Mod Pod

 Here's the completed sign, lit up at night. It sits up on a rigid awning, above the sidewalk.

The acrylic letters push through a stainless border and are illuminated with 3 strips of waterproof LED's.

All the parts of the sign are connected to this piece of 1/4" plate aluminum. It holds it all together. It measures 8' wide by about 3' tall. This and the stainless outlines of the letters were cut out on a cnc laser machine. In this photo I've been random orbit sanding with various grits and am finishing the last course with a green abrasive scrubber stuck to the sander.

I've multiplied out their logo to create a wallpaper pattern of it. Then cut it from thin light blue sandblast mask on my plotter.

Tim Foley is an excellant metalsmith and artist. He does my welding and helps with metal fab as needed. Here he's sandblasting the design into the aluminum. He welded all the 2" aluminum angle on this project.

After blasting, I trucked all the aluminum parts up to Portland to have them anodized clear. Nobody local could handle a piece that large.

The effect is gorgeous. It shimmers and makes for some very sexy light play.

                                                   
Here's a 2" welded aluminum frame that is bolted to the face plate. These bolts will be the only visible fasteners from the front. Temporarily clamped to this frame are 2 right angle support brackets. Inside the frame is a 1" x 8" x 1" 'C' shaped pan sidewall that holds an aluminum sheet backing that holds the 3 strips of LED's.

This is my good friend Dan Johnson (cousin Dan) from Advanced Environmental Systems. He's an HVAC guru and licensed to do low voltage electrical work. He's wiring the LED's to the power supply. He's one of my skiing buddies and likes to go really fast.

Looking through the cutouts to my easel in the background. Around the perimeter of the cutouts you can see the pop rivets that attach the sides of the aluminum cabinet. The pilot holes for these were placed in my design software and pierced with the cnc laser. When finished they will be hidden with the stainless trim around the letters.

Here's the cnc router I use at HyTek Plastics. It will handle 5' x 10' material. I sure wish it was mine. The owner and programmer's name is Morris Coville. He pretty much does perfect work for me.

It's cutting out the white acrylic letters. They are 3/8" thick. The sides are cut 1/4" down with a 1/2" wide flange that is 1/8" thick.

This flange is adhered to the stainless outline with silicone. Note the small 'islands' of stainless that go inside the O and D. Care must be taken that they don't get mixed up with the trash. Translucent red vinyl is cut on my plotter and 'stickered' to the white letters.

Silicone adheres the stainless to the aluminum back. There's also a stainless tab that goes in that aluminum slot. This physical attachment gives great peace of mind.

The backside.

Here's Paul Buchheit (father and husband of the owners) and myself performing the install.

Sweet installation!!  The 2 aluminum 'C' channel lengths are bolted to the structural members inside the marquee. The 2 support brackets adjust back and forth, left and right. The rectangular frame that is pre-bolted to the sign face adjusts up and down between the brackets. We had all connections clamped together while we made sure we were happy with the placement. Then we drilled and bolted away.

The finished storefront. There is aluminum diamond plate in a layer behind the sign face that relates to the front door and the kick plates inside the door alcove. There is a small 'blade' sign under the marquee. It was fabricated along with this project. There is also vinyl graphics banding the lower windows for pedestrians that never look up.