Channel letter signs are one of the most cost-effective signage options to promote your business, providing versatility, durability and custom fabrication to fit the specifics of any given industry.
Channel letters traditionally consist of three parts: face, return and back. However, many are opting to forgo trim caps altogether and just focus on creating beautiful letters.
Customization
Channel letter signs are an eye-catching way to advertise your business at the front of its storefront. Eye-catching day or night, they’re customizable to any proportions or branding guidelines and illuminated for 24-hour client awareness.
Illuminated channel letters can be customized with company names or logos for targeted advertising in high traffic areas. Plus, their more reliable than older neon signage without exposing your employees or customers to harmful chemicals!
Channel letters offer visual depth and texture that cannot be achieved with other signage options, making a more immersive sign experience than flat signs can ever provide. Furthermore, channel letters come in an extensive selection of colors, fonts, and transparency levels so they can fully conform to your brand colors as well as complement the overall design of your building’s aesthetic. Channel letters can also be flush-mounted directly onto its face or set back a few feet in a raceway for optimal placement.
Materials
Channel letters are metal (typically aluminum) three-dimensional sign products made of metal fabricated channels that feature LED illumination or can remain non-illuminated.
Channel letters are created using a CNC router from flat sheets of aluminum, with their back cut from this sheet and their sides formed or welded together – known as returns – into shape by welding or preforming to produce their cans, then either being bent over after welding to create the final shape.
Computerized Cutters(tm), a Plano-based CNC Router manufacturer, created an Accu-Bend(r) machine in 1994 that enabled channel letter plastic face trim caps to be attached directly to returns with minimal or no screws for superior appearance and cost savings. This breakthrough eliminated glue usage altogether and resulted in savings over time.
Installation
Channel letter products come in an assortment of fonts and colors to make them an eye-catching feature in any storefront. Furthermore, their illuminated nature adds another dimension that cannot be achieved with flat sign options alone.
Illumination options available to businesses range from front lit, back lit or dual lit; letters are made using acrylic faces with aluminum sides and backs for optimal durability; sides are held in place using trim caps to maintain an aesthetically pleasing appearance, protect from wind vibration damage, and ensure additional protection from wind blowback and vibration damage; new fabrication methods also enable trimless faces for a sleek timeless appearance.
Cost estimates for channel letter signs depend on multiple factors, including size and installation costs. Larger signs require more raw materials, lighting components and electrical wiring; their installation could require expensive special lifts or additional structural reinforcement measures.
Maintenance
Maintaining illuminated channel letters properly can extend their lifespan for many years. LED lighting components and bulbs will need replacing periodically to maintain bright illumination of each letter, however.
These signs are created using three-dimensional, custom fabrication processes that produce three-dimensional signs that feature any letter, number, character or logo you want. Fabricated from aluminum or plastic materials and outfitted with LED modules to light them at nighttime.
Signs can be mounted using various methods, including flush mount (attached directly to a building facade), raceway/wireway mount, and backer mount. A raceway mount contains a metal box for power supply and electrical wiring while backer mounting utilizes larger panels or metal cabinets with more architectural appeal to house channel letter signs – this latter option offers more architectural appearance to your signage installation. No matter which one is chosen for mounting purposes, all installations require permits that comply with local city codes and ordinances.
