interest and what they want to learn.

Visit http://bit.ly/1klA6BH for full details on the programs.

Orbus Donates to Toys for Tots Woodridge, Illinois—Orbus Exhibit & Display Group™ raised over $4,000 in contributions for the DuPage County Toys for Tots programs. The toys were distributed to children in need across DuPage County during the week of December 22.

Orbus employees fundraised the week of December 8, gathering $1,850 to be put towards the purchase of toys. A corporate match raised the total to just over $4,000. A team of Orbus employees then went shopping for toys that would fit the needs of the Toys for Tots program. Marine LCpl Steven Collins accompanied a pickup of the boxes of toys from Orbus, which nearly filled the entire box truck.

Throughout the year (and particularly during the holiday season), Orbus strives to contribute to charities in the surrounding areas of its two manufacturing and production

10

Sign Builder Illustrated // February 2015

locations in Woodridge and Las Vegas, Nevada. The DuPage County Toys for Tots program, which aims to provide a new toy to disadvantaged children at Christmastime to share and spread a message of hope, was an ideal choice for 2014.

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SignSHOW ACRYLICS/PLASTICS Many Project Possibilities with Plastic Laminate and Cast Acrylic Sheets LaserBits carries a versatile line of plastic laminate sheet products and richly colored cast acrylic sheets. Their plastic laminated sheets are extremely adaptable, lightweight, and tough, with a range of thicknesses and colors to choose from. They combine the classic crisp definition of real brass with all the advantages of acrylic. Applications include personal identification, plaques, trophies, and signage. Meanwhile you can create brilliant looking projects with the company’s cast acrylic sheets (pictured)—such as signs, key chains, and many other projects that can be laser-cut. These sheets are available in five rich colors, which engrave a frosty white or can easily be color-filled. Each sheet is 12-by24-by-1/8 inches and can be easily cut and engraved with a 30-Watt (or higher) laser system. www.laserbits.com

A D H E S I V E S / TA P E S New Alcohol Wipes Improve Bonding of Tapes Essentra Specialty Tapes introduces a new line of disposable Isopropyl Alcohol (IPA) Wipes for cleaning and preparing surfaces in order to obtain a stronger bond between any tape and the surface to which it is to be applied. The alcohol solution saturates and evaporates quickly, and the wipes are available in the commonly used 70 percent IPA solution and 30 percent deionized water in several packages. They also offer several part numbers with a 96 percent IPA solution (4 percent water), when faster drying is desired. The pre-wetted Essentra Alcohol Wipes, made from polyester cellulose, are available in a plastic canister with one hundred wipes per can, a resealable pouch with thirty wipes, or a single-use packet with a three-by-four-inch or six-by-eight-inch wipe. www.essentraspecialtytapes.com/Alcohol-Wipes

D I G I TA L P R I N T I N G E Q U I PM E N T/ S U P P L I E S New Software Improves Production Workflow Management and Overall Print Shop Efficiencies Canon U.S.A., Inc., has released PRISMAsync Remote Manager, a unique Web-based tool that helps shop floor managers and operators manage a high-performing printing operation. It works by providing insight into their production schedules with the ability to upload jobs, edit job properties, and manipulate digital press queues from a remote location or workstation with ease. To help avoid idle time, customers can benefit from the real-time status overviews and alerts provided by the new multi-engine PRISMAsync Scheduler from a single screen. The PRISMAsync Scheduler functionality provides a clear visual guide of the jobs scheduled for up to five presses, which allows operators to plan production schedules one shift ahead for added efficiency. To provide expanded flexibility, the PRISMAsync Remote Manager allows production staff to easily submit jobs of print-ready PDF, PostScript, and PCL files via file import or drag-and-drop functionality. Operators can actively manage and prioritize the print jobs in the queues or PRISMAsync DocBoxes with the ability to reroute jobs from one digital press to another directly from PRISMAsync Remote Manager. Operators and shop managers can now even check the status of loaded media and other consumables remotely. www.usa.canon.com

The Best of Both Worlds: CET Color's Q5-1000h UV Hybrid Printer The new Q5-1000h UV hybrid printer from CET Color delivers a complete design-to-print workflow for a highly customizable and productive work environment. It can produce high-volume, high-quality results on either roll or rigid media, making it the perfect professional print package. The hybrid printer can also be configured with two to ten Ricoh Gen5 printheads and is capable of printing speeds up to 1152 square feet per hour. The Q5-1000h can be quickly setup from 126-inch roll-to-rigid media by adding front and rear extension tables to the main body to facilitate printing on rigid media up to 2.25 inches thick. The Q5-1000h hybrid printer was recently awarded the SGIA Product of the Year Award in the Roll-to-Roll (over 96-inch) category. www.cetcolor.com

DaVinci Technologies Set to Carry HP Latex 300 Printer Series DaVinci Technologies has been announced as a Northeast distributor of the HP Latex 300 Printer Series. The company will offer the following models: HP 310 Latex Printer, HP 330 Latex Printer, and HP 360 Latex Printer. The HP Latex 300 Printer Series features several improvements over previous models (including boosted substrate capacity, faster production speeds ideal for handling urgent and same-day delivery jobs, and a redesigned heating system that enables prints to come out completely dry). Each printer from the HP Latex 300 Series offers varying max roll widths and different LCD screen sizes, among several other options. The HP Latex 300 Printer Series is designed with a number of timesaving benefits—such as front-end media loading, fast warm-up and immediate RIPing, and easy access to how-to videos from QR codes available on the front panel. www.davinci-technologies.com

12

Sign Builder Illustrated // February 2015

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SignSHOW FAB R ICS Fisher Textiles Introduces New Black Power Stretch Fabric Fisher Textiles now offers GF 4661 Power Stretch Black, made with solution-dyed black yarn. GF 4661 replaces Fisher’s GF 4607 Power Stretch Black and is an excellent material for light-blocking applications. The new style is more washfast and matte, but there is no change in the percentage of stretch. It exhibits no crocking and is 8.1 oz/yd2, 94 percent Polyester, and 6 percent Spandex. It is stocked at 122 inches wide and is Flame Retardant, meeting NFPA-701. Free sample rolls are available for testing. 800/554-8886; www.fishertextiles.com

LED MODULES/TUBES/STRIPS LED Light Engines for Light Guide Illuminators Deliver up to 4000 Lumens Innovations in Optics, Inc., introduces high-power white LED light engines for OEM fiberoptic illumination. LumiBright™ Light Engines couple directly to liquid light guides and fiber bundles with no additional optics, delivering up to 4000 lumens into the light guide. LumiBright light engines feature patented technologies that encompass non-imaging optics with chip-on-board (COB) LED arrays on metal core circuit boards to provide both optimum luminous efficacy and ideal thermal management. Unlike the so-called “big chip” LEDs used in many light guide illuminators, LumiBright light engines feature large source size and emit into a numerical aperture that matches the acceptance cone angle and diameter of light guide systems. The unique design results in many more lumens emitted from light guides relative to the big chip Lambertian emitters. www.innovationsinoptics.com

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Sign Builder Illustrated // February 2015

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High-quality LED Modules Providing Superior Lighting for Channel Letters LED module manufacturer Light Source Solutions (LSS) sells direct to sign companies that need superior lighting and lower costs. LSS modules are manufactured using brand name LED chipsets (Samsung™, Solleds™, IST™), IP68 waterproofing, 50,000 to 85,000 hours life, and uniform illumination using one-rank chips. They carry a five-year limited warranty. LSS modules are offered in two modules per foot or three modules per foot (mini). White modules are available in either 6500 or 12000 Kelvin and produce 126 lumens per foot. Color modules are offered in Red, Green, and Blue and have color-coded housings to ensure mistake-proof installation. Mounting is with 3M VHB Tape™ plus mechanical, if needed. 855/809-1100; www.lightsourcesolutions.net

S o f t wa r e - d e s i g n / p r i n t/ r o u t e / e st i m at e ArtCAM Pro Includes More Modelling Tools with Real-time Updating Delcam has added a new “putty” tool to the 2015 release of its ArtCAM Pro CADCAM software for artistic applications, allowing even more complex 3D shapes to be created with the program. This putty tool allows models to be edited by picking an area to be moved, swirled, pinched, or puckered. It will be especially valuable when creating a series of variants on a repeating element in a design (such as a number of flowers making up a bouquet or subtly changing the details of a design such as facial expressions). Together with the existing 3D tools in ArtCAM Pro, it will help the most ambitious designers create any shape they can imagine. In addition, many of the modelling options (including this new tool) now show the results of changes in real time. The 2015 release includes new tools to speed up the editing of vectors. Firstly selection of vectors has been made easier and quicker. Dragging the mouse across any area of a model now selects all the vectors either completely or partially within that area. Selection can also be made of a set of nodes (either from a single vector or from a group of vectors. Once selected, the group of vectors or the set of nodes can be edited simultaneously in either the 2D or the 3D view. www.artcam.com/pro

NEW CJV150 SERIES

GO BEYOND expectations.

The new Mimaki CJV150 Series cut and print devices go beyond extraordinary to deliver a wide range of applications. Utililzing ecosolvent inks – including Silver, advanced printing technologies, superb quality, color fidelity, and flexibility – plus cutting capability – you’ll go beyond the expected to increase your business and deliver more than your customers can imagine. The CJV150 is available in four versatile media widths – 32”, 43”, 54”, 63”.

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1

February 2015 // Sign Builder Illustrated 12/8/14

15 9:51 AM

HOW-TO

By Marina Batzke

Safety

Lighting the Way how to work with photoluminescent materials.

I

n 1993, during the first terrorist bomb attack at the World Trade Center (WTC) in New York City, the explosion in the parking garage disabled the WTC’s main electrical power line and immobilized the emergency lighting. Smoke formed and rose up to the 93rd floor of both WTC towers, filling even the emergency staircases.

It took many building occupants hours to evacuate—some through smoke.

As a result, the owners of the twin towers, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, installed photoluminescent signs and exit path markings inside the emergency staircases in 1994: photoluminescent signage was applied to the landing walls, and each step edge, each landing, and the handrails on both sides were

equipped with photoluminescent markings (Photo 1).

Photoluminescent egress path markings are installed in low locations to be visible underneath the smoke layer.

During a building fire, typically smoke forms, rises under the ceiling, and obscures the electrical lighting. Occupants shall drop to the floor where breathable air remains the longest and evacuate under the smoke layer. Down there, the photoluminescent floor proximity egress path markings are installed.

Seven years later on 9/11/2001, these glowing signs and markings came to great use. The National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) interviewed survivors of the 9/11 events: 33 percent of people in Tower 1 and 17 percent

all Photos: american permalight, inc.

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Sign Builder Illustrated // February 2015

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of people in Tower 2 mentioned the yellowish markings that aided their evacuation (www.nist.gov/el/disasterstudies/wtc).

Based on the NIST recommendations, in 2005, the City of New York implemented a range of new requirements after 9/11, including photoluminescent exit path markings and safety signage in high-rise office building

emergency staircases (Photo 2).

Since its 2009 edition, the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) has non-electrical exit stair path marking requirements in Chapter 7: Means of Egress.

Also in 2009, the International Code Council (ICC) added non-electrical, luminous signage, and egress path marking requirements for high-rise building

2 5

3

4

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Sign Builder Illustrated // February 2015

staircases to its nationwide International Building Code (IBC) and International Fire Code (IFC).

The markings are required in highrise buildings of groups A – assembly, B – business, E – educational, I – institutional, M – mercantile, and R-1 – hotel/ motel. The markings get applied on each step edge inside a staircase, as perimeter demarcation lines along landings, on handrails, on exit doors, and on obstacles.

Photoluminescent floor identification signs illuminate the stairway information (Photo 3). These signs are a minimum 12-by-18 inches.

At the top, the signs show the stair identification (e.g., “SOUTH STAIR” or “STAIR 3”) in 1-1/2-inch letter height.

Additional sign lettering is one-inch tall and includes information such as if the staircase has roof access, the range of floors the staircase covers, and on which floor to exit the staircase to get out.

Typically the sign text gets digitally applied to the photoluminescent yellowish sign background. It can also be plotter-cut lettering.

Prominent in its center, the staircase identification sign shows the floor level (e.g., B for basement, PH for penthouse, etc.) in five inches height). This floor level is typically raised with Braille underneath to support the Visually Impaired (Photo 4).

Photoluminescent signs with the NFPA 170-compliant “Man Running” design (Photo 5) must be applied to doors from exit enclosures through which occupants must pass in order to complete their evacuation.

This emergency exit symbol sign (man to the left or right) gets installed centered horizontally on the door, with the top of the sign no higher than eighteen inches above the floor (Photo 6).

Photoluminescent material is nonelectrical and non-radioactive. It absorbs ambient lighting and emits its bright, yellowish glow in the dark for hours to come, until it gets re-charged again by ambient lighting.

The 2009 nationwide codes are more stringent than the 2005 NYC MEA requirements. The IBC, IFC, and NFPA 101 require the photoluminescent material to be UL 1994 listed or be certified to emit 30 milli-candela per square meter at 10 minutes in the dark and 5 mcd/m² at 90 minutes in the dark, folsignshop.com

lowing activation by just 1 foot-candle of fluorescent illumination for 60 minutes (ASTM E2072-14).

Many grades of glow-in-the-dark printable substrates are available (ranging from gimmick for novelty applications to high-performance life safety use), so it is important that the sign maker double-checks to source a Codecompliant substrate. This can be a UL 1994-listing Certificate from a Nationally Recognized Testing Laboratory (NRTL), such as UL or ETL-Intertek Testing. Sign makers can choose from photoluminescent UL 1994-listed flexible film (roll goods) and semi-stiff rigid PVC (sheets).

In high-rise construction building specifications, photoluminescent signage and egress path markings are typically found in Division 10 – Specialties – Signage. This gives sign companies the excellent opportunity to bid not only on standard project interior signage but also the photoluminescent emergency staircase signage and markings portion.

Sign companies can bid photoluminescent signage/markings and installation

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to contractors.

To complete the circle of building safety, the new, recently opened One World Trade Center in New York City is again equipped with photoluminescent signage and exit path markings in the emergency staircases to make the high-

7

rise building safer with lights on (Photo 7) and lights off (Photo 8).

Marina Batzke is general manager of American PERMALIGHT, Inc. (www.americanpermalight.com), based in Torrance, California.

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HOW-TO

By David Hickey

Regulations

Schooled Over Signs Education can be your best solution when it comes to

But we also see plenty of opportunity in the classroom.

Two current court cases could potentially impact the sign and visual communications industry.

Church versus city In Gilbert, Arizona, a small Presbyterian church has been at odds with the city for nearly a decade over signs that it uses to advertise the location of its services (the church does not have a permanent building). The city has cracked down on non-commercial event signs, allowing them to be in place for twelve hours before the event.

The church argues that, since political signs can be up for sixty days before an election and

Photo: Luciano Mortula / Shutterstock.com.

regulations.

I

magine a world in which a business could not advertise its location. Or one where it could not identify whether it was open or what it sold inside.

We all know that this is extreme and the fallout would be profound. Businesses would suffer. Jobs would be lost. And communities would feel the negative impact of closed companies.

At the other end of the spectrum are vibrant communities with reasonable sign codes, which result in a strong business environment and all that brings.

When presented with two stark choices, it’s pretty obvious which of these scenarios would be preferable. And it might seem obvious that the courtroom would be a logical place to ensure that the brighter scenario is in place.

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Sign Builder Illustrated // February 2015

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ideological signs can be up indefinitely, limiting the event signs is a violation of content neutrality. The Supreme Court will hear this case during its present term and is expected to rule before the term ends in June.

Unconstitutional billboards The second case occurs in the country’s second most populous city, Los Angeles.

A Superior Court judge—the equivalent of a trial judge—has ruled that the city’s ban on billboards is unconstitutional.

Again it comes back to the content of the billboards. The judge found that treating off-premise signs differently from on-premise signs is essentially basing that difference on content. Federal court rulings have found that billboard bans are constitutional.

First Amendment protections say that communities can regulate signs—but those regulations may not be based on the content of the sign. The Supreme Court found in 1976 that commercial speech was protected by the First Amendment in a landmark case.

Since the first case will be reviewed by the Supreme Court, it has received more attention. But it is the second case that—while limited to one city at this point—could lay the groundwork for significant changes in how businesses use signs if communities rule that offpremise and on-premise signs must be treated the same.

Already participants at Planning for Sign Code Success™ events have reached out to ISA for help with a specific sign code issue. One planner attended an event and then helped his city craft reasonable EMC regulations. He even cited research on EMCs and traffic safety produced by Texas A&M University and shared at the Planning for Sign Code Success events.

There are other examples too of planners reaching out to the industry for assistance. An ISA Webinar series was

used by planners in Cleveland to help improve their community.

We can worry about the potential impact of court cases on our industry. But perhaps it is more effective to spend our efforts building bridges, to help share the story of how our industry contributes to our communities.

David Hickey is vice president, Government Affairs, at ISA. He can be reached via email at signcodehelp@signs.org.

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To date, the International Sign Association, in partnership with our Affiliated Associations and the Signage Foundation, Inc., has trained more than 1,500 planners around the country. During these day-long sessions, we share the latest information on how signs contribute to a positive business environment—and how that boosts their communities. We also share information about technology. Why ban electronic message centers outright when they can be programmed to better meet community needs? signshop.com

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D i g i t a l S i g n a g e / B y A s h l e y B r ay / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

A Signage

A sign breaks records in Times Square.

Spectacular

T

he signs in Times Square are usually referred to as “spectaculars” and for good reason—they push the limits of sign design and technology.

The latest digital sign and accompanying backlit fascia on the Marriott Marquis

hotel in Times Square is no exception, as the LED display is the largest in the world.

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Sign Builder Illustrated // February 2015

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////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

To complete this larger-than-life sign, it took a sign business accustomed to working at the crossroads of the world, North Shore Neon Sign Company (www.northshoreneon.com).

Ever since opening its doors in 1954, North Shore Neon has fabricated and erected signs all over the metro New York area, including the majority of the latest signage in Times Square.

For this particular project, the sign company fabricated a secondary steel structure for the building before any other work began.They built this steel structure in-shop before bringing it onsite. signshop.com

“The building’s original footprint had some architectural details where there were some radiused areas and some ins and some outs,” says Patrick Dooley, vice president of Business Development at North Shore Neon. “We flushed off and squared off the front of the building so that it ran parallel to both the side streets and to Broadway.”

Constructing and installing the steel themselves allowed for a smoother installation of the 10mm Mitsubishi Electric digital display.

February 2015 // Sign Builder Illustrated

23

24

A single install crew for North Shore Neon consisted of seven to nine men, a 150- or 300-ton crane, a 110- or 135-foot sign boom, and a remotecontrolled man lift. Many crews worked simultaneously to stay on schedule. roof rigs and save time on the install.

With this arsenal of service equipment, the pieces of the digital screen were tied back to structural steel stubs, which were attached to the building’s structural steel skeleton.

When the install was complete, the digital sign stood almost nine stories tall at 78 feet-by-330 feet wide.

Sign Builder Illustrated // February 2015

To power it, North Shore Neon’s electricians brought all the power up directly from the utilities and supplied current to eight distribution panels, which were then branched out to each cabinet. The electric was run from the basement up over ninety feet to the fascia in sixteen four-inch diameter galvanized pipes.

In fact, the digital screen drew so much signshop.com

photos (this page): north shore neon sign company.

“We could control the attachment points and maintain plumb and level,” explains Dooley. “We laser-surveyed continually as it was going up, so we could adjust as we went along making the installation of the cabinets that much easier and eliminating adjustments needing to be done while the cranes were swinging cabinets into place.”

And getting things lined up perfectly was paramount since the display could have no seams.

“It’s OK to be an inch off with structural steel, but with an LED display, where you only have 10mm between each module, you can’t have that,” says Dooley.

Lining things up wasn’t even the biggest challenge on the install—it was the site logistics behind the deliveries of the pieces on tractor-trailers.

“This work took place in one of the most congested areas in the world,” says Dooley. “Every day, we were rolling deliveries in of equipment that had to be installed in very specific order and orchestrated down to the minute.”

The three brothers who own North Shore Neon take a very hands-on approach and were essential in ensuring the work stuck to the timeline.

Larry Brown, from the Long Island facility, monitored manufacturing of the support steel, as well as the receiving and shipping of all components and the Mitsubishi Electric display cabinets. Dave Brown from the New York City facility handled the dispatch of the appropriate labor and associated equipment, as well as facilitated day-to-day operations on all other projects going on simultaneously. Tom Brown supervised the installation directly from the site and operated cranes as required for most of the install.

The fact that North Shore Neon owns its tractor-trailers was also instrumental in organizing deliveries as the shop didn’t have to depend on anyone else. The pieces were delivered and unloaded at night (so as to have the least disruption on Times Square traffic), and then most of the install work was done during the day.

To complete the install, North Shore Neon pulled from their fleet of over sixty pieces of equipment, including cranes, Elliott Equipment trucks, scissor lifts, and snorkel lifts as required.

North Shore Neon even added to the fleet the latest 185-foot JLG 1850SJ Telescopic Boom Lift especially for this job.

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power that there was only a limited supply left to backlight the 4,000-squarefoot fascia at the top. To find a lighting solution that would fit into the power parameters, North Shore Neon enlisted the help of Yorston and Associates (www.yorstonandassociates.com), an agency of independent reps that has exclusively served the sign industry for over thirty years.

“On a project like this, if you don’t have a professional like [Yorston], you’ll spend way too much of your time and energy researching something that Yorston already has the resources at his disposal for,” says Dooley.

Yorston and Associates has worked with North Shore Neon for almost twenty-five years, and on this project, they suggested using Voltarc’s TriLight

26

Max™ T8 series of fluorescent lamps.

At first, North Shore Neon was reluctant to consider this conventional lamp, since it figured only LEDs could provide the brightness needed at the specified energy levels. However Voltarc’s T8 lamps use tri-band phosphors, which yield maximum lumen output, as well as Long Life™ Cup-Cathode Technology that provides a 60,000-hour life. In addition, the lamp is able to withstand cold temperatures, which was a must in the harsh New York winters.

Yorston and Associates next recommended Keystone Technologies electronic ballasts, since they offered a five-year warranty and wouldn’t cause premature burnouts and costly repairs. Keystone and Voltarc even performed accelerated cold temperature testing on the lamps and bal-

Sign Builder Illustrated // February 2015

lasts to ensure they could operate in harsh conditions.

North Shore Neon opted to go with this lamp/ballast combination.

“Cost per watt actually would prove out that the TriLight lamp and the Keystone ballast were more energy-efficient than what they could have ever achieved with the LEDs,” says Bill Yorston, founder of Yorston and Associates.

As the final lighting piece, Yorston and Associates recommended the SignComp ballast and socket raceway, which allowed for five lamps to be wired in each cabinet of the fascia.

SignComp was also used for the fascia’s fabric tensioning system, since it met (and even exceeded) the wind load requirements on this project.

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photos: (left) north shore neon sign company; (right) yorston and Associates.

The Mitsubishi Electric screen incorporates 24 million pixels to create the most ultra-high definition display in the world. It has virtually no shaders and offers unobstructed viewing angles for an LCD-like appearance.

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The screen includes over 26,000 square feet of LED on 45th and 46th Streets. on the eleven signs took two hundred hours.

To install the fascia, North Shore Neon placed and tied the cabinets to the structural steel stubs. (Note: These cabinets were fabricated in North Shore Neon’s shop and then shipped to the job site.)

North Shore Neon then rolled out the material and fit it into the tensioning system.

In total, North Shore Neon worked on this sign project for nearly a year—from

January 2014 to right before Thanksgiving when the sign was powered up.

The shop continued behind-the-scenes work into the new year as it finished up safety cables, catwalks, catwalk lighting, toe kicks, and more to meet OSHA standards.

North Shore Neon is happy with how this sign turned out. “It’s something we can hang our hat on,” says Dooley, “and we’re very proud of it.”

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Sign Builder Illustrated // February 2015

@SBIMag fb.com/SBIMag

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photo: yorston and Associates.

Yorston and Associates brought on ABC Sign Systems (www.abcsignsystems.com), a wholesale fabricator, to create the fascia.

“What North Shore needed was something that was going to have a matte, black finish, that would give them the longevity,” says Yorston, “and that would be able to be tensioned and withstand the winds without any concern.”

ABC Sign Systems chose Arlon’s Colorkote™ TC, a flexible, reinforced, white vinyl substrate coated with premium black ink and covered with FX outer protective coating.

To create the white letters spelling “Marriott Marquis,” ABC Sign Systems created a stencil and used Arlon’s Eradicator solution to wipe away the black color from within the stencil, revealing the white substrate underneath. For the red “M” and rectangular border, the shop cut and applied red Arlon Series 2500 vinyl.

ABC Sign Systems created three pieces for the fascia measuring 84 inches highby-90 feet long, 84 inches high-by-70 feet long, and 84 inches high-by-73 feet long.

They also fabricated eight other flex face signs for the side streets. In total, fabrication

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Miller Outdoor Theatre in Houston, Texas, recently decided it was time to update its communication processes, provide an enhanced entertainment experience, and broaden its advertising opportunities.

To meet these goals, Miller turned to Peerless-AV® (www.peerless-av. com) and its Xtreme™ fifty-five-inch Daylight Readable Displays.

Featuring a patented Ventless Dynamic Thermal Transfer™ system, the internal elements of the Peerless-AV Xtreme Daylight Readable Displays are kept warmed in extreme cold and cooled during extreme heat without exhaust ventilation—something crucial for Houston’s unpredictable weather.

The five new displays include one at each of two entrances, two at the concession stand, and one above the small stage.

Miller utilizes the new displays for menus, wayfinding, advertisements, weather updates, information on upcoming shows and tickets, rules and regulations of the theatre, and even a live view of the stage during shows.

“The Peerless-AV displays help us to share critical information without the added concerns related to weather and costs,” said Timothy Dickson, business manager for Miller Outdoor Theatre.

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Sign Builder Illustrated // February 2015

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Getting

Creative Examining the versatility of dimensional signage.

Local, smaller businesses. Large, national chains. Typically these two groups would have little in common; but when it comes to signage options, both benefit from the versatility of dimensional signage.

One element of its versatility is design. As the name of this sign category implies, adding dimension to signage allows for variety in shape, format, materials, and even technology.

“We find customers from all market segments and price points asking for dimensional signage, primarily for the design options it offers,” says Jeff Croskey, vice president and general manall photos: creative sign designs .

ager of Creative Sign Designs in Tampa, Florida.

“Clients know that their signage is very important to their branding, so they look to maximize the visual impact and attract as much attention to the signage as possible.” signshop.com

February 2015 // Sign Builder Illustrated

33

Croskey says that dimensional signage has proven to be one of his company’s fastest growing sign types.

“It’s incorporated into almost every architectural sign project we do,” he says, noting that, to keep up with market demand, Creative Sign Designs is planning to double its manufacturing space by soon moving into a 90,000-squarefoot facility.

Croskey points out that the uptick in demand for dimensional signage comes from both regional and national accounts. “These accounts often have well established sign family packages that incorporate extensive dimensional signage—such as channel letters, multiplane monuments, embossed pan-face pylons with architectural features, and more,” he says.

As far as new markets, Creative Sign Designs has been working quite a bit with multi-family, healthcare, and commercial office parks, particularly as part of new construction development or renovation work. For these projects, the company is called on to build extensive freestanding and building-mounted dimensional signage.

The company recently worked on just such signage for the Tradition Center for Innovation in Tradition, Florida. For this project, the client requested a large monument with multiple illuminated design features that conveyed the hightech mission of the center.

“Our designer, John Cash, created one of the most unique and inspiring freestanding monuments to date,” recalls Croskey. “In addition to the dimensional lettering for the center’s name, the design included a three-dimensional outline of the state of Florida and three multi-planar rings that circle the state to create the orbits of an atom.”

The features of this sign are illuminated with programmable, color-changing RGB LEDs (which simulate motion).

Croskey mentions that, especially with channel letters, multi-color illumination using RGB LEDs is proving to be a favorite among his company’s clients looking or more flair and motion.

While a dynamic aspect of this design, the LEDs did present challenges. “We had to figure out how to integrate the LEDs, the power supplies, the motion controllers, and the wiring, as the client

had very specific requests for each,” says Croskey. “Careful planning of the routing and locations of components is very important to a successful installation.”

Planning & Finishing One of the challenges Croskey often encounters with dimensional signage is that the client’s request may not work with code restrictions. “Almost every client wants more signage than they’re permitted to have by local building codes,” he says.

To mitigate this, the company begins every project with a building code check to determine the number and placement of signs allowed. The check will also identify the maximum square footage or linear feet of signage, colors, and illumination allowed.

“We don’t want to design a sign that the client falls in love with, only to later tell them that they can’t have that sign due to code restrictions,” says Croskey.

And even in this climate of increased demand for dimensional signage, budget remains a consideration (guiding the team on what is feasible regarding size and design).

For the unique Tradition Center for Innovation monument, Creative Sign Designs included these 3D aspects: letters, an outline of the state of Florida, and three planar rings resembling the orbits of an atom.

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Sign Builder Illustrated // February 2015

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1935

Ed Matthews opens first Matthews Paint store on Belmont Avenue in Chicago

1955

Ed Matthews Jr. joins Matthews Paint

1968

Moves corporate office to Wheeling, IL

1993 1995

Moves corporate office to Pleasant Prairie, WI

1985

Joins SEGD

800.323.6593 • www.matthewspaint.com •

2012

PPG buys Acquires 1-Shot, Lacryl Matthews Paint and Field Master

2009 2015

Introduces MAP-LV Ultra Low VOC. Moves to Delaware, OH

“Our account managers help our clients determine their overall budget for the project, then work with out design team to offer several design solutions that convey the client’s brand,” says Croskey. “Designs can range from an antique appearance to an ultra-modern look.

“Another factor that contributes to di-

The typical dimensional sign is manufactured for exterior use, and the selection of finishes is critical to the durability of the sign.

According to Croskey, complexity typically drives cost, as do exotic materials and custom finishes. “This is a key area where the client’s budget must be communicated 4.56x4.875 Justin Sign_March014:4.56x4.875 Justin Sign_Dec06 3/10/14 12:21 AM Page 1 to the design team early in the process,” he says. “Sometimes the account manager has to explain that a titanium sign cabinet with carbon fiber, flat cut-out letters is just not in the budget. Most clients understand this.”

However one aspect of this signage limits the finish options: The typical dimensional sign is manufactured for exterior use, which means the selection of finishes is critical to the durability of the sign.

“We almost exclusively use a Matthews Paint polyurethane acrylic paint system with a color base coat and a UV-inhibiting clear coat,” says Croskey. “With this system and the proper paint preparation and application, we can offer our clients the peace of mind that their signs won’t fade or peel for many years.

“For other graphics solutions, we utilize high-quality flex materials and applied vinyl graphics, among other finishes.” mensional signage’s versatility is materials, with choices that are virtually endless: aluminum, glass, stone, routed HDU, Corten steel, brushed stainless steel, and more.

Getting More Involved When looking to employ the services of, or partner with, a company that offers products and services in dimensional signage, Croskey recommends hiring a full-service architectural sign company that offers design, permitting, fabrication, installation, and project management services.

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Sign Builder Illustrated // February 2015

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Dimensional Signage Tips:

Steering Clear of the Obstacles One of the first steps in any signage project is establishing a clear budget up-front. But take it from the experts—dimensional signage has so many possibilities that the price tag can go up as the client requests additional features.

Jeff Croskey, vice president and general manager of Creative Sign Design, recommends the following:

“A sign company that can provide a turnkey solution often minimizes costs and total project duration, due to the level of control they have over each phase of the process,” he says. “Review the company’s Web site, read client testimonials, and check references, as you feel appropriate.”

With the upside of creating dimensional signage in mind, there’s no end to the possibilities that will drive where this area may go in the future.

The team at Creative Sign Designs

anticipates this trend to continue, and that dimensional signage will comprise a significant portion of their business.

“There’s a lot of product innovation in the dimensional sign industry right now, especially with synthetic materials and lighting options,” says Croskey. “At the same time, we’re seeing a resurgence of the use of wood, stone, and other natural materials.

“With the range of materials available, every segment is a potential market waiting to be served.”

Do: + Perform a thorough code check, including a search for overlay district restrictions, prior to designing any signage. + Offer a maximum of two to three design options that convey the client’s brand, utilizing materials that offer durability and maintain the budget. + Create detailed production drawings that meet engineering requirements, maximize material utilization, and minimize fabrication challenges. + Be careful to plan access panels and other measures to facilitate installation and future service.

Don’t: + Promise the client a sign that can’t be permitted or isn’t within their budget. + Design too many options that make it difficult for the client to make a decision. + Overcomplicate the construction or materials selection, creating unnecessary fabrication challenges or durability issues. + Violate engineering or permitting requirements, even at the client’s request.

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February 2015 // Sign Builder Illustrated

37

C h a n n e l L e t t e r s / B y J o h n B ay l i s / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

What is a Backer Panel?

A

backer panel is an optional feature that can help to optimize the appearance of your customer’s channel letter sign. These structures are also known as

backing boards, backer plates, or simply, backers.

A backer panel is basically a flat structure mounted behind the sign letters—like a picture frame. Panels are typically paint-

ed a color that is selected to display the sign most favorably.

38

Sign Builder Illustrated // February 2015

Despite the name “backer panel,” these structures are not necessarily rectangular. Backer panels can be custom designed and manufactured to differing shapes and colors.

Backer panels may be utilized with any channel letter type. A common application is to support reverse-lit letters (as these boards can provide an ideal halo reflection surface), but they are also specified for front-lit and front/back-lit letter signs. signshop.com

Photo: Rite Lite Signs/Concord, NC.

Defining how backer panels are used in channel letter applications.

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Construction Materials and Paint Backer panels are typically constructed of aluminum. This material provides a compelling set of advantages—light weight, high tensile strength, and strong corrosion resistance.

Backer panels are typically painted 40

2

3

a custom color to optimize both the sign appearance and the contrast to the building façade.

Cost Considerations The added cost of a backer panel depends on the project and letter size.

If the panel can be cut from a single four-by-eight-foot aluminum sheet, that will add less to the project cost.

If the design requires multiple sheets (or a larger sheet size like five-by-ten feet), then this will result in a higher, additional cost.

Sign Builder Illustrated // February 2015

4

1. A panel may also receive vinyl applications for additional sign effectiveness.

2. This front/backlit letter set has a custom shape backer panel.

3. Note the clean appearance of the raceway-mounted backer panel in this photo.

4. Another design idea is to combine a backer panel with a reverse logo box. This layout can provide an excellent day/night effectiveness combination. signshop.com

Photos: Direct Sign Wholesale.

Common Panel Design and Purposes The primary purpose of a backer panel is to provide a strong contrasting background color for a sign.

For example, a channel letter set can be far more effective when it is mounted on a surface that provides a higher degree of letter and/or halo contrast than the actual building facade surface.

A well chosen backing board can substantially increase the overall conspicuity of a letter set.

A second (and related) backer panel purpose is to cover a problematic building façade.

For example, if a building sports a multi-colored, interlaced brick exterior, the contrast and exposure of the sign may be compromised by the varying façade colors. A backer panel can eliminate this problem.

An additional panel purpose is to cover (or hide) a raceway mount. Some letter sign designs may be compromised to a degree by the appearance of a raceway mount, even when the raceway has been painted to blend in with the facade.

However mounting the backer panel (along with the channel letters) to a raceway solves this problem by reducing the potentially compromised sign appearance.

More Panel Appearance Options Also custom paint colors are not the only way to enhance the effectiveness of a backer panel. A panel may also receive vinyl applications for additional sign effectiveness.

Another design idea is to combine a backer panel with a reverse logo box.

This layout can provide an excellent day/ night effectiveness combination.

Here is one final backer panel design consideration. Reverse-lit channel letters should not be mounted to a glossy backing panel surface. Doing so generates a sort of “mirror image� on the panel and the actual LED modules (and sign wiring) may be seen in the sign reflection.

Obviously this is not ideal. It is actually much better to use a matte or satin finish when mounting reverse-lit letters

Backer panels may be utilized with any channel letter type and can be custom designed and manufactured to differing shapes and colors.

John Baylis is the marketing director at Direct Sign Wholesale (www. directsignwholesale.com) located in Denver, Colorado.

42

Sign Builder Illustrated // February 2015

signshop.com

Photo: rite lite signs.

to a backer panel, to avoid any unwanted reflections.

In conclusion, backer panels can be an important and effective component of a channel letter sign design. They can provide a forceful addition to a sign’s visibility and exposure.

An Easier Way to get Your Message Across Advertise In

Contact Jeff Sutley (East Coast) at jeffsutley@sbpub.com or 212-620-7233 or Kim Noa (West, Central U.S.) at knoa@sbpub.com or 212-620-7221 Follow Us On: Sign Builder Illustrated @SBIMag

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In Print, In Person and Online Log on to www.signshop.com

L E D L i g ht i n g / By Maggie Nadjmi ////////////////////////////////////////////////////

LED drivers bring a high level of versatility and operational efficiencies for LED applications.

T

he main value proposition for LEDs over traditional lighting is two-fold: Long life expectancy that translates to saving money on replacement costs and higher illumination using less energy to lower electricity bills.

Since LEDs are a solid-state component and require electronic circuits to emit light, a driver that transforms AC to DC current will be utilized in the light fixture and subject to temperatures well above 50°C. This will put thermal stress on components such as electrolytic capacitors in the driver.

If it is not designed efficiently, this could be a detriment to the long life expectancy of the LED fixture, thus reducing the main value proposition of an LED light.

Power supplies with high-power efficiencies, good thermal design, and high-

44

temperature electrolytic capacitors rated at 105°C with over 5,000 hours of life are the critical components in selecting an LED driver. This approach will ensure the minimum life expectancy of 50,000 hours for the LED fixture.

Residential and commercial lighting fixtures have been certified and have carried the Energy Star logo for a number of years. However since 2009 (and up-

Sign Builder Illustrated // February 2015

dated in 2011), there have been specific requirements added for LED-sourced lighting products. Not all LED light fixtures can apply for the Energy Star program. For example, entertainment lighting is excluded from the list of fixtures that can bear the Energy Star logo.

Requirements to consider include Lumens per Watt, which is a combination of a well designed optical source as well as a highly efficient driver. Also look for a product with a minimum of 35,000 hours of life expectancy that requires both the LED and the driver to be of the highest

Careful selection of an LED driver can go a long way in obtaining Energy Star certification and avoiding costly delays in time to market. signshop.com

photo: (top) rite lite signs, inc; (bottom) sl power electronics.

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That means more efficient use of LEDs and energy.

Go greener without That means more efficient use of LEDs and energy. Go greener without sacrificing performance.

And because LEDs require less maintenance, sacrificing performance. And because LEDs require less maintenance, with pylon hard-to-reach feet on the ground. customers withcustomers hard-to-reach signs canpylon keepsigns their can feet keep on thetheir ground. ™ ™ ™ In short,™3M Envision Flexible Substrate FS-1 is one very bright idea.

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Some LED drivers are built to change the light intensity based on the occupancy sensing and other parameters.

46

be a challenge for a power designer, and not all commercially available power supplies can comply.

The ability to control the illumination based on area occupancy is a growing field in the LED lighting market, as well. There is potential cost reduction by effectively lighting only the path or the area that is being occupied in an office building or parking structure.

Since LEDs are an electronic device, limiting the current can achieve the desired outcome in dimming the light and saving energy and cost. In some applications, both wired and wireless control systems are taking advantage of existing infrastructure developed for networking schemes.

Moreover LED drivers are built to have embedded IP addressing in order to interface with an electronic console to accept commands and change the light intensity based on the occupancy sensing and other parameters. They can also report dynamic

Sign Builder Illustrated // February 2015

information (such as ambient temperature) back to the controlling console.

This is an opportunity for the manufacturer of LED drivers to influence lighting design in the early stages by providing flexibility in sensing and reporting critical information via wired or wireless antennas and receivers. With new technology, this can also be done via the AC line.

The communication protocol is varied by application-specific LED fixtures. Area lighting uses DALI commands, whereas in entertainment lighting, DMX-512 is widely employed. Remote Device Monitoring (RDM) is the next step up for wireless control in architectural lighting.

No matter what the protocol is, an intelligent driver will be the future for powering LED light fixtures.

Maggie Nadjmi is product manager at SL Power Electronics (www.digikey.com).

photos: ledtronics.

quality and work reliably during this period. These characteristics are important so that the end-user does not have to worry about replacing the fixture year after year.

The bulk of Energy Star requirements are centered around drivers and include: + A minimum power factor of 0.7 for residential and 0.9 on commercial lighting products; + Transient protection circuitry to pass 2.5kV of input surge based on ANSI/ IEEE C62.41; + An operating temperature of -20째C or lower; + Less than one-second delay from the time AC input voltage is applied till the light comes on; and + No light standby wattage of less than half a watt. (Note: The standby wattage can be increased to 1 watt if the LED lighting fixture has built-in intelligence.)

To meet a power factor of 0.9, the driver has to have a power factor correction stage, which requires additional components and complexity of design that can be addressed with the electronics designer who has a solid technical background in power conversion and magnetic design.

Inexpensive drivers can claim to meet the power factor requirements at full power, but as loading is dropped through the dimming of the light emitted by the LED, these drivers will have a much lower power factor than 0.9. This will disqualify the fixture from meeting the requirements. Adding metal-oxide varistors (MOVs) is the simplest way to meet transient protection.

Operating at -20째C temperature can

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Meals on (Sign) Wheels Vintage VW bus is transformed into a sidewalk sign and serving counter.

I

n early 2014, Tom Walsh, owner of Sign Language, a manufacturing sign shop in Poughkeepsie, New York, was just about through installing signs for the food court at the Empire City Casino at Yonkers Raceway when he was presented with a unique challenge.

“The owner of the casino told the company that had hired me, Goldman Design Group,

that he would like a vehicle installed on the outside of the building, facing the racetrack,” he says. “They asked if I could come up with something like a Volkswagen bus.”

48

Sign Builder Illustrated // February 2015

signshop.com

////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Walsh’s initial reaction was to let someone else assume this job.

“When they first told me what they wanted to do, it seemed way too much to take on,” he admits.

But as he thought the project through, Walsh realized he could pull it off—with the right help. “What finally convinced me was that I thought it would be something interesting to do,” he says, “if I could get someone to do the body work.”

Sign and Service Window The goal was to install the vehicle at the front of the casino’s food court, facing a walkway leading to the adjacent Yonker’s

Raceway. It would serve two purposes: (1.) as a sign announcing theLil’ Cocina Mexican restaurant and its menu, and (2.) as the service counter where customers could step up, place orders, and receive their food.

Walsh has years of experience designing and installing signs on all types of buildings—inside and out. The challenge for him here was reworking a vintage vehicle into a workable sign with the support framework to match up with the building’s exterior as a food service counter.

Walsh consulted with Joe Quitoni, owner of Joe Que’s Auto Body in Poughkeepsie. “We’ve done things like this be-

fore and know how to go about it,” says Quitoni, noting that, on several past projects, he’d installed portions of cars on billboards promoting collision centers. “[Joe] and I hashed out the project and some numbers and figured out how we could do this one,” says Walsh. “I’d focus on the sign aspects, while he would take care of the body work and structural support.”

A Vintage VW Once they agreed that this custom sign request was feasible, they had to find the best vehicle for the project.

After evaluating images of vintage

Affixing a Volkswagen bus to a wall was more difficult than the typical sign projects Sign Language Owner Tom Walsh takes on, but by partnering with the owner of a local auto body shop, Walsh was able to get the wheels turning on this unique job. The pair found and purchased a 1971 VW bus, cut it to size, restored the passenger side, and then installed it onto the building wall.

signshop.com

February 2015 // Sign Builder Illustrated

49

Volkswagen buses online, Walsh decided the 1971 model would be the best fit. “I really like the body lines on the 1971 VW bus and thought it would work well,” he says.

He submitted a photo of the model and awaited approval from the casino owner. As soon as that came, Quitoni searched area salvage yards and found a usable bus rusting in the snow.

The van had sustained driver’s side damage in an accident, but the passenger’s side (needed so the front of the bus would point toward the racetrack) was largely intact.

They purchased the body and brought the vehicle to Walsh’s shop for phase one of the project: reducing the mini-bus to a workable profile of its exterior.

They had calculated they needed the bus to be twenty inches deep along its entire length. Once the interior of the bus was completely gutted, steel bracing was welded in place (from front to rear and floor to ceiling) before the side doors could be dismantled. “We had to make sure nothing would move once we started cutting,” explains Quitoni.

The body was cut to size using a combination of a sawzall twelve-inch grinding wheel and a plasma cutter around the suspension system. Then the focus turned to the body. “This was like a complete restoration project, but we only worked on half a car,” notes Quitoni.

New quarter panels were installed, the wheel wells completely rebuilt, and new steel added to conceal the VW bus’s gas tank spout.

Trial Run Once the restoration work was complete, the body primed, and all the support framework in place, it was moved to the site for a test installation. “[Quitoni] had already figured how he was going to attach it to the building,” notes Walsh. “We wanted to make sure everything would line up correctly.”

Slight modifications had to be made to match up with the window planned for the wall separating the restaurant from the sidewalk. “We had to move some of the braces down a couple of inches to make way for the countertop for the serving window,” says Quitoni.

At his shop, Quitoni fabricated and welded steel clamps in place, which would be used to bolt the body to the building. The van was painted yellow 50

The body of the bus was cut to size using a sawzall grinding wheel and a plasma cutter before it was repainted.

and orange to match the color theme of the food court’s interior and signage.

Walsh designed and installed a vehicle wrap along the lower section of the body and doors with a combination of graphics and logo announcing the “Lil’ Cocina.” The wrap was printed on 3M™ Controltac™ Graphic Film Series 180 vinyl with his sixty-four-inch Seiko ColorPainter printer.

He also built a pair of LED backlit sign boxes for display in the rear windows and the interior of the side door when opened. One serves as a menu board, the other as a large sign announcing the VW van as a food truck.

Several finishing touches were added to give the van a more realistic look.

Walsh installed LEDs inside the lenses of front and rear lights. Rims for the front and rear tires were welded to the

Sign Builder Illustrated // February 2015

frame, then hub caps were permanently affixed to each wheel.

In August, the van returned to the casino for permanent installation to the wall. In the last phase of this project (soon to be completed), the serving window will be cut through the wall and the stainless steel serving counter installed, finalizing the transformation of a vintage VW microbus into an immobile food truck.

Until then, the bus serves as a hardto-miss sign promoting the restaurant and casino food court.

“It was a little more difficult than a typical sign project, but because I sought the help of [Quitoni] and his body shop, the whole thing fell together fairly smoothly,” says Walsh. “It just took a long time, because of the approvals we had to get at each phase of the project.” signshop.com

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It took a team effort of sandblasted Sign•Foam HDU, vinyl graphics, and paints to pull off these winning identity signs.

54

Sign Builder Illustrated // February 2015

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all Photos: shannon-baum signs & graphics.

I d e n t i t y S i g n a g e / By J e f f Wo ot e n / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

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Quoth the

Ravens Sign

A sign shop tackles a sandblasted project for the Baltimore Ravens.

W

hen M&T Bank Stadium, home field of the NFL’s Baltimore Ravens, decided to set up the Miller Time Tavern on its grounds before the start of the 2014 pro football season, officials knew they were also going to need new signage accompanying it.

So one area sign company received the kickoff and returned this project for a business-winning score. In fact, their years of experience and family ties allowed them to make sure the signs they created here would be one for the highlight reels.

The new Miller Time Tavern is located outside the main gates of M&T Bank Stadium. During games, it serves as a bar. Ravens officials contacted Powers Creative, a design and creative consulting team based in Baltimore, requesting signs attached to the ironwork of the gate on the stadium grounds that would identify it.

signshop.com

Thanks to their close relationship on prior projects, Powers Creative turned to Shannon-Baum Signs & Graphics (www. shannonbaum.com) of Eldersburg, Maryland for help. The company produces custom signs, vehicle wraps, sandblasted and hand-painted signs, LED message centers, dimensional lettering, banners, ADA signs, and more mostly for governmental, retail, sign, advertising & marketing, property management, and construction companies in the Maryland, Delaware, Virginia, West Virginia, and D.C. regional areas.

Most of the company’s incoming projects can be attributed to repeat business and word-of-mouth referrals. They also have close relationships with other creative types in the area, such as Lyndi Carvalho and Kristin Powers of Powers Creative.

“We started working with them in 2010 on several signage projects, including Loyola University Maryland’s Ridley Ath-

February 2015 // Sign Builder Illustrated

55

“Not many family-run, woman-owned small companies have the honor of being in business for three generations.”

—Denise Baum, Shannon-Baum Signs & Graphics

letic Complex,” says Vice President Denise Baum. “We enjoy collaborating with them on projects, as we are able to offer them the fabrication and installation of their sign and graphics needs.”

Shannon-Baum Signs & Graphics also has history on its side. The company is currently celebrating its sixtyfifth year in business. “We started as a mom-and-pop shop in 1950 in Baltimore and grew to become the largest manufacturer of traffic signs in Maryland,” says Denise. (Note: Denise is the granddaughter of the original owner, and her mother Jean, father Rick, uncle Don, brother Doug, and sister Kim all work at the company as well.)

The shop has certainly grown from its humble origins. Today thirty-two employees work out of a 36,000-square foot facility. In addition to office staff, these employees include designers, screen printers, fabricators, welders, installers, shop floor personnel, and delivery drivers.

“We look for friendly, team-oriented, creative, ambitious, and dependable candidates,” says Denise. “And we have experience! Our general manager, Jack-

ie, has been with us for thirty years now, and many of our employees have been here for ten to twenty years.”

Shannon-Baum also has a reputation for providing quick turnarounds. Look around their shop floor and you’ll notice two fiftyfour-inch and two sixty-inch Graphtec plotters, two sixty-inch Roland SOLJET eco-solvent wide format printers, a sixtytwo-inch Seal Laminator, a five-by-ten-foot CNC router, an Orbital X ADA machine, screen printing equipment, a custom spray paint booth, and two metal shears. “Although we have automated equipment for making signs, this still remains a labor-intensive process,” says Denise.

For the Ravens project, the signs needed to be thick enough to go around the fence/gate, so Shannon-Baum employees visited the stadium ahead of fabrication to get custom measurements of each sign.

In the end, six 48-by-37-inch signs were mounted back-to-back on each side of the gates, as well as two 96-by18-inch ones.

The eight sign panels were sandblasted out of one-and-a-half-inch-thick, eighteen-pound Sign•Foam high-density

The sign panels were sandblasted out of Sign•Foam high-density urethane material.

56

Sign Builder Illustrated // February 2015

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urethane material. “We like the strength one gets using eighteen-pound foam,” explains Denise. “And we find that Sign•Foam is superior to wood, since it’s rot- and mildew-resistant. It can also be repaired, if part of the sign becomes damaged (and these pieces located).”

The sign shop first rough-cut the Sign•Foam blanks with a jigsaw. They next applied Gorilla Glue® to adhere more foam onto the back of one sign face and utilized a sander with 80-grit sandpaper to finish shaping the sign. They then custom-cut notches to fit the fence, and blasted the image onto Sign•Foam via a sandblasting pot with #2 sand.

Then they employed brushes, spray guns, and a roller to paint the signage pieces with Ronan Bulletin Color paints. Including drying time, this took about a week.

Earlier Powers Creative had provided Shannon-Baum the artwork for the project, including the Ravens and Miller Lite® logos. The sign company printed these logos onto 3M IJ180CV3 vinyl using the SOLJET and laminated them with 3M 8519 Lustre overlaminate.

They hand-applied the digitally printed vinyl to the flat, raised sections of the painted Sign•Foam blanks.

Deck screws and a screw gun were used for installing the signs onto the gate.

The main challenge for the sign shop was making sure that, when mounted onto the black steel gates, these 1-1/2-inchthick sandblasted signs would appear as one piece. “We used spacers on the sides to equal six inches thick when finished,” says Denise. “So from the sides, it appears as a one-piece sign.”

Denise says there were a couple of reasons her shop was excited to work on this project. For one, it was many of their employees’ favorite sports team. And second, it was the clients’ reaction. The Baltimore Ravens were thrilled with the signs, as was Powers Creative.

“Shannon-Baum did an excellent job interpreting our ideas to integrate the signage with the existing structure of the stadium gates,” says Kristin Powers.

“We were looking for a ‘tavern’ feel with materials that would hold up to the environmental conditions of the stadium concourse.

“They delivered exactly that, and the color saturation and timeless look of the signs continually draw fans in to enjoy the space.” signshop.com

The challenge was to make the double-sided signs on the steel gates look like they were one piece. Shannon-Baum Signs & Graphics used spacers on the sides to achieve this effect.

February 2015 // Sign Builder Illustrated

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Sign Builder Illustrated // February 2015

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February 2015 // Sign Builder Illustrated

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“

SHOP TALK

B y J e ff Wo ot e n

Rite Lite Signs of Concord, North Carolina

Twenty-Five and Counting

F

ull-service Rite Lite Signs has made quite a name for itself as a go-to specialist for custom sign manufacturing (neon and LED channel letters, monument/pylons, electronic message centers, architecturals, wayfinding, etc.). Their customers range from architects, designers, and property managers/developers to retail mom-and-pops and chain stores.

But according to Sales Manager David Cornelius, the company is more attracted to a type of project than to a type of customer. “We like projects that are unique,” he says. “We like having back-and-forths with customers who come in with just an idea or a design but aren’t sure how to get it done. Our team gets a little bit more excited when working on something that’s a little outside-the-box, where we can have some extent of creative input.”

Vice President of Operation John Sullivan attributes the company’s success to its forty employees (office staff, fabricators, neon benders, installers, etc.). He also credits their talented roster of designers who are able to turn out “incredible” hand sketches for helping to improve their workflow process. “When a customer comes in with a rough idea of their sign, we’ll ask one of our artists to sketch out some ideas,” he says. “They’ll import this into CorelDRAW®, outline it, and turn it into an actual design. This

can make things go a little quicker.”

Rite Lite Signs celebrated its twenty-fifth anniversary last year. Owners David and Tasha Catchpole started the company out of their home as a straightup installation/servicing company, and they’ve evolved into full-service design and fabrication work for an expanding list of clients and offerings.They’ve upsized locations a couple of times and are currently working out of a 46,000-square-foot facility.

On their shop floor, the keyword appears to be “automation.” You’ll find a roll former for steel and aluminum tubes, as well as automated brakes and sheers for sheet metal work and formed faces.

In addition to inkjet printers, there are two large CNC router tables (8-by-12 feet and 6-by-12 feet) fully automated with tool changers, as well as 16-by-32-foot and 13-by-22 spray booths.

For their anniversary celebration, the company rebranded its Web site, sent out marketing materials, and made commemorative plaques.

One coincidental piece of timing last year was the installation on their property off busy Interstate I-85 of a new 170-square-foot pylon sign featuring neon lighting and an EMC display.

“With those two technologies, it puts on display the varied work we do,” says Cornelius, explaining that this installation ended up being a “present” to themselves, “and tied the old school concept with the new school.”

all Photos: rite lite signs.

To read more about Rite Lite Signs, visit www. signshop.com.

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Sign Builder Illustrated // February 2015

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