One of the enjoyable things about the sign business is being able to make your mark on the local landscape and see your work in the public for years to come. The job we recently did, up on the fourth floor of the Gregg County Courthouse, will likely leave my mark in the local halls of justice for my grandkid’s grandkids to see.
The old courtroom had been in place for 40 years or so, and was undergoing a major remodel, which was being handled by a local architect we do work for. We were asked to bid on two sets of plate metal lettering and one other set of letters to go with a large circular logo, complete with a raised single Texas star about 2’ tall and 3” thick. With some minor changes, it was to be quite similar to one that was the focal point of another large courtroom on the same floor.
It wasn’t that complicated a project, but making a perfect three-dimensional metal star would be fun, and the powder coated plate metal lettering we are well equipped to do. Also, it would likely be the only time I would be in a courtroom doing something I liked. Oh boy!
We got the bid, and soon I was cutting aluminum, both 3/16” thick and ?” thick, and doing a lot of drilling and tapping. Some of the lettering would go on a marble wall, that we would not be drilling holes in, so double-sided tape was determined to be the installation method of choice for those letters, and all the other letters as well.
However, to be able to powder coat the letters means they have to hang up somehow, so all lettering had to be drilled and tapped so small eye screws could be inserted to hang them from while coating and oven curing. The larger pieces of the logo would be stud mounted, not relying on double-sided tape, and the star would hang like a picture frame with only two screws required to secure it on the wall.
One of the things on my shop tool wish list for years was a good tool for drilling and taping letters, and when we bought our “Flex-Arm” unit, that was a big deal. I almost hate to mention it, since few sign shops keep one of these $3,000 to $4,000 wonders, but slowed down to gentle speeds, and with only 30 lbs. or so of air pressure feeding the unit, tapping the shallow hole in the back of a 3/16” aluminum letter was easy enough, at least for a revolution or two.
Aluminum lettering of this thickness could be cut on a CNC router, or on a waterjet. To keep very tight inside corners, these were cut on a waterjet, and the letters that went with the logo were cut nested into the concentric circles of the logo itself. There was still some material waste, but the other letters were to be only 3/16” thick to match existing letters there in the courthouse, and had to be cut separately.
I realize few sign shops have a waterjet handy, and neither does ours. But our sister company does CNC cutting, and basically I sub it out to myself. However, by now most areas of the country with any amount of industry will have a vendor ready to do the cutting.
One tip in preparing your file for a waterjet cutting service, remember that smaller items can fall to “the bottom of the lake,” which means they tip over and slide between the slats and into a 3’-deep tank, the same as lost. So, simply tab smaller letters together in strings of two or three, with a sliver of metal only 1/16 wide connecting them. You will save them trouble, time and money, and the better your jobs are prepared for cutting (tabbing, nesting, and so forth) the sooner they will get them done. Also, pay for your work when you pick it up each time, and you will become a priority client. (Ask me how I know.)
The star was calculated in five equal parts or points of the star, which were to be made of .063 mill finish aluminum formed on a brake. The exact bend would have to be determined, and each one done identically so they would come together with no real gaps at all.
Since the center of the star would stand 2?” out from the wall, the flat dimensions that are easily measured had to be altered or lengthened. Each point is made of two triangles, which meet in the middle along the ridge, and 10 triangles make a five-pointed star.
The short sides rise to meet the center point of the star, in this case 2?”, which makes the short sides longer. The long side is the ridge itself, which also gets longer to raise the same 2?”. The side of the triangle that lays flat on the wall does not change. The length of the two variable sides can be determined by the Pythagorean Theorem, or one can simply draw the triangles that would determine the two variable sides in a graphics program and measure them.
Once the real dimensions of the five units of the star are figured and the metal is cut, the actual bending on a brake was simply done incrementally, until the height of the point was 2?”, and then four more were bent the same. Of course, being the material was only .063 alum, a little tweaking of the bending of any of the five points was easily done, but they will fit together perfectly only when the bending makes the center point of the star raised 2?”.
When the points mated together perfectly, they were firmly taped into shape on the front side. Then the star was turned on its back, and a frame I had made to fit inside, complete with slotted holes for hanging like a picture frame, was taped in place as well prior to welding.
Because our standard welder, equipped with an aluminum spool gun, is a touchy way to weld aluminum, and I am no good at it, the tack welding job back there was a bit rough to say the least, and none of my guys were around that evening to help the old guy. Oh well, good thing no one would ever see the back of it but me (and all my Shop Talkreaders).
Of course, where the five pieces came together on the front there were still fine “cracks” where they fit together, so a small amount of body filler was used to fill the cracks and then sanded smooth enough to make the star look like it was made from one piece of metal once the powder coating was applied. (Yes, “Bondo,” at least a light amount of it, can stand the heat of a powder coating oven, and when pre-heated before coating it will grab the powder just like metal does.)
The star and the circles the star fit in, as well as the letters accompanying that logo were specified to have a low sheen metallic finish, nearly flat. For this coating I chose a powder called “Anodized aluminum” by TIGER Drylac. (This does not mean they were anodized.) The flat finish was the right call by the architect because the area in the courtroom where they are mounted is lit by multiple small lights, and there would have been many reflections on polished metal. This low-gloss silver coating had a soft and dressy metallic look about it.
The other two sets of smaller letters were supposed to look like chrome to match other lettering in the hallway of the same floor that actually was chrome finished. We had no time to have these chrome plated even if we wanted to, and the architect was not adamant about chrome, but would take something close with a high gloss.
As a matter of fact, the same powder company makes a “chrome” aluminum powder, which is really for interior use only, and we had some in stock. These letters would never be exposed to the weather, so the imitation “chrome” would be fine and did look almost like the real thing, very cool, and it much impressed the designer.
Before going out in the field, we created and cut some templates from corrugated plastic, that could be taped in place and show us exactly how to place the lettering and logos with a minimum of measuring involved. These templates worked great on site, and eliminated almost any chance of errors in how the parts would be installed.
After the job was completed, it was nice to stand back and see the work we had done that now graced the wall behind the judge in our Gregg County Court of Law No.1. It was nice to know it would be there long after I am gone, a small token of affection from a local sign man who tried his best to stay out of the local halls of justice, except when duty called, and sign duty is a whole lot more fun than jury duty any day.