advice on fitting a sign tray

[Johnny Alston]

wow 67 viewa and no comments

[David Rogers]

quote Johnny Alston:

wow 67 viewa and no comments

The golden rule for fitting any sign is to put in enough screws so it won’t fall off the wall. If you have to question if there are enough…there probably isn’t.

[Peter Normington]

Although we all need to ask questions, I did not answer this one after seeing it.
The reason, the question is so basic, that it could have been thought of as a wind up.
if you are in this industry, and are cant fit your own basic stuff, and also cant figure out if you need screws in the bottom angle, well….
Now, I am not criticising you for asking, just saying why I think you did not get any answers.
The answer is you only need 4 screws, any more are just for piece of mind providing the tray is ally and in one piece, one in each corner top and bottom. For composite I would use one every 500-600mm top and bottom.
ideally there should be no gap between the tray and rails, in practice up to 5mm would be acceptable
I know others will chime up and disagree, but what you should be asking is how many and what type, to fix the angle to the wall, this is the important place to have the strength.

Peter

[Gwaredd Steele]

Indeed. There’s help, then there’s breastfeeding. It’s pretty basic DIY stuff fitting most signs TBH.

[Johnny Alston]

Sorry for asking such a basic question.

But Peter you say others will "chime up and disagree" which says to me there is no one way to do things and thats what i was trying to find out. What others would do which I thought that was the point of this forum. Thanks for replying Peter will go for four in the top and two in the corners at the bottom. Was planning on using 4 sturdy bolts to attach angle to the wall.

Probably in my haste worded the whole post wrong I was more so bothered by the aesthetic of the tray on the bottom to avoid lots of screws.

Gwaredd to ridicule and make someone feel stupid is totally unhelpful and deter people from posting.

[John Harding]

general answer – if its a wooden shop fascia I whack loads of screws through the angle into the fascia knowing the wood will deteriorate over time – however you only need a few to hold the tray to the angle as there nothing to rot so the screws you see will be minimal.

If you need to ask – its not a stupid question – because you don’t know the answer

However like many you suffer from no photo avatar which is proven to get you less response’s – so there’s my tip (not just to you but anyone else reading this to whom it may apply) – if your committed to signs and UKSB post a picture – if not don’t be disappointed by the read/response rate (!)

John 😀

[Gwaredd Steele]

Sorry if I made you feel stupid, but I assumed stuff like this would have been covered at college etc if you are new to the trade.

And in my defence, it was worded pretty silly. I mean, no fixings in the bottom angle? Honestly, what do you think would happen if you fitted a relatively heavy sign tray in this way?

And make sure you have EL&PL insurance. Just in case.

[Peter Dee]

Johnny, make the rails about 50mm shorter than the inside of the tray but then check where you put the end screws through the tray so they don’t miss the fixing.
fit the top rail first with plenty of screws as this is the one which takes all the weight.
Measure the inside height of the tray and fix the bottom rail 2mm less than that parallel to the top rail.
Check all along the tray for deviation and likewise once the bottom rail is fitted.
If you need to adjust the distance, do it on the bottom rail by opening up the holes and using washers.
Pre-drill the top holes in the tray; you only need 4 as they are not taking any weight.
Test fit the tray which should end up as "snug" on the rails.
Don’t let go of it as 100m deep with only say 40mm rails it could drop off!
Drill through the top holes (I prefer to fit coloured rivets) and fix.
Drill up through the bottom and fix (only 2 fixings needed if solid ally, 4 for composite).
Don’t use rivets on the bottom as they will squeeze up the tray to meet the rail.
This will be very noticeable if you allowed more than a few mm on the rail spacing.

[Kevin Flowers]

For the bottom rails i drill 13mm holes in the angle & use repair washers(size of 10p), & just pinch the screws up in the wall. This allows the rail to pull down so the tray does not distort when when done up tight

Kev

[Johnny Alston]

Cheers Guys

I don’t think you can ever have enough knowledge especially when there is different ways of achieving the same end result.

Thanks