We started talking with the people at Christ St. Peter Evangelical Lutheran School last December about so work they wanted to do with their signs at both campuses. At the east campus the discussions surrounded the projection sign pictured above (image 1). The sign had been in place for longer than anyone could remember. The message board consisted of acrylic trays that you could slide letters into to change the message and they really wanted to get away from this because it was so hard to get someone up on a ladder to change the message. We also decided to wait until after we complete the sign package at the West Campus, until that one day.
Image a Friday morning and you are sitting in the school office when a thunderstorm blows through. Lots of wind and thunder. A few claps of thunder you could swear were right on top of the building. But with one of the bursts of wind, it sounded differently. So you walk outside and realize that the sign that used to be 20′ in the air is now hanging by the safety chains about 12′ above the sidewalk and swinging in the breeze.
My crew was able to get onsite within a couple of hours to remove the sign that was hanging in the wind. The sign now was a priority. We brought the sign back to our shop to begin the process of refurbishing the sign. We started by striping the electronics (fluorescent tubes) out of the sign and disposing of the old acrylic faces. Once we cleaned out the internals of the sign, we sanded the exterior frame. We primed and painted the exterior cabinet giving the cabinet a new look. We also decided to weld additional support into the frame because there was only one cross beam holding the frame together. The light weight steel we used we welded to the top and bottom and side to side of the frame. We also attached saddle mounts to the side of the sign so we could attach the sign directly to the building. We also added exterior grade LED’s to the interior of the sign so it will glow softly, but very noticeably.
When it came to the faces we only use polycarbonate because it won’t yellow, crack or shrink. Plus, it gives us a very stable platform to mount the print to. At night, when the sign lights up, the purple glows and the red around the edges really stands out. It turned out beautifully.
If you happen to have an old light box that you would like refurbished, please give us a call. We can be reached at 262.289.9481 or emailed at info@optimumsignswi.com. We would love to help you bring some life back to your signs.
