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illuminated lightbox style sign needed please?
I have a job to do, removing old vinyl from white perspex fascias in a lightbox, The existing panels are white, and the customer wants a mix of red and blue lettering on these. I am unsure which vinyl to use thou, what do you think would look best. What would look better as in stopping the light from coming through the letters. I was planning on using my usual Hexis Suptac Vinyl. ????
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18 Replies
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Transluscent 😎
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doesnt that let the light through thou, and if the whole fascia is white, and letting the light through, surely i need to block to the light withthe vinyl letterting to give them contrast to the background?? or am i totally off the mark on that one, lol
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quote Dave n Rob Lowery:Transluscent 😎No, he wants opaque vinyl Dave! (Or Rob)
Actually Matt, thinking about it, if the vinyl is opaque you won’t see the colours at night, won’t the lettering all look dark?
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yes i thought that, but its whatthe customer has asked for, white background and red lettering and some blue. on two different signs
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To stop the light comimg through I would put a black block out vinyl on reverse of acrlyic where needed then apply your colour on front side.
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what sort of effect would i get if i just used usual vinyl on the fascia.
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It wouldn’t block the light out completely, you would get a duller version of the colour used when lit.
Some normal coloured vinyls let more light through than others.
I would say standard black on reverse would do the job.
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Matt – are you sure you want to block the light coming throught the text
translucent vinyl looks fine on a white facia – there would still be plenty of contrast between the text & the background
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well im not really sure what effect i want to be honest, as i havent done a lit fascia before, 🙂
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Mat, the whole point off a light box, is to illuminate. so go for translucent vinyl, the colours will be visible at night and not change drasticly (spelling?)
I cant see why you want to block the light? and still retain a colour?Peter
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No matter which vinyl you use, all colours on the sign illuminate/glow to some degree.
if you want to stop light coming through, you will need to apply a block-out vinyl "to the face" then a regular vinyl on top of that. -
thanks for all your help and hints guys, i will post a photo of the finished article, it wont be very exciting design wise, i have to follow his design and "not exciting" is an understatement , lol
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i do have one more very newbie type question,,,, when u take the panels out to redo them , is it ok to leave the box open in the rain, as the weather is bad at the mo,but i need to get the job done and i am just wondering whether if the inner lighting units are waterproof.
cheers
matt -
No, the fitting aren’t waterproof, but the odd bit of water is OK so long as the power is off & they dry out totally…and the inside of the box is dry before you re-assable & switch on. (condensation is a killer). I normally drill a 3 or 4 mm hole in the bottom corners to allow drainage should water ingress during it’s lifespan anyway.
Oh, yeh. remove the tubes…they’ll get smashed overnight….
If it’s not a big box, and you have scrap PVC lying about (somebody’s old sign) – cut blank inserts with a stanley.
As a real stop-gap. Gaffer tape some black bags over the gear trays to prevent water getting into all of the kit.
Dave
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hahaha. . Very good advice. . remove the tubes or they’ll get smashed overnight. ( As exactly happened to one of my customers when I removed his panels 😳 ) his sweet shop was oppersite a bus stop !
Speaking of tubes. depending on the condition of the inside of the gear tray etc etc, if the electrics look to be in fair condition, you might want to consider offering to replace all the tubes and starters with new. . . for a few extra £££.
However don’t bother if all the ballast units are starting to go rusty. . the box is probably coming to the end of its life.As for protecting the box while you refurbish the panels cut a couple of bits of correx and slide in place of the panels ( just be sure to add to the bill ! ) and you can always use them for something else later !
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If you had to replace the plastic front to a illuminated sign and had the job of vinyling it up
Would you use completely translucent pvc or a slightly opaque frontwhat is the standard to do the job as reading this post has made me realize that there is a little more to this job than I anticipated does normal vinyl do the job
would I cover the pvc twice with say a yellow vinyl and then add the black letters or would one coat be enough
sorry for the questions but I have a couple of these to do this week and being new to the game I do not want to mess them up
thanks a lot -
For general use buy ‘opal’ acrylic – it’s a semi-translucent ‘white’ that acts as a diffuser yet lets a high percentage of light through.
Normal vinyl MAY do the job – but you can buy ‘translucent’ vinyls specifically for lightboxes.
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Thanks David I am looking in my catalog tonight
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