We’ve made many interior and exterior signs for the Chronic Tacos locations around Southern California, and even a few in Las Vegas and North Carolina. One of the first locations that they approached us with was in Valencia, which is just north of the San Fernando Valley, where we are located. We made them a compound channel letter sign for their exterior, and they also wanted an interior sign.
For the interior sign, we made a foam dimensional letter sign with acrylic laminate faces. The reason we use foam as opposed to acrylic or aluminum was that the client wanted the letters to be 1″ deep. We can make acrylic or aluminum letters from 1″ thick material, however, it can get very expensive very fast. Foam is a less expensive material so it is a good material option for inexpensive signs as long as the client does not mind that you can see the foam texture from the sides.
The foam was black, and the client wanted the letters to be white so the 1″ foam was laminated with white acrylic before the letters were routed out. We can paint the sides of the foam letters to match the face, but we didn’t think it was necessary in this case as the black sides don’t stand out too much. As black is such a neutral color, it creates more of a shadow effect and can actually help with the look of the sign.
When we installed the sign at the restaurant, we used VHB and silicone. The VHB alone isn’t strong enough to keep the letters up, but it helps keep the letters in place while the silicone dries which is what is actually keeping the letters up. We use this method often for signs that are not being stud mounted into the wall.