Home Forums Sign Making Discussions Gallery Illuminated Sign: AB Autos

  • Illuminated Sign: AB Autos

    Posted by Andy Gorman on 5 August 2005 at 14:02

    Not very exciting, but this is a box I fitted last week. I’m afraid to say that this one was a bit too big for even me to fit on my own, so I got a lad to help me.

    I’ll put up a night time shot when it gets dark.


    Attachments:

    Andy Gorman replied 20 years, 3 months ago 9 Members · 14 Replies
  • 14 Replies
  • steve geary

    Member
    5 August 2005 at 14:20

    Nice…
    Is vinyl applied to outside, or inside of sheet. Acrylic?

    What’s MOT?

  • Andy Gorman

    Member
    5 August 2005 at 14:29

    Translucent vinyl onto 5mm opal Perspex.

    MOT is Ministry Of Transport, a mechanical test that we have to have done every year to make sure our cars are roadworthy. Also it makes the government and garages very rich.

    This type of sign is why I spent the extra on a 48″ plotter. Couldn’t be done with a 24″ one.

  • Marekdlux

    Member
    5 August 2005 at 14:34

    Looks good Andy. I’m sure the owner is pleased with their new sign.
    In the states (California anyways) we have to get a Smog test. They test the emissions in your car and if you don’t pass you have to get it fixed then pay again to get another test. Real pain in the ar$e.
    -Marek

  • steve geary

    Member
    5 August 2005 at 14:35

    I bet the 48″ plotter is nice. I’ve got a 24 and did two Lighted Signs so far with Transluscent. Both I had to seam, and although it doesn’t look terrible, you can see the seams.

    What is perspex? I have a choice of Acrylic $100/ sheet or Lexan $250 (roughly)

  • Andy Gorman

    Member
    5 August 2005 at 14:39

    Perspex is acrylic, but is a brand name of ICI who make it.

    If you have a sign bigger than your plotter, you could flood the panel with vinyl and then spray mount a paper drawing of the letters onto it and hand cut. Alternatively, make a feature of where the join would come, like a band of another colour, maybe. There are sneaky ways round everything! 🙂

    Yes Marek, emissions tests are part of the MOT here.

  • steve geary

    Member
    5 August 2005 at 14:58

    Good tip… Thanks!

  • Carrie Brown

    Member
    5 August 2005 at 22:53

    Nice work Andy …. look forward to seeing a night time shot 😀

  • Nicola McIntosh

    Member
    5 August 2005 at 23:18

    nice looking sign big g 😀

    i would have made AB Autos a tad bigger in line with exhausts and moved the tele number in line with it also…….it’s a me thing 😛 😛

    i like it..nice and sharp 😀

    nik

  • Robert Lambie

    Member
    5 August 2005 at 23:34

    nice work mate, looks clean and professional. have t9o agree with you re the plotter size.
    ide probably have tried loosing the telephone number atogether but like it none the less.

  • Jon Fields

    Member
    8 August 2005 at 21:07

    Nice sign..looks very professional..
    what fixngs did you use to fix the frame to the metal ?..

    thanks

    Jon

    😀

  • Andy Gorman

    Member
    8 August 2005 at 22:20

    http://www.screwfix.com/app/sfd/cat/pro … 8&id=15279

    Work like a dream, self drilling screws sound too good to be true but they really work very well. In fact, I put a few extra ones in without the need to drill a clearance hole in the lightbox. Only thing I found: set the torque level on your battery drill just right as some cladding is quite thin and I was careful not to overtighten and lose the thread.

  • handyman

    Member
    12 August 2005 at 20:07

    Hi everyone,

    Perspex is no longer manufactured by ICI and it has not been since 1999 when Ineos bought ICI acrylics from ICI using money from charterhouse development capital.

    Ineos also purchased other businesses from ICI and got some very bad press, so they changed the name of Ineos acrylics to Lucite international, which is cast sheet acrylic for the sanitaryware market.

    If you have some perspex with the ICI logo on it is very old stock! good job it has a 10 year guarantee!

    Just wanted to clear this point up!

    Thanks

    ultimatehandyman

  • Paul Franklin

    Member
    12 August 2005 at 21:39

    Very neat and clean. Who’s lightbox did you use? It doesn’t look very deep. What sort of gear is lighting it up?

    Look forward to the night time pic.

  • Andy Gorman

    Member
    23 August 2005 at 00:44

    Kestrel supplied the lightbox. 160mm deep. It probably looks slim because the sign is 14′ x 4′. I think Kestrel are a bit dear, but I have been using them for years and I know the quality is always spot on.

Log in to reply.