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How to do a curved sign tray?
Hi Guys,
I’ve got a job to do a 26m long composite sign tray with 80 x 3d letters on. However 3/4 of the building is round, so about 17m-18m of the sign tray must be curved.
Any idea how we can do the trays, and how I can do the rails for fixing? We’ve never done a curved sign tray that size.
I appreciate your advices if you can share your experiences. Thanks all.
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10 Replies
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Hi Erdy, Have a look at page 17 in this guide. It shows how to create a curve using Dibond. There’s a ton of other information in there too. Hopefully it’ll help you out 🙂
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Thank you David
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Hi Erdy
Not something I have had to do myself, in-house, But I would think you would need to use aluminium or stainless steel and not Composite.
The initial problem is finding an accurate radius and if it’s not a true circle, then working out the curvature.
Let’s assume the curve is on the corner of a street building.
You can see by starting with a box set at the length and width of the building.
Then insertting a circle to show the curved corner.Click the images to enlarge.
Scroll left and right to browse through them.
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From here, let’s say the return of the pan sign is 75mm.
Next, I apply a 75mm radius/outline to the circle as shown.
I have also applied 75mm returns indicating the full length/size of the sign out-with the curve.
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If I remove the rest of the circle and guides, I am left with the bird’s eye view of the pan sign curving around the corner.
Basically, you are looking at the “return” of the pan.
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If you remove the return curved section only.
Cut the curve, twice, from a flat sheet of aluminium or stainless steel.
these curves will act as the returns of the pan sign that will be used on the corner.
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roll the metal if it is a tight radius, alternatively, the flex of the sheet will form the curve and allow it to be welded.
Once the return curve has been welded at the top and the second one at the bottom, you only have the interlocking joins to attach, down the depth of the pan.
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from here on, you would create the flat pans for either side of the curve.
once you have formed the entire pan, flat areas and curve, you then have to create an internal one.
the internal one will hold all your wiring, drivers and all else. which should be fitted first, then the face of the sign fixed to the internal pan.once all the welding, drilling, sealing, cleaning and surfacing preperation is done, you can then paint or powder coat.
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The last thing you need to take into account is…
You mentioned 3D built-up letters.
you must take into consideration that if mounted on stand-off fixing points, the curve might prohibit this from working, depending on how tight the curve is.
I remember a while back, I was fitting cuved letters to a curved wall and this issue reared its head.
in short, I had to roll the circular logo into the curve of the wall to allow the raised sign/letters/logo concept to work.Not easy, and not cheap to fix, but it was a lack of experience in this aspect of sign-making on my part, back then, and by the time I corrected my mistake, the sign was running at a loss.
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Thank you very much for all valuable information. I appreciate that.
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