A - Z Signs

CHANNEL LETTER SIGNS

For many businesses channel letter signage makes more sense than traditional cabinet signs or box signs.  Like cabinet signs, Channel letter signs have a shaped cabinet often called a “sign can” that has dimension and depth.  It is made up of . a face, a back and sides. 

But the shape of channel letter signs can be more complex and unique than rectangular box signs.  Since faces can be cut and the cans can be bent to resemble nearly any shape Channel letter signs are often made to resemble letters of the alphabet.  The individual letters of each sign can then be grouped to spell words conveying a business's name, tag line or other messages

Channel letter signs are popular for their durability, versatility, and eye-catching appearance. You’ll find them often on retail storefronts, shopping centers, and office buildings. The unique construction allows for a variety of styles, colors, and effects, making them a viable choice for businesses attempting to stand out from the crowd.

If your business is considering channel letter signage look no further than Sun Sign Company.  As you begin the process of ordering a sign,   there are some options that need to be considered so that you’ll get the exact product you want.

Fonts, Styles and Colors 

Sun Sign Company builds custom channel letter signage shapes to match nearly any letter font imaginable.  In addition to words,  these expert craftsmen can also fabricate channel letter signs to pick up on a brand’s identity adding in elements of a logo,  like a star.  

Moreover, if you can have ANY shape you desire, it only makes sense that you can have ANY color.    Sun Sign Company can custom match vinyl, paint and powder-coating colors used on faces and sign cans to nearly any combo in the color spectrum.   In contrast, many of our competitors offer only a handful of fonts and colors from which you must select.

Size and Material Matters

“If there is a caveat”, says David Williams, owner of Sun Sign Company, “it would be this:  It’s difficult to manufacture channel letters smaller than six inches in height because the stroke of the letters becomes so small it’s hard to get machines inside to crimp, staple and weld the shapes together.” 

When asked how big can Sun Sign Company can make Channel letters, Williams answered with this.  “It’s not unusual to have requests for channel letters twenty feet tall or more on multi-story buildings so they can be seen from a far distance.  But, with that being said, most letters we fabricate are between one foot and three feet high.“

Considering the variety in size, Sun Sign Company doesn’t use a one-size-fits-all approach to its choice of materials. 

Williams continues, “While channel letters are almost always made from aluminum because it’s lightweight and easy to work with, and doesn’t rot or decay, on occasion, Sun Sign Company will use stainless steel where the returns need to be mirror polished.”

“But, it’s the thickness of the aluminum where we almost always part with our competitors.  Most sign fabricators use .040 exclusively regardless of letter size.  At Sun Sign Company smaller lightweight letters are cut from .040 aluminum, too.  But, when fabricating larger letters .080, .090 or 1/8th inch is our go-to.”  

Returns, which is a fancy name for the sides of the letters can be cut any depth.  “Three to five inches is the average,”  say Williams, “but free-standing letters and large letters may have significantly deeper returns.”

Trimmed or Trimless Faces

The traditional way of building channel letters is to use a molding to hold the acrylic face onto the letter can.  Sun Sign Company still makes some channel letters in this manner.  But more often than not Sun Sign Company builds a style of letter that has become known as a trimless face – a face that doesn’t use a molding.  

The molding is the weak spot in traditional channel letter construction because it is adhered with adhesive to the thin polycarbonate or acrylic face.  Screws, then, pierce through the molding into the can to secure the molding/face combo.  As the plastic gets brittle with age the adhesive breaks loose and the face can fall out or get blown out by gusty wind.   With the newer trimless style a much thicker face is used.  Screws thread directly through the can and into the thick polycarbonate edge of the face to fasten it directly to the can. 

Illuminated or Non-Illuminated

To illuminate or not might seem like a simple choice, and it is if no lighting is required.  But, if channel letters in your sign are to be illuminated would you want them front lit, reverse lit, halo lit or all the above?

Front lit would have LEDs mounted to the aluminum back panel of the letter facing forward so that the acrylic face of the letter would illuminate.

In reverse and halo lit letters, lighting is directed to the back of the letters instead of the face of the letters. The rear panel is translucent allowing light to pass and the front face is solid with no light passing through.  Reverse and halo style letters would have LEDs mounted to the inside of the letter’s face facing a rearward direction.  This light would reflect onto a wall or a backer panel causing the shape of the letter to be outlined in light.  Some halo lit and reverse lit letters use a backer panel to achieve even illumination when letters would otherwise illuminate onto an uneven brick or textured wall surfaces for example.

A letter built with both front and rearward light would have a separation panel in the middle of the return.  The front side of the separation panel would have front facing LEDs to illuminate an acrylic face.  The back side of the separation panel would have LEDs mounted to face rearward so light could escape through an acrylic back.

Mounting Options

Channel letters can be screwed directly to a building or installed using what i cas known as the stud mounted method where aluminum studs are threaded into the back of the letters which are then aligned and adhered to patterned holes in a building’s facade. More often than not, channel letters are mounted to the front of an aluminum raceway which holds the letters off of the surface of a building giving them dimension and allowing a place to hide the power supplies and wiring required for illumination.  Sometimes multiple mounting methods are used in a mix and match process depending on the construction of the façade on which the sign will hang.

CONCLUSION

If you are considering channel letter signage for your church, school, business or store front send a QUOTE REQUST to the sign professionals at Sun Sign Company to get the ball rolling. Energy efficient, durable, customizable signs are their specialty.