How to Change a Plastic Face on an Electric Sign

How to Change a Plastic Face on an Electric Sign

Many times a sign customer needs to change out or update a face in an existing electric sign cabinet and calls Augusta Sign Company for help. Sometimes they need our help because they have become a new tenant of a space with a sign with a different name and they need it changed; sometimes the face is damaged; sometimes, like in the case of Vailes Home Improvement Services of Waynesboro, they have re-branded their corporate image, and as a result the old sign needed replacing.

The basic options are to: 1) remove the letters and replace with new graphics (if the sign is translucent plastic with vinyl letters on the exterior surface only), or 2) remove and replace the whole face, whether it be a flat face or pan face, like the one in the photo above, if the existing lettering is sprayed on the interior surface of the face.

When I letter plastic faces for electric signs, I recommend 3M translucent vinyls for the graphics on translucent white plastic. If the cabinet is slim with fluorescent lamps, most likely a custom pan face is needed; otherwise if the cabinet is thicker than 10″, a flat sheet of plastic could work for the face. (If the lamps are too close to the face, hot spots can occur. One way to resolve that problem is to re-lamp the sign with LED modules.)

Now that the faces are re-branded, the main sign over the door matches the advertising signs on the job sites, and the vehicles, and the sign at the road!

 

Mark Hackley is president of Augusta Sign Company of Waynesboro, VA  540-943-9818