FEATURE NAME ACRYLICS & PLASTICS BY JANE AUTHOR NASH & SCOTT WALTON
CHANGING THE
CHANNEL Options abound for today’s channel letters.
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Sign Builder Illustrated
April 2020
As LED modules moved closer to the surface, the light being emitted from them was centered over the source, creating hot spots of bright light. This reduced light intensity and light variations spread across the surface of the sign. In turn, this led to new thinking about materials used in channel letters, as designers searched for solutions that transmitted and diffused light. The objective was to maintain or increase light transmission while evenly
diffusing the light across the surface— eliminating hot spots. Sheeting Solutions This aforementioned solution allows for a shallow can and the LEDs to be as close as two inches from the interior surface of the sign face while providing the best available light transmission and diffusion. Choosing the right grade of acrylic or polycarbonate as the face enables the use of vinyl colors over the surface signshop.com
Photo: Plaskolite.
T
he introduction of LED lighting modules presented numerous opportunities for sign makers, most notably enabling them the ability to design and build shallower channel letters. LED lighting components emit little heat, which allows for closer placement of the lighting source to the channel letter sign face for a more versatile and cost-effective design. However this particular advantage has ended up creating its own challenges.
