Design Toolkit

Explore

Pages

Channel Letter Details

Front-lit Channel Letter Guidelines

Last edited 879 days ago by Adam Doll.

Front-lit channel letters and shapes

⁠

⁠

Internally illuminated with LEDs.

White acrylic 4.5mm 2447 face substrate 75×100” sheet size.

Larger letters or shapes can use 7328 as the sheet size is 75×150”.

Letters over 48” high require metal trim cap clips.

The preferred smallest height is 8”.

1 ¼” minimum stroke width, 1 ½” is preferred to fit LEDs properly.

The letter backers are 6mm ACM with channel coil filler.

Letter coil for returns come in two widths 3 & 5”.

Finished letter depths with face and trim caps are 3 ⅜” and 5 ⅜”.

Largest channel letters and shapes recently built

Largest channel letters built -

22-3154_D02_R4_M2⁠

(74.5×107”)

Largest channel shape built -

22-3981_CL02_R4_M2⁠

(97×131.5”)

For this project, the face stock was roll stock polycarbonate due to the size.

Large letters and shapes require custom retainers routed out from flat aluminum, complete with welded sides. The size cannot exceed 101 inches, see

here⁠

for more polycarbonate information.

Trimless channel letters

⁠

⁠

Internally illuminated with LEDs.

Acrylic face is ¾”.

¼” sits proud of the letter and ½” sits in the letter, complete with hidden fasteners.

Standard return colours are white, black, red, and blue, but can also be painted to match any colour. Painting adds additional costs.

Be mindful of serif font styles as they can be difficult to manufacture and fit LEDs into.

Channel letters installed on a raceway

⁠

Standard raceway depth is 2”.

8 to 27” letters can be mounted to an 8” high raceway.

27 to 40” letters can be mounted to a 12” high raceway.

Raceways for letters 40” and up are determined on an individual basis.

The raceway example shown to the left is a bottom mount raceway with a ¼” aluminum reinforced back matching the letter shapes.

Channel letters installed on a full-size backer

⁠

⁠

Standard backer panel depth is 3 ⅝”.

Backers can be painted or have vinyl and digital prints applied to the background.

Allow enough clear space around the perimeter for best aesthetics.

Channel letter tip

The key limitations to channel letters are 8” high letters with a 1 ½” stroke width. In some cases the letter height can be a little less, with a 1 ¼” stroke width, but this is a good rule of thumb to stick to.

⁠

⁠

LED modules installed in a channel letter

⁠

Channel bending machine

⁠

⁠

(A) Illuminated acrylic face - 4.5mm 2447 SG

(B) 1” trim cap

⁠

⁠

The channel bending machine bends the corners and curves, plus bends a notched flange at the backs of the letters

⁠

⁠

Letter assembly. The notched flange at the back of the letters is pre-drilled and riveted together with the white ACM.

⁠

⁠

Face assembly. Trim cap is glued to the acrylic face and held in place with strong magnets until the glue dries.

Gallery

Want to print your doc?
This is not the way.

Try clicking the ⋯ next to your doc name or using a keyboard shortcut (

CtrlP

) instead.