Different shapes can be incorporated with this PVC system.

I guess I’ll start this article as I do a lot of my articles by saying something about how it was back in the “Good old days” when I started in the sign business. You have to realize that was a long time ago, just after dirt was invented. In all seriousness a lot of things have changed in 28 years. Some of you remember back that far and more, but for you newer guys and ladies I’ll tell you that when I started in the sign business there were nowhere near the graphic-ready materials that we have today. For example there were no pre-primed or aluminum laminated plywood panels. I had to buy raw plywood and prime and paint the board before I could apply vinyl letters to the surface. This was a slow and messy process that I didn’t particularly care for. The materials were fairly inexpensive, but what was gained in material expense was quickly lost in time and labor.

 

As suppliers saw a market for graphic-ready materials, companies like Nudo Products, Inc. and others came out with plywood panels that were laminated with vinyl and baked enamel aluminum faces. A lot of shops rejected these new products at first because of the extra expense, but when I accounted for the time and labor involved in painting these panels it quickly became obvious to me that graphic-ready panels were the way to go. I’m sure there are some sign professionals who still prime and paint their own panels, but I’m guessing they are few and far between.

 

Notice the tabs on the PVC panel and the corresponding holes cut in the posts on the table.

These plywood panels were most often used in real estate related signs, and required treated 4" x 4" posts to install them. Painting treated posts is another story all together. I used to buy posts in large quantities to stack and dry them enough to get paint to stick to them. Most posts I got at the lumber yard were “green” and literally wet. Posts that were painted when wet would start to shed the paint within weeks. Clients weren’t very happy with peeling posts.

 

I remember being excited when I first discovered PVC panels. Sintra was one of the first products I believe that offered sheet stock in different thicknesses and even came in colors in the thinner thicknesses. There was just something about those clean white PVC sheets that grabbed my attention. Maybe it was the fact that they were white through and through. Oh yeah, no more painting white plywood panels, I think that was the source of my excitement. I soon found out that these panels loved paint as well but alas needed no priming. These PVC panels were also very easy to cut and rout on my CNC router. I could cut letters in just about any typestyle and cutting shapes was a breeze.

 

Examples of this sign installed. Using PVC for the posts means that weed trimmers won’t take large chunks of paint off.

I guess the people who build fences had some of the same problems with painting wood that I did, and PVC entered the fence building market as well. PVC fencing was clean and white and didn’t need painting. Always looking to avoid the painting chore, it didn’t take me long to incorporate PVC posts into my arsenal. Since PVC posts were made for fencing, it was hard to find longer lengths. Eventually I had to locate a fencing wholesaler to buy longer lengths. Recently I bought 16-foot lengths of 4" by 4" PVC posts from Carolina Vinyl Products out of Grifton, N.C. I used these particular posts to cover treated wood posts that I used for street and stop sign combinations in an apartment complex. I painted the PVC posts black with automotive enamel paint and capped them on top with PVC finials. And now, if you really want the appearance of wood, Kommerling’s Komacel Plus Embossed is a new PVC product that maintains the functionality of PVC but with a faux wood finish.

 

One of the best applications of PVC posts and panels that I came up with involved cutting the panels on the router and leaving slotted tabs on the sides that locked into holes that I cut in the PVC posts. At first, I cut the holes in the posts by measuring and marking the hole locations with a pencil on the post. Then I used a drill bit with a large enough diameter and drilled holes at opposing corners and used a jigsaw to cut out the holes. This method still works, and if you don’t have a CNC router this can still work for you. Being a bit lazy, I eventually set up a way to have the CNC router cut the holes in the post as well.

 

The small copy is 1/2” PVC letters laminated to .040 gauge brushed aluminum.

Building signs with this method has its limitations. The ½" PVC panels are a bit too flimsy if you go over 48" in the horizontal direction. As long as your post is tall enough, you can support as much height as you want. Additionally, you can use treated posts as internal support or just to extend the length of your post in the ground. For signs that need to be placed out and removed on a regular basis, you can leave your treated post sticking out of the ground and place the PVC post over the wood post when installing. Simply run a screw in at the bottom of the post to secure the installation. One other benefit of this type of sign is that I can lift and carry the PVC post and panel combination easily because of the light weight. I also sell the lack of need for painting to potential clients. Ground crews using weed eaters will quickly remove the paint from the bottom of a painted wood post, but the PVC is white all the way through.

 

Addendum: I had been a reader of this magazine long before I became a columnist. One of the first things I read each month is Rick Williams’ column. We have both been in the sign business for a long time and have similar business experiences. In the May 2010 issue of SDG magazine, Rick wrote an article on laminating .040 gauge aluminum to ½" PVC stock and the trials and tribulations of this combination. I have been down the same road with the same experiences and was told that these letters were only good for interior use.

 

Letters have been cut from the laminated material.

I was fortunate enough to have Tim Suite at Express Signs in Cary, N.C., introduce me to a laminating film that bonds the aluminum to the PVC so well that it can be cut with the CNC router without the router kicking the laminate apart. I have found that this method of lamination is good enough to use both in interior and exterior applications. Tim uses Bobo 808 laminating film that he purchases from Piedmont Plastics. Tim is able to run the aluminum, laminating film and PVC sandwich through an Arctic Titan laminator from GBC. For July’s edition I wrote an article on LED illuminated reverse channel letters and in the same complex I did another set of channel letters that had some small sub-copy that couldn’t be done in a reverse channel method. I made these smaller letters from the PVC/brushed aluminum laminated letters. This is an exterior application on a south-facing wall, and I expect a long life from these letters. 

 

Until next month, go out and try something new.