Posted by Tom Humphries on Tue, May 25, 2010 @ 11:30 PM
Face lit
channel letters are the most common type of channel letter. The light from the letters comes out of the front of the letters and is visible from long distances. During the daylight hours, the letters are not illuminated and are the color of the faces.
The face of the letter is made out of lexan (plastic) and is either colored material or has colored vinyl applied to the face. The color covers the entire letter face with two exceptions. With dark colors, such as blue, the human eye has difficulty seeing them at night and therefore, we typically put a small border of white around the blue to make it easier to read.
The other exception is black letters. Because you cannot get translucent black material, we use a black perforated vinyl on the faces. This has a lot of small holes in it. During the day the letters appear black; at night the light comes through the small holes in the vinyl and the letters appear white.
The letters are illuminated with either neon or LED lights.
The body of the letter is made out of aluminum and the side of the letter is called the "return." It can be the same color as the letter or is often painted white. The face of the letters is secured to the return with a trim cap. The trim cap can be the same color as the face or an accent color.
Some channel letters are individually mounted directly to a panel or the fascia (wall) of the building.
In this case all of the electronics are wired in behind the panel or wall. In other cases the letters are mounted on a raceway and the raceway holds all of the electronics and wiring.
Individually mounted letters take longer to install at the site because each letter has to be positioned, mounted, and wired one by one. Raceway mounted letters can be installed more quickly because they are positioned and mounted at the production facility and only the raceway has to be mounted and wired to the building. Your landlord may have sign regulations that specify how channel letters must be mounted on your building.
Face lit channel letters are a very visible on-premise sign that can really attract attention to your business. For custom channel letter signs in Austin, contact 360 Signs. We can help you with all of your commercial sign needs in Austin.
360 Signs in Austin, Texas can help you with a wide variety of custom signage. Give us a call at 512-442-2900 or visit us at
www.360signs.com.