Electric Wall Sign

[wcsg]

So here's a cool lil sign I did recently for a same group of bar/restaurant owners that I do work for.

This is a renovation of an old building where we removed the old 16 year old exterior signs and neon to start anew. This time I also used pure 100% aluminum instead of the jet plate galvanized metal for the sign body and letters. Which also meant it was mainly routed out on the CNC and not so much fabrication by hand. It haas it's +'s and -'s. I like hand fabrication.....call me old fashion. But all the holes to line up this time around!


Early fab pic
http://www.thesignsyndicate.com/miscstuff/jobs/Bubs/bubs-1.JPG

http://www.thesignsyndicate.com/miscstuff/jobs/Bubs/bubs-2.JPG


One thing was for sure, it was a LOT lighter this go around!
http://www.thesignsyndicate.com/miscstuff/jobs/Bubs/bubs-3.JPG


Fresh after painting with Matthews. I didn't get as many pics this time around for this job like I usually do, I was just so damn busy juggling so many hats.
http://www.thesignsyndicate.com/miscstuff/jobs/Bubs/bubs-4.JPG

[wcsg]

Now starting assembly. .090 rear open face channel letter reflector for halo lighting as well as making the the red letters punch from the dark background by giving it some contrast. The smaller FCO's for the Neon background on the smaller cabinet are .063 aluminum. Also pictured are the Porcelain 200 Housings for the 18mm FMS BL6500 CCFL Lamps, or Neon!
http://www.thesignsyndicate.com/miscstuff/jobs/Bubs/bubs-5.jpg


and of course this sign is powered by the beastly bullet proof magnetic transformers which are 100% copper and HEAVY suckers! Makes my forearms cry just looking at them!
http://www.thesignsyndicate.com/miscstuff/jobs/Bubs/bubs-6.JPG


One thing I wanted to do was mix a little LED with Neon.

Stop it, they do mix well!

From the Sign Syndicate test comparison "Blue Light Special", I chose to use NC LED's constant current blue series to give the open face channel letters a nice lil blue halo lighting.
http://www.thesignsyndicate.com/miscstuff/jobs/Bubs/bubs-7.jpg

http://www.thesignsyndicate.com/miscstuff/jobs/Bubs/bubs-8.jpg

[wcsg]

And of course the NC LEDs are powered by the military grade 90-277v Axiom LED 60 Watt Power Supply
http://www.thesignsyndicate.com/miscstuff/jobs/Bubs/bubs-9.jpg


All assembled and ready to load up, Kgirl taking the rear!
http://www.thesignsyndicate.com/miscstuff/jobs/Bubs/bubs-10.jpg


Getting this wall sign craned up
http://www.thesignsyndicate.com/miscstuff/jobs/Bubs/bubs-11.JPG


My Sexretary and Lead Project Manager checking up on us to see if all is going well as well as cracking the whip over us!
http://www.thesignsyndicate.com/miscstuff/jobs/Bubs/bubs-12.JPG

[wcsg]

Mixing in some wet location Masters Technologies Boots and sleeving for the open face channel letter FMS 12mm Ruby Red Neon lamps
http://www.thesignsyndicate.com/forums/uploads/monthly_10_2014/post-3-0-00980100-1413931953.jpg


Porcelain Trasnco To Go TC-200 Housings and brass FMS Neon tube supports
http://www.thesignsyndicate.com/miscstuff/jobs/Bubs/bubs-15.JPG


Some derelict we found wandering on the roof, he claimed he knew how to install Neon so we hired him for the day. He was cheap labor, not sure if he was legal help but he was cheap!
http://www.thesignsyndicate.com/miscstuff/jobs/Bubs/bubs-16.JPG


Go figure, everything lined up, everything went smoothly, but one damn unit was just an inch too long...Damn Neon benders! Of course, something has to go wrong on an easy day!
http://www.thesignsyndicate.com/miscstuff/jobs/Bubs/bubs-17.JPG

[wcsg]

The next day. Now I just owe you a day shot!
http://www.thesignsyndicate.com/miscstuff/jobs/Bubs/bubs-18.JPG


Final Night Shot
http://www.thesignsyndicate.com/forums/uploads/monthly_10_2014/post-3-0-15391800-1414627921.jpg



In the end to summarize the job, it went fairly smoothly from fabrication to installation. I really like the FMS Neon Rich Blue which is the equivelant to EGL's Horizon Blue, for all parameter and interior border tubing we went with a big fat 18mm, the interior horzontal white is FMS Neon's BL6500 Tri-Triphosphor white. The open face channel letters are FMS Neon's Ruby Red, which looks similarly to Tecnolux's Ruby Red. "Bar & Grill" is a 12mm version of the tri-phosphor white.

Gotta love the lighting, good ol Red, White, & Blue!

Annual cost of operation of left on 8 hours a day? $221.00



Electric Wall Sign Recipe:

• Transco UNT Tanks magnetic variable secondary transformers, 2 9kv, 2 - 15kv units
• 14 AWG Silicone GTO
• Masters Technologies Wet Location Boots & Sleeving
• Porcelain TC-200 housings
• FMS Neon 12mm Ruby Red
• FMS Neon 18mm Rich Blue
• FMS Neon 18mm, 12mm BL6500 Tri-Phosphor White
• NC LED's Constant Current .48 watt blue LED Modules
• Axiom LED's Military Grade 60 watt 10.5 to 15v variable LED Power Supply
• Federal Bushings
• FMS Neon Brass Tube Supports

[bobmoore]

Most of the electric stuff is outside my range of knowledge but an impressive post. Bob

[Justin G]

I have frequented that establishment and the one downtown more times than I can count. What a small world. I was going down the post and thought how funny it was that the sign looked like it said Bub's. Hilarious, great job! Didn't know there were any other botters out my way.

[wcsg]

Thanks guys!


That is funny!

It is a small world, but actually quite a few of us here in San Diego ( I know a couple). Good to know of another in case I need help, haha. If you're at the downtown Bub's I did the Moonshine Flat's, Lucky's Lunch Counter right across the street too (All same ownership/partnership), oh and the interior Downtown Bub's Neon signs too.

[garyr6]

Nice work.

[David Iannone]

Thanks for posting That looks great.

Dave

[mtylerfl]

What a great post - a step-by-step process and I love that! Almost everything you itemized, I don't have the slightest clue about, but you did a wonderful job showing us a professional electric sign creation and installation process! Thank you for including us on this journey.

[johnh]

Great post.. Thanks so much for sharing. I travel to SD occasionally and will someday soon get a close up view of your fantastic work. Very very nice!
We gave up channel letters years ago because of our local UL rep and me having difficulty in understanding what their requirements were. They had me so paranoid I got to where I would only build standard acrylic or poly faced internally illum channel letters mounted to a raceway. I admit it was mostly my fault for not understanding their requirements but our local inspector SUCKED and would never offer assistance, suggestions, etc.. he just stepped in and clocked himself in hoping for a nice fat invoice as a result.

We built ours this way because they could leave the shop fully assembled and labeled with a simple installation sheet, satisfying our inspector. I noticed your beautiful display obviously required some fairly substantial field assembly, multiple lighting sources (both exposed neon and LED halo). Did any of this pose any issues in dealing with UL?

I don't want it to get too far off the shopbot topic but I really would like your take on these matters.

[wcsg]

Thank you again everybody, these jobs are always fun to do and it is more hobby than work for me.

John,

UL has become a big pain lately over the years and UL is known for straying off the OSHA standards that they are required to abide by. You should try another laboratory called "MET Labs", they are the equivalent, but they stick closely to the standards and less regulatory. UL has become a profit farm with their multiple webinars and constant subscriber updates coupled with standards of their own that aren't apart of OSHA.

Everything you see is listed in the SAM and used in it's proper form. Not very many options for wet location Neon these days sadly, mainly just 200 housings and caps for the moisture and wet location masters technologies sleeving, boots & caps. LEDs, well their IP68 and all connections for wet as well.

There is a good book out there to help. Look up the Neon & LED Installation Manual http://neoninstallationguide.com/

It has some good examples and CAD drawings you can import to include with your shop drawings for permitting, and it's a wonderful reference that sites NEC codes. There are a few books out there but this is one of the good ones. If you have any questions regarding code always feel free to stop by http://www.thesignsyndicate.com/ and ask. We have plenty of knowledgeable individuals of the electric sign trade that can answer. UL reps should be pretty helpful to you, if not, you should pop a question to someone above their head like their supervisors. They have lost a lot subscribers to MET because of their cocky sometimes obnoxious attitudes, and their higher ups don't like that. So this is why UL lately has had a PR run to get back some of their lost subscribers. Their no longer the only option out their, they know that so their trying their best to be more "humble".