Stone finish Signabond or other material?

[Scott Shepherd]

I was on a jobsite doing an install and the customer pointed at their sign by the street. Big sign, all stone with gold lettering. A couple of variations of colored stone. Really nice looking sign about 12" off the ground.

He looks at the sign and says "There's your next job, raise that sign up 18". I laughed. He was serious. I said "That thing must weigh a ton". He said "nope, it's fake, go look at it".

I've driven by that sign 100's of times and every single time, I thought it was stone. I walked up to it and looked under the bottom and it's an aluminum frame with aluminum clad plastic (one brand name is Signabond), and it's got a killer realistic stone look to it. Entire thing probably weighed 250 pounds.

He then said "Can you do signs like that, we can't find anyone who can do them?"

So, anyone seen this product with stone finishes before? I will say that the price he told me they paid was into 5 digits (which makes me stop what I'm doing and look into it ).

[Keith Outten]

Scott,

Check out Texture Plus, they have an extraordinary line of realistic foam based sheet materials including a huge assortment of stone and brick. Aaron just got their sample set, they even have bamboo and asphalt

www.textureplus.com

This was the material that ShopBot passed around at the Ed Lang's Camp in September.

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[Scott Shepherd]

Thanks Keith, I recall that material. Very cool stuff. I thought he said it was for interior only?

Here's a link to a product that looks exactly like what I'm looking for, but it's the Chinese origin of it. Not sure who distributes it.

http://yadali.en.alibaba.com/product...el_AE_113.html

[Joe Pelonio]

There are a couple of options. First is a high quality faux finish job. I have a wholesale customer that's great at this, creating a stone, marble, or even rust look on that dibond type material.

The other thing that was available is specialty films. Just the same as the sign vinyl we cut on the plotter but made to look like something else, including stone. I have used the Mica Grey and Green Granite by Sparcal or Avery. Whether they still make it, I don't know. Some distributors you could check with are Beacon Graphics - 800 762-9205 andAdvantage Sign Supply 800-975-9441.

[Keith Outten]

Scott,

I have their business brosure, Texture Plus is;

Perfect for indoor or outdoor use
Impervious to moisture
Works in all climates
Impervious to insect attack
UV protected
High density polymer
Outlasts wood products

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[Scott Shepherd]

Thanks Joe and Keith. I'm looking for exactly what's in the link I posted. It would have to match the other signs in that office park. No room for creativity on this one.

I'll have to order up a sample pack from those people though. I do recall how incredible the stuff looked. How much was the sample pack and how many samples are in it?

[Keith Outten]

Scott,

You can order a free sample pack or pay $50.00 for a larger set which is well worth the money if you think you will be using their material in the future. Aaron received a box of 65 samples that was probably 24" square and 15" deep. Each piece was approximatly 8" square I think, some were larger. The free samples are 6" by 7" and the deluxe showroom sample pack is $189.00.

Every sample piece looked absolutely real...very cool stuff.

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[Scott Shepherd]

I'm still tracking this down, but found one brand name that appears to be the close to what I'm looking for. It's called AlumaPlastic. Anyone ever seen it? Googling it comes up fairly empty except a couple of sign companies who use it.

Here's a photo of the color chart listed on one of those sites that shows the product, so I know it's out there!