Over the last few years, Atara Signs has developed new techniques and strategies for building oversized channel letters. Photos courtesy Atara Signs
By Dionne Greaves
This January, Atara Signs celebrated five years of operation.
During this time, we have gained valuable experience, and developed new skills and strategies to provide customers with quality channel letters. Our approach, techniques, and teamwork have allowed us to streamline manufacturing and delivery processes to better serve our clients from the retail, trades, and architectural sign industries.
We have found regardless of the size of the letters we are making—from our minimum sizing at 127 mm (5 in.) high to very large and oversized letters—the approach is always the same. We need to ensure they are well-made, esthetically pleasing, sturdy, durable, and well-priced, and they meet the production deadline.
When it comes to our team, having a general manager who is an experienced mechanical engineer is a valuable asset. Using input from other team members has also brought together ideas from a variety of perspectives—including our graphic designer, our computer numerical control (CNC) operator, and our fabricators and trim cap technicians. Our shop floor meetings, where we discuss progress and improvements, have kept us moving forward in our efforts to achieve and maintain the best-quality product.
Teamwork produces big results
Our general manager, Steven Taylor-Lewis, believes it is important for each person to understand the various parts of the process and the role they play within every project. He involves all team members in the production process, including office staff, who he will take to the shop floor to thoroughly describe and explain what we are working on and why production files need to be adjusted, or to give a different perspective for our quotations.
Over the last few years, we have had to develop new techniques and strategies to build oversized letters and have applied this team approach to challenges that were new to our manufacturing facility. It began when we were tasked with fabricating mid-sized, illuminated channel letters which were being installed in a wind belt. They needed to be able to withstand the constant force they would be subject to, so we had to come up with a design which included stronger materials and fabrication, to ensure the seams could hold up against more than the usual pressure. Soon after, a request came in for front-lit, 2.7-m (9-ft) tall channel letters.
Materials, supply schedule, font design and layout, fabrication and painting, and logistics and shipping all needed to be carefully considered. We used the same fabrication method for crane-mounted and wind belt letters as we did for the 2.7-m letters, which made them easier to assemble and allowed us to use more mechanical fasteners to increase their sturdiness.
Fabricating larger letters requires the setup of extra tables and surfaces for them to be worked on at various stages.
Close attention to detail is important throughout every project. For example, we quickly realized the font style of the 2.7-m letters was going to require some additional ingenuity, as the extra-sharp points at the tips of the strokes could cause weak points and cracked edges during fabrication, or shadows when the sign was illuminated. Some of the letters also required multiple partial cuts, as their width exceeded that of the 1.5- x 3-m (5- x 10-ft) CNC router bed.
After each stage of fabrication was complete—from preparing and painting the trim cap to assembling the backs of the letters to the sides, painting the cans, painting the raceways, and assembling the cans to the raceways—multiple people were needed to manoeuvre the letters around the shop for the next step in the process.
The large letters required extra tables and surfaces for them to be worked on at various stages, as well as multiple hands to do tasks such as sanding the different elements prior to painting and laying LEDs inside the channel letter cans.
The 2.7-m letter request came along with four sets of raceways (carrier boxes) per letter, for ease of installation and for running electrical cables. Putting this together required the raceways to be made in maximum 3-m sections, for simpler shipping logistics.
Teamwork was very important during the fabrication of these letters. We had to be nimble every step of the way, to ensure the highest quality and economic value for the product we were delivering.
