Sign with lights behind question

[Martin Pearson]

Doubt it would give you the effect your looking for Denise because the light source is going to be in the wrong place.

[Nicola McIntosh]

quote Martin:

Doubt it would give you the effect your looking for Denise because the light source is going to be in the wrong place.

can you explain why martin? 😀

[Dave Harrison]

Denise don’t use clear.
If its a composite tray you’ll need to keep it light. Use 3mm opal (050) it will work fine as a poor mans halo effect.

Just remember that your tray needs to be at least 100mm deep to fit in tubes etc…make sure the tray is well supported on the returns or it will sag.

[Adrian Hewson]

Hi Denise you could probably use this option but don’t use tubes, far more cost effective using leds (depending on size) make your sign tray because it leds you can get away with 50mm returns, fret cut logo or name in front panel and cover over the fret cut bit with 050 acrylic, then cut over size letters to be mounted onto standoffs. The light should shine through the fret cut and bounce back onto the sign tray giving halo effect, it wont be like proper halo effect as morel light will escape at different angle but from more than about 20ft away it should look fine (close up you will see the light shining direct through fret cut, but you may be able to use different colours to create an effect with this, ( without knowing the logo name size and colours it would be hard to advise further.

For an even cheaper option you can forget the sign tray and just mount the leds on the back of cut letters and mount them that way on to fla board (you put 18mm ply behind the fascia and drills holes for the wires) you will see the wires etc when close up but hey let the customer know. " A pound in hand is better than £1000 lost"

[Martin Pearson]

quote Nicola McIntosh:

quote Martin:

Doubt it would give you the effect your looking for Denise because the light source is going to be in the wrong place.

can you explain why martin? 😀

Nicola, I’m not an expert on lighting but for your amusement I will explain why I don’t think it will give the effect Denise is looking for.

With a channel letter the light source is within the letter & the light is directed onto the facia. Neon isn’t a problem because it’s a continuous run but with led;s the number & spacing need to be worked out to prevent flat spots.
Denise’s way puts the light source within the facia directed towards the letters & relies on light bouncing back off the letters to create a halo. To many variables need to be taken into account like the intensity of the light, distance to letter, colour of letter etc etc. Plus I would think that any light bouncing back from the letter is going to mix with the light shining from the facia which is going to dilute it.

I don’t have any practical experience of this sort of thing it just seemed like a big gamble to take & if the effect is not what the customer is expecting then the payment problems start.

Obviously if people like Adrian have done this & it works then I am wrong so apologise for misleading Denise.

[Adrian Hewson]

HI guys don’t think there is a gamble Martin its slightly different effect only, as long as you explain to client, spotting isn’t a problem as it bounced light and you are going through 050 acrylic, different if it was face lit, posted an example done this week it is 3d letter but not on sign tray it is on ally comp with 18 mm ply on back we could not fit angle iron for sign tray due to space restrictions and customer cost, down side is if you look at top left of sign you can see electric feed

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[Adrian Hewson]

Hi Denise just looked at your post again, I did not notice you wanted to use Perspex letters, for the halo effect you should you should use ally comp or another solid material , although you would get a different effect using Perspex and I think it would look good (probably better than ally comp)

[KeithdWhitson]

You’ll prob find the client will find a complaint with what you do as they’ll compare it to proper halo lit signage. If they’re not willing to pay I would pass.