Signs of the Times - October 2012 - (Page 28)

STRICTLY ELECTRIC By Ryan Kring Ryan Kring serves as sales manager for Burkhart Sign Systems (South Bend, IN). Sinking Your Teeth into It A dentist’s office sign gives passersby a lot to chew on. The owner of South Bend,Terry IN’s Mahoney Family Dentistry, Mahoney, contacted Burkhart Sign Systems regarding a new sign. I knew this was going to be a special project. Their old sign, a 3 x 6-ft., wooden, sandblasted sign, had started looking really weatherbeaten. He embraced the opportunity to not only create a new sign, but to completely rebrand his office with a new logo and invest in upgraded equipment. He kept repeating, “We want to make an impression.” So, we challenged our creative director to develop a bold design using iconic dentistry symbols. Mahoney provided us with a vectored logo, and our design department used a combination of CorelDraw X5 and Adobe Illustrator. The property is located within St. Joseph County, but not within South Bend’s city limits. The city maintains a much stricter sign code. The county permits a 300-sq.-ft sign that’s 45 ft. tall. Thus, we needed only a standard permit – no variance required. Tough enough To determine the proper letter visibility and sign height, we conducted a flag test. We covered the middle of a 4 x 8-ft. sheet of plywood and Terry Mahoney wanted to make an impression with a new sign for his dental practice near South Bend, IN. He enlisted South Bend’s Burkhart Sign Systems to replace its prior, nondescript monument sign with a unique pylon sign. To determine the appropriate height and letter size, Kring conducted a “flag test” – a plywood sheet clad with a vinyl “X” was raised to different heights to determine the best dimensions. adjacent roadway to determine the most visible height. Based on this test, we chose a 40-ft.-tall sign (which ultimately measured 42 ft. tall). The test also confirmed 30-in.tall letters would provide excellent legibility. You only have one chance to get it right. By conducting a flag test, we provided a professional solution that eliminated secondguessing. We contracted Productivity Fabricators to develop wind-load specs and engineer the foundation, which consists of a poured foundation and set, J-bolt anchor cages. Per code, the sign was rated to withstand 90-mph winds. We constructed the cabinets from 0.125-in.thick aluminum with our in-house Miller Regency 250, short-arc, MIGwelding system. Our shop cut the irregularly shaped panels on a MultiCam 5000 CNC router. We built the main support pylon from 18-gauge steel, and attached a stringer system, which comprises aluminum angle that distributes the wind’s force across the entire sign surface, instead of applying all the stress to a specific point. Giant cavity fighters The sign’s focal point is a 25-ft.-tall, LED-illuminated toothbrush. To con- placed a 30-in.-tall, vinyl “X” in the middle. Using our crane truck, we lifted the sheet to various heights. Mahoney and I drove down the A close-up of the toothpaste-tube cabinet, which measures 7 ft. 11 in. x 25 ft. 7 in. The shop routed the cap to replicate an actual tube. 28 SIGNS OF THE TIMES / OCTOBER 2012 / www.signweb.com Burkhart MIG-welded the “floss” cabinet from raw, 0.125-in.thick aluminum sheet and angle material. United Roll Form transformed round, aluminum tubing into the floss that’s installed within the cabinet. http://www.signweb.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Signs of the Times - October 2012

Sign of theTimes - October 2012
ST Update
Technology Update
Vinyl Apps
Strictly Electric
LED Update
Software Update
Technology Review
Technology Review
Sign Museum News
New Products
2012 Vehicle Graphics Contest
Entry-level Electronic Digital Signage
The Proposed ISA Reorganization Plan
Enter ST's 2013 Intl. Sign Contest
SGIA Expo 2012
The Value of Signs
Advertising Index
Editorially Speaking

Signs of the Times - October 2012