Rear Defuser for Stainless Steel Built up Letters - General Sign Topics

General Sign Topics

Rear Defuser for Stainless Steel Built up Letters

Posted by Stephen Murray1 on September 13, 2009 at 2:52 pm

Hi All,

We have just been given the go ahead for a Sign using Stainless Steel Built up letters with a LED halo effect. The problem is that the client wants to use Black Gloss Dibond as the backing panel. What is the best vinyl to use as a defuser ? I’ve noticed in the forums that Opal Etch is mentioned. What i had in mind is a Matt Black as i don’t want to detract the focus away from the built up letters in the Daylight. I would be interested to hear what other people use or even if they have used Black matt on Black Gloss for this purpose.

Thanks in advance for your advice !!

Steve

Stephen Murray1 replied 14 years, 7 months ago 4 Members · 8 Replies
8 Replies

Robert Lambie

Member
September 13, 2009 at 4:15 pm

quick reply… your not going to get the proper HALO effect using LED’s on a black backing board mate. neon manages to illuminate to a certain degree but LED’s are crap in comparison.
a store near me had a big sign job recently with led’s doing just this on black marble. 2 weeks after the store opened the sign had to be completely changed to illuminated letters as opposed to halo lit.
i did one on a chocolate brown background and it was the same….

as for defuser you get a couple of types from amari plastics.
Richard Urquhart

Member
September 13, 2009 at 4:52 pm

I have done one with a black tray. Used clear acrylic back for the letters and diffused with etch vinyl, then I used a light Matt grey just over the size of the lettering and this created a nice even halo effect and the grey vinyl was hardly visible.

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Robert Lambie

Member
September 13, 2009 at 9:05 pm

i can see how that works rich, looks well mate… my only gripe is that during the day you see the vinyl behind the letters when viewed at an angle? too be honest, i don’t see another way of improving it other than what you have done.

if i had to do a sign for myself and faced with this problem i recon ide probably go the neon route but of course it would be a fair bit more expensive and harder to maintain.

at the end of the day what the customer is willing to pay will dictate the options they/you will have.
Richard Urquhart

Member
September 13, 2009 at 9:16 pm

Rob I get what your saying but when these no room to move we had to come up with this idea, as for seeing the grey its no bad at all, the letters are 10mm off the tray and hardly noticeable.

PS I istalled this around 2 years ago and its never been turned off !!! so I guess no one will ever notice be time to change the LEDS soon then
Colin Bland

Member
September 13, 2009 at 9:40 pm

Hi Rich
I’m doing a sign like this at the moment how much of an offset did you put around the letters for the vinyl any help appreciated

thanks

Colin
Richard Urquhart

Member
September 14, 2009 at 6:56 am

Hi Colin around 10mm
Rich
Colin Bland

Member
September 14, 2009 at 9:00 am

Cheers Rich

Tried 3mm all round but was obviously not enough

I will give 10mm a go

Thanks

Colin
Stephen Murray1

Member
September 14, 2009 at 9:31 am

Thanks for your comments Robert and Richard. I’ll give the grey a a test and see what the client thinks. I was also wondering if any body had tried the Avery 5160 or 5130 diffuser film for this purpose? Does it do exactly like it says on the tin? As you may of guessed this is our first install using LED’s to create a Halo effect and want to get it right first time.