“P” is for Postnet
New Letter for Existing Sign
The sign at POSTNET in Grass Valley, California weathered the winter storm, but the sign had some damage—no surprise after ‘snowmageddon’. The Letter “P” fell off the sign can during a wind storm,
following the snow.
The new owner at POSTNET contracted with Solace Graphics to fabricate and install a new letter face. This was a custom fabrication project, as forms for this letter no longer exist. To build a custom letter, the first step is to fashion a pattern from the open face of the channel letter shape. Getting the letter pattern meant tracing a paper pattern fourteen feet in the air. From this tracing, the pattern was digitized, then printed on paper, and finally compared for discrepancy against the original paper pattern.
With accuracy checked, and double-checked, we were ready to cut the letter. Custom sign letter fabrication is often done with CNC cutting. Solace Graphics contracted with Custom CNC Arts in Grass Valley. Travis, the CNC operator, used his years of experience to perfectly cut the new letter face on his CNC router.
The sign’s face itself is made of red acrylic. Red is notorious for fading over time in the sun. This resulted in a slightly brighter red for the new letter P. This proved to be an economical fix, as making all letters match would require each letter to be custom cut and installed a costly choice.
The finished letter was cut and the trim cap was glued on. The trim cap holds the letter onto the channel letter face.
While I was enjoying the view, fourteen feet up, I took the time to carefully reinforce and re-caulk the existing letters.
Solace Graphics is proud to be a locally-owned and operated Nevada County business. We appreciate the small business and the choices that need to be made to keep a business operating. Solace Graphics always strives to provide the best possible solution at an economical fee. Many large-scale companies cannot take the time to repair and instead would recommend new fabrication every time. Solace Graphics respects the need to repair, renovate, and sometimes, refabricate for exciting signs.
Call us with your next sign project! 530-886-9966
