Connect with us

Product Buying + Technology

Channel Letter Fabrication

An overview of machine types, requirements and sample benders.

mm

Published

on

This flush-to-wall-mounted sign by Global Sign Co. (Tarpon Springs, FL) features 1/8-in. white acrylic faces, 5-in. returns, 1-in. trim cap and white LEDs. PHOTO: EMILY GREENE

WHILE THE ERA OF the mall seems to be dying (thanks Internet), boutique centers, strip malls, grocery stores and many other brick-and-mortar businesses are still being constructed. So as long as there are business facades, the need for channel letters will exist. Are you already in this business or are you thinking about it as a way to expand in 2025? Depending on the number of jobs you handle, it might make sense to bring the fabrication in-house. Let’s take a look at what is required to produce channel letters in your own shop.

The first thing many people think about is floor space. You will need space for the equipment, the steel coil and a finishing area to add the lighting, backing and face. Some bending machines are fairly small, almost benchtop size, but you will still need other equipment for notching and shearing the letters. Almost all of these machines will require shop air and you might need to provide 220V power. Make sure you have enough space, and be prepared.

Provided you have the space, the power and air requirements, what else do you need? To determine that, let’s talk about using an automatic bender to produce the letters. Pretty much the only manual interventions are turning on the machine, loading the metal coils, loading and initiating the job, and clearing the finished letter. Did we say finished? What you will have is an open-ended strip of metal — known as a “return” in the industry — that will need a base (where the lighting attaches), a face and edging strip to make everything pretty. Of course the ends of the bent strips need to be attached and glue is really not an option. You need to spot-weld, rivet or, by far the easiest and fastest, deploy a clinching machine that uses a die and pressure to stamp a rivet-like connection that holds everything snuggly together.

Base and space? Where do those come from? Hopefully you already have a CNC router. If not, you will need to budget for one. Generally you will use the same artwork for the letters to produce the base, the metal portion of the letter and the translucent face. Don’t forget that those take up a lot of floor space as well. The trim caps can be manually notched for installation or, as with the clinchers, you can get a machine that will use the original file and notch the end cap automatically. A few machines also produce trimless letters.

That covers the basics. From there you need to determine how wide a coil you want to work with, which determines the thickness of the letters. You’re really looking for the minimax such as 1 in. to 6 in. You also need to look at how many letters the machine can produce in a shift, with price and support as your budget allows.

All of this sounds complicated but skilled workers can come up to speed fairly quickly. If you are selling a lot of channel letters per month then it may make sense to bring production in house. The good news is that several machines can fit most budgets.

PHOTO GALLERY (6 IMAGES)

Advertisement

Advertisement

SPONSORED VIDEO

Mars Bravo: The Most Interesting Name in the Sign Industry

Mars Bravo is not the kind of name you hear very often in the sign industry — the kind of name more likely to follow, “Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to the stage…!” In this episode, Eric interviews Mars to find out about her start in the sign industry and her ideas for the future, first with how she got her name.

Promoted Headlines

Advertisement

Subscribe

Facebook

Most Popular