Mounting HDU letters

[scottbot]

Hi,
I've been asked to look at a job that consist of individual HDU letter. The letters will be 18" and 12" tall. The customer would like them to stand off the wall about 1".

I've done some research and have found sign sites that sell studs and pads but they all seem to be made for hollow plastic letters.

What do you sign experts do to mount letters proud of the wall?

Thanks in advance.

Scott

[joewino]

We drill holes in the back of the HDU letters, then install threaded rod with epoxy adhesive to hold them in place.

For the spacers we just cut 1" (or whatever the offset) pieces of copper tubing to go over the threaded rod to hold the letter off the wall. You may need to place a small washer over the rod where it goes into the wall if it's a rough rock and the holes are rough.

The sleeves could be aluminum, plastic, or whatever....as long as they won't rust.

[dakers]

There are so many ways to do that pending budget, maintenance issues. It depends on the type of wall.
Brick, corrugated metal, wood, stucco, etc.

For Brick we like to use the alum or stainless threaded rods from Gemini then drill hole in back of letter and pour in epoxy then put stud into the epoxy and let dry. This can be done using the studs that have pads but we never liked gluing pads to anything because of the mess when you take the letters off one day.

When we just use studs then make pattern and drill into wall it makes for alot easier repair when the letters are removed unless the wall is something not easily repaired like a stainless steel wall.

We buy the spacers from Gemini also.
We have actually used the studs with pads on both ends and glued the pads to the back of letters. it has worked so far because of light weight of the letters that size.

We have used a combination of the above. the studs into the wall to support weight of letter while the glue on the pads dried.. This eliminated having to tape the letters to the wall so they would not fall off while glue dried.

All depends on what wall is made of, temperature at time of install, etc.
We have attached letters to a separate background and put them up in one piece before also.

We try to use Gemini letters when possible as they are guaranteed for life and are less vandal resistant, no maintenance. but i realize that cant be done for Custom work.

[scottbot]

Thanks Guys,
Sorry, I should have mentioned that it is a wooden wall. Plywood I think. I just got an email on the job the other day and I haven't been to the site yet.
Dick, I agree about being concerned about the mess that the pads will leave when the letters eventually get removed. I thought it might work to screw the pads to the wall to minimized the damage when they are removed. Do you think that will work?

Thanks again,
Scott

[joe]

Scott,

My 2 cents:

You can purchase the stand off pads from Gemini Letters. There rather cheap but good. I'd attach them to the back of the HDU letters with GE Silicone 1 glue. Another advantage is their stud is 1/8" diameter.

When installing on wood, you can push the studs in your holes with no adhesive. It's amazing how well they stay in place. Like Raymond suggests, you can use copper pipe or plastic tube cut to 1" legnths. I'd try to talk the customer away from that much stand off. It won't look good. 1/2" is more than adequate.

How are you planning on making the hole pattern? Do you have a plotter?

[scottbot]

Hi Joe,
Thanks for the reply and the advice.
I've been to the Gemini site and agree that their standoffs look good and not too costly.
I've been trying to find a Canadian supplier but no joy so far. We Canadians can take a wicked beating getting things across the border. Although the added cost wouldn't be all that great on the stand offs it's always good to have a supplier in the same country.

Thanks for the advice on the stand off distance. I'll talk the customer about and see what he thinks.

No plotter for me. I was planning on using a heavy kraft paper, held down to the spoil board with vacuum and using the Bot to cut the pattern.
Bad idea??

Thanks again,
Scott

[dakers]

Scott, you could glue 3/4'' blocks on back of letter then use the vhb exterior velcro or your choice of velcro as long as it works to install letters. the velcro should give you the extra 1/4'' to get to 1'' space.

Or you can just use the threaded rod with 1'' tube spacers. you really do not need the pads but you would have to use glue.

there may be a hundred ways to do it and it all works and one is not any better than another in most cases. I just think in options.

[joe]

Scott,

Your idea of using the bot for the patterns is excellent. Not knowing the number of letters, you may not have enough room for a single piece. Anyway I think you could consider using CoroPlast. It's easy to put in place on the wall. With this product, you can take 1/8" bit and score the surface for the letters patterns along with the stud holes.

Good luck

[scottbot]

Thanks Dick.
I love the velcro idea. If I don't use it on this job I'm definately going to file it away for future use. I'll discuss the ideas with the customer and see what we settle on. I feel a lot better about the job now that I have a number of options to offer up.

Joe,
2 rows with 6 letters in each row. Good idea to use CoroPlast. It won't spend the whole time trying to curl up and knock me off the ladder like a roll of Kraft paper would. Thanks for the suggestion.

Thanks everybody. As always, the members of this forum have come through with a lot of great solutions.

Scott

[jerry_stanek]

I just use a piece of cardboard that I cut the letters out as my template.