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LEDS on a black background dilemma
Posted by Martin Cole on October 23, 2012 at 11:37 amWe have got to fit two sets of built up s/s letters with white leds on a black rendered wall.
Obviously the light will be absorbed by the black so need to add something on the wall in a lighter colour. Would normally fit vinyl..but not an option. Can’t really paint it as the job has to be done the same day and is in central London.
I thought of a white dibond backing letter, not ideal as I don’t think it would look great.. 😕 but a bit stuck as what to doAny ideas (-)
Cheryl Smith replied 10 years, 11 months ago 9 Members · 23 Replies -
23 Replies
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Are the letters already made? If not shout hold :).
When making opal polycarbonate backtrays in all letters these can be oversized by a few mm creating a key line of illumination, the polycarb/acrylic acts effectively as an edge lighting, pic to follow.
The other as you suggest is a flat cut Matt dibond letter either oversized as a feature or undersized mounted to wall to reflect the light off. Please do emailif you want further advice as this is a common problem area we deal with.
On 95% of letters we make with backtrays in opal to omit the problem of unsightly spotting on backgrounds, hence me saying to use Matt white dibond if the letters you have made dont have them leaving the LEDs exposed to reflect.
Hope that this helps and photo to follow.
Sam
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The other option is of course to try and persuade them into a sign tray mounted to the wall, painted to a lighter colour, or a tray painted black and do as I have shown in photos this afternoon (or vinyl as you have suggested in your posting).
Let me know if I can help further.
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quote Sam Armstrong:Are the letters already made? If not shout hold :).
:yikes: HOLD!
your making them Sam, well only one set as I have one set here that customer has from previous shop
thanks for the feed back
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I am holding, dont panic we will get this sorted with you, this is a common problem hence the advice notes we plaster on our quotes and sign offs.
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Thank you Sam, good to speak to you and photos on their way.
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would it be possible to draw round the lettering onto the texture black surface, and then hand paint in solvent based gloss black for quick drying gloss finish to inprove reflective propoerties of black surface ?
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Black is no good as it absorbs the light, light colours work well and we always use matt.
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Why can you not use vinyl Mactac ww100 wall wrap vinlyl will do the job
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quote Adrian Hewson:Why can you not use vinyl Mactac ww100 wall wrap vinlyl will do the job
cant be 100% on this adrian, but i think all wall/masonary wrap media is short term mate. 6-12 months "i think".
I know Oracal do one which fragments itself to reduce pealing, pulling from grooves or heel scuffs. but i still think its a 6-12 month film and that requires a pressure washer to remove it.
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Sorry rob rated at 18 months but we have had two demo patches on our wall for over 5 years now, when protected behind letters would think it will be there for lifetime of letters
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Just reading the comments after mine and I can see I was missing the point!
Sorry Marting I didn’t see the rendered wall part, until now! its been a hard few sleep less weeks ! -
quote Richard Urquhart:Just reading the comments after mine and I can see I was missing the point!
Sorry Marting I didn’t see the rendered wall part, until now! its been a hard few sleep less weeks !LOL…I read your replies thinking…he hasn’t read the thread 😀
Anyway..all fitted now and all looked pretty good. Had to fit two sets.
Thanks for all the replies….even yours Rich 😀
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quote Adrian Hewson:Sorry rob rated at 18 months but we have had two demo patches on our wall for over 5 years now, when protected behind letters would think it will be there for lifetime of letters
Fair enough mate, if 18 months is correct then what i have been quoted must be based on ground/pavement graphics only. i know when i was asking about the Oracal stuff it was based on ground graphics for promotional use which is why i mentioned "heal scuffs".
that said, if it is 18 months, even that to out live built-ups is a big gamble. 😀
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Thats looking nice mate. I’m working on one at the moment so will post when complete, the halo looks great, nice and soft.
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quote Richard Urquhart:Thats looking nice mate. I’m working on one at the moment so will post when complete, the halo looks great, nice and soft.
Yeah, halo effect was nice Rich. Face on.. it lost it a bit where the back ground was black, but over all pretty good.
Worst bit of the job was paying £4 per hour on the parking metre… having to have one eye on the job and one on the metre/traffic wardens, I pumped 32 pound coins in the bloody metre that day.
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Looks like a really nice soft halo that Martin, which method did you use to acheive that effect?
Justin
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Forgot to mention…the sign was illuminated with neon…..but the idea is the same 😀
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