Reverse Illuminated
Curved Water Tank Logo
US Smokeless Tobacco built a new production facility in Hopkinsville. This required a fire suppression water tank on site. The architectural drawings showed the company logo on the side, and USST wanted it to be lit and fit the contour of the tank. Another sign company the client had worked with in the past said the sign was impossible. They approached us, and we relished the challenge.
The Challenge
Our client desired a halo lit channel letter design of their logo, but they wanted it wrapped around a new water tank they were building. This posed a few issues. First of all, there could be no new penetrations in the tank. Second of all, the three dimensional sign had to fit a rather extreme radius at a very large scale, but the sign had to be built off site.
Architechtural Rendering
Tank Logo Day/Night Simulation
Tank Logo Project Drawing
Perforation-Free Mounting
When it came to avoiding making new penetrations, we discovered that we could make use of the existing bolts that hold the tank together. Using a to-scale print of the the sign, we were able to map out where we would make our anchor points. We were then able to manufacture and install custom brackets that would hold the sign in place before the tank received its final metal skin.
Getting Ahead of the Curve
To make the sign to fit the radius of the tank and do so off site, we had to get creative. Able to get our hands on the drawings for the water tank, we built our own duplicate of the curve in our shop using OSB sheets cut on our CNC router. This mock up allowed us to build the sign directly on the correct radius.
Back to Back Lighting
The halo channel letter eagle logo is backlit, and needs a good backer to provide the best look. We built a framed back to not only help with the illumination, but to assist in strongly mounting the sign as a whole. It was made of several sheets of aluminum, also cut on the CNC router. Then began the smoothing out body work and painting with our own mixed in house paint.
The Can Do
Our channel letters are made in house, and that was no different with this job. The cans were made with thick aluminum sides bent on our accubend and aluminum, CNC cut faces. We used the kerf cutting technique on the sides of the cans, and welded them back together for a perfect fit on the radius. This was followed by the same body-work and paint process as the back. Then the cans were mounted on clear acrylic with LED's and standoffs to create the halo lighting effect.
Wrapping it Up
The completed sign ended up so large it barely fit out our largest door turned on its side. After transporting the new sign to Hopkinsville, we were able to attach it right to our custom brackets, hook up the power, and stand back to enjoy the view of our client's new "impossible" sign.
