Xpressive graphiX: Lighting up the Sign Industry with LED Part 1

Have you ever wondered about the advantage of using Precision Board HDU with LED? According to Xpressive graphiX in Zanesville, Ohio, you can get far more creative with Precision Board versus a standard aluminum cabinet. Push-through letters can always be added, but it will be extremely hard to get something dimensional. The advantage of using HDU over a metal cabinet is that textures and dimensional elements can be added. To get more information and design tips, we talked to Xpressive graphiX partners David Mattingly and Tony Rose. Their company has designed and fabricated some award-winning illuminated signs using Precision Board HDU and LED components. Tony gave us the lowdown on a recent LED project they completed using Precision Board.

This part of Russo’s pizza paddle sign is 8′ x 8′ and 20′ tall when fully installed.

Russo’s Wood Fired Pizza contacted Xpressive graphiX to design their graphics, including logo, menu boards, wall wraps, and signage. They created three different dimensional signs, including two exterior (one on the building, one on a pole by the street) and one interior. This business is on a main street and wanted a 3D illuminated sign to really stand out and draw customers in. Another challenge was that the sign needed to be built over the existing structure of the sign for the previous business. Tony created a giant wooden pizza paddle design based on the size of the pole and kept it within the square footage of the previous sign at 20′ tall and 8′ wide. They left the existing structure, but cut the cabinet off at the top and used PBLT-15 as a skin on the front.

“We built a square cabinet and covered it in Precision Board to get the shape of the paddle. To get it to fit over the pole we had to make it sixteen inches deep. We mounted aluminum to the steel structure and then machined acrylic brackets for each letter and added them as mounts for the letters,” Tony said.

The lettering on the logo is white acrylic. The center logo looks like a cattle brand burned into the paddle, and at night, the center glows orange.

Xpressive graphiX also designed an exterior wall sign for the building, using cantilevered barn style lights. The sign was built on a frame with a smaller pizza paddle and backlit with glowing LED lights.

We here at Coastal Enterprises think these signs are incredibly creative and appreciate the work of Tony and his team. Xpressive graphiX is a full service sign company specializing in all aspects of strategic visual communication. If you’re looking for creative dimensional signage using Precision Board HDU and LED lighting, give David and Tony a call at 740-452-6804 or visit their website at www.xpressivegraphix.com to see the other types of sign work they offer.

Stay tuned in the coming weeks when we highlight another amazing LED project from Xpressive graphiX using Precision Board HDU.

How this Black Panther Clawed its Way through Precision Board HDU

We came across this great article in the May issue of Signs of the Times magazine from Mike Bethune of Bethune Signs. He talked about using Precision Board to create a dimensional sign for a Florida high school. When a storm destroyed the sign at the entrance to the football stadium, officials got in touch with Mike and asked him to make a new sign. They wanted it to feature a panther, the school mascot. He had designed the original sign in 1998 and wanted to make something this time that would withstand the harsh Florida weather. Mike used Precision Board HDU, a closed-cell, rigid substrate which would not warp, rot or absorb moisture. In addition to its durability, Mike really liked the creative flexibility of working with Precision Board as seen here in this excerpt from his article:

When I first designed the sign, I put gashes at the top so it would look like the panther was clawing at it, trying to get through. But when I was carving, I looked at the gashes and realized they, too, were missing something, so I added folds to make it look like the panther was bending the metal outward.

I reached a point where I knew something was off but couldn’t put my finger on it, so I asked a friend what she thought and she noticed it right off. I had the nose too wide, so I carved some off and sure enough it looked better, but something was still off. Finally, I noticed what it was – I had the top fangs too far apart. Now you might be thinking, “That’s a shame. He’s already carved the fangs where they are.” But this sign is made of HDU, not Italian marble, so I cut the fangs off, glued and screwed them back on, only closer together. I had the look I wanted.

Precision Board HDU is a great material for carving, whether by hand or on a CNC machine. Bethune Signs in Thonotosassa, FL can be contacted at (813) 982-2300 or through the website at www.bethunesigns.com. Great story, Mike! You can read the full article on the Signs of the Times website.

Columbia University FSAE Team Car

Again another really fun project with our friends at the Columbia University FSAE team. What an impressive group of students! Check out their site here.

We worked with the team engineers to create the molds for the cars body out of Precision Board HDU. The team then molded the carbon fiber panels. Once completed they sent us the panels for final finishing where our guys wrapped all of the parts in a black brushed metal vinyl. All of the logo and number decals were then created and installed.

It really turned out great -Congratulations to the 2016 team and best of luck!

Oh and thanks for the tie!

– Steve

Published with permission from KDF Custom Graphics. Source.

Wright Family Farm Sign

We were very excited about this sign. Our friends at the Wright Family Farm in Warwick, NY needed to replace an old sign on the main road in front of the farm. This farm has been around for over 100 years so we felt very privileged to be involved.

So we stepped in to help with the task by creating a new design that would incorporate everything they had to offer. Nanette jumped on the design and came up with a wonderful sign design that everyone was extremely happy with. Now we have to make it….

We had to come up with a way to get the background detail in while keeping the sign dimensional. It was very important to make it really stand out for people driving by. We decided to UV print the details of the back to dibond then mount dimensional letters to the face.

Peter takes the 2D artwork and converts to 3D in Enroute Pro. Then we are ready to carve the rest of the sign in two parts. we then glue them together with the hangers installed.

Off to the paint room where Holin will paint the sign with a latex a enamel.

A little bit of assembly and we’re ready to deliver.

Best of Luck with your new sign!

– Steve

Published with permission from KDF Custom Graphics. Source.

Drilling for an Eye-bolt

Drilling holes in Precision Board has many similarities to wood. However, there are some differences that should be noted. This blog will feature step one of two for hanging a sign using an eye-bolt. Here is a step-by-step picture and video guide to show you how to drill a proper hole in Precision Board to hang from an eye-bolt.