GB2436079A

GB2436079A - Method of manufacturing three-dimensional signage

Info

Publication number: GB2436079A
Application number: GB0605272A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Guy Satchwell
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2006-03-16
Filing date: 2006-03-16
Publication date: 2007-09-19
Also published as: GB0605272D0

Abstract

The invention relates to three-dimensional hollow channel lettering integrally formed from a single block of millable material and a method of manufacturing said lettering. The method includes the steps of: (i) selecting a block of material having a depth corresponding to that of the desired lettering; (ii) milling through the material to delineate exterior return surfaces 22 to produce an exterior profile matching that of the desired lettering; and (iii) milling out further material to define interior return surfaces. The milling process may be automated and may be controlled to define inwardly directed flanges extending from, and integral with, the interior of the return surfaces. Such flanges can be used to retain a transparent or translucent lens member which may be illuminated from within the channel lettering by known illumination devices.

Description

1 Three-Dimensional Signage

4 Field of the invention

6 The present invention relates to three-dimensional 7 signage, and particularly, but not exclusively, to 8 three dimensional hollow channel lettering formed 9 from a single piece of millable material, and a method of manufacturing such lettering.

12 Background of the invention * ** * * *

14 Traditionally, the process of making three-I..

dimensional hollow channel lettering involves the 16 manual assembly of multiple planar components to 17 make up a three-dimensional representation of a two- *:::.* 18 dimensional letter. The planar components usually 19 comprise front and back panels in the shape of the * *: 20 desired letter and side walls, kno as returns'.

21 The exterior return surface is the surface of the 1 return which forms an exterior surface of the 2 letters and the interior return surface is that 3 which forms an interior surface.

Whilst the term channel lettering' is used 6 throughout the description and claims, it is to be 7 understood that this term encompasses all other 8 types of indicia, for example, in the form of 9 numbers, symbols, logos, designs and combinations thereof.

12 Sign manufacturers use various materials such as 13 vinyl, acrylics, glass, glass fibre, wood, plastics, 14 MDF, stainless steel, mild steel, aluminium etc. Finishing techniques such as vinyl graphics, spray 16 painting, screen printing, gold leaf, polishing, 17 patina effects, sandblasting and shrink wrapping are 18 employed to provide the desired aesthetics of the 19 signage.

21 A known process for the manufacture of channel 22 lettering is as follows: 23 (i) preparating a three-dimensional model of : .". 24 the desired signage using 3D modelling software; 26 (ii) using appropriate software to map the 27 three-dimensional model into a plurality 28 of two-dimensional shapes; 29 (iii)using appropriate software to create, for example, a.dxf file of the two- 31 dimensional shapes suitable for use with 32 cutting machinery; 1 (iv) cutting the two-dimensional shapes from 2 flat sheet stock; and 3 (v) manually assembling the two-dimensional 4 parts into the final product.

6 However, such traditional methods of manufacturing 7 channel lettering suffer from several problems. In 8 particular, the manual assembly of the two- 9 dimensional parts is a laborious and time consuming task involving shaping or bending of returns and 11 riveting, gluing or welding them to the back panel.

12 The quality of the finished product therefore relies 13 to a great extent on the skills of an individual 14 sign maker.

16 There have been attempts to eliminate some of the 17 aforementioned disadvantages, for example, by 18 manufacturing three-dimensional lettering through 19 use of vacuum thermoforming techniques. However, such techniques impose severe limitations on the 21 depth of return or thickness of the lettering in 22 order to prevent colour loss at the bends and to 23 avoid reductions in the strength of the material.

: .". 24 Another major disadvantage with thermoforming techniques is that small scale bespoke orders result I...

26 in significant re-tooling costs due to the need for 27 new male and female moulds.

* 29 Accordingly, there exists a genuine requirement in lie.

the signage industry for an efficient and cost 31 effective means of producing bespoke channel 1 lettering whilst maintaining full design flexibility 2 and without the need for expensive re-tooling.

4 Suimuary of the invention 6 According to a first aspect of the present invention 7 there is provided a method of manufacturing three- 8 dimensional hollow channel lettering from a single 9 block of millable material, said method comprising the steps of: 12 (i) selecting a millable material having 13 opposed front and back surfaces separated 14 by a depth substantially corresponding to that of the desired lettering to be 16 produced; 17 (ii) milling through the millable material to 18 delineate exterior return surfaces and to 19 form a first solid intermediate shape having the exterior surface profile of the 21 desired channel lettering; and 22 (iii) removing material from said solid 23 intermediate shape by milling through one : . 24 or both of said front and back surfaces to define interior return surfaces of the S...

26 channel lettering.

28 Optionally, the step of removing material by milling 29 through one of said front and back surfaces is S's.

performed before the step of milling through the 31 millable material to delineate exterior return 32 surfaces.

2 Optionally, the step of removing material by milling 3 through one of said front and back surfaces leaves 4 the other of said surfaces intact.

6 Preferably, the step of removing material by milling 7 through one or both of said front and back surfaces 8 defines a passage between the interior return 9 surfaces.

11 Optionally, the step of removing material by milling 12 through one or both of said front and back surfaces 13 is adapted to define an inwardly directed flange 14 extending from the interior of the return surfaces at, or remote from, an edge thereof.

17 Preferably, the step of milling through the millable 18 material to delineate exterior return surfaces is 19 followed by the step of cutting through the lettering along a plane substantially parallel to 21 the front or back surface to produce a second solid 22 intermediate shape.

24 Preferably, the method comprises the further step of milling an outwardly directed flange around the SI..

26 perimeter of said second solid intermediate shape to 27 define a channel lettering base member.

* 29 Preferably, the method comprises the further step of Ii..

mounting the hollow channel letter on the base 31 member such that an edge of the return surfaces is 32 received on said outwardly directed flange.

2 Preferably, the cutting or milling operations are 3 achieved by the steps of: 4 (i) creating a graphical model of said channel letters by means of computer aided design 6 software; 7 (ii) transposing said graphical model into a 8 mathematical representation thereof; and 9 (iii) utilising said mathematical representation to control a computer numerically 11 controlled tool to selectively remove 12 material from said single block of 13 millable material to thus delineate the 14 desired three dimensional shape corresponding to said graphical model.

17 According to a second aspect of the present 18 invention, there is provided three-dimensional 19 hollow channel lettering integrally formed from a single block of millable material.

22 Preferably, the millable material is a composite 23 polyurethane material. S. ( I

Preferably, the millable material is polyurethane 26 foam. SI Cl

IS S * 27

28 Preferably, the density of the millable material * 29 falls within the range of 0.2 gcm3 to 0.5 gcm3. S 555 * 30 S * I

31 Preferably, the flexural strength of the millable 32 material falls within the range of 3 MPa to 15 MPa.

2 Detailed Description of the invention

4 The present invention will now be described with reference to the following examples which are 6 provided for the purpose of illustration and are not 7 intended to be construed as being limiting on the 8 present invention. Reference will further be made 9 to the accompanying drawings in which: 11 Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a base member; 12 Fig. 2 is a perspective view of a hollow channel 13 letter; and 14 Fig. 3 is a perspective view of a transparent or partially transparent lens member.

17 Fig. 1 shows a base member 10 in the shape of a 18 letter "T" (for illustrative purposes only) . The 19 opposing surfaces of the base member 10 are substantially planar. One of the substantially 21 planar surfaces 12 extends beyond the edges of its 22 opposing surface 14 to define a peripheral flanged 23 16.

* " 24 The base member 10 may be formed from a millable 26 material such as a composite polyurethane foam 27 material (described further below). Alternatively, 28 a soft plastics material, for example, foamed PVC 29 sold under the name Foamex may be used. In use, the base member 10 may carry illumination devices, 31 for example, light emitting diodes, ultraviolet 32 bulbs, neon glass, fluorescent tubes, 1 electroluminescent material etc. The particular 2 material of the base element must therefore be 3 selected in view of the type of illumination devices 4 used to conform to relevant safety standards.

6 Fig. 2 shows a hollow channel letter 20 in the shape 7 of a three-dimensional letter "T". The hollow 8 channel letter 20 is made from polyurethane foam 9 material having a density falling within the range of 0.2 gcm3 to 0.5 gcm3 and a flexural strength 11 falling within the range of 3 MPa to 15 MPa.

13 The hollow channel letter 20 comprises a series of 14 opaque vertical side walls 22 (known as returns') which are closed to define an internal void 24. The 16 open front and back faces of the three-dimensional ::::. 17 letter "T" define opposing front and back openings 18 26, 28 respectively. * SS

In use, the hollow channel letter 20 is positioned 21 on the base member 10 such that the returns or side 22 walls 22 adjacent the back opening 28 abut the 23 peripheral flanged portion 16 of the base member 10.

* 24 The hollow channel letter 20 may be fixed to the base member 10 using adhesives, by welding or by 26 means of mechanical fixings such as pins or screws 27 etc. Together, the base member 10 and the hollow 28 channel letter 20 fit together to define a three 29 dimensional shape closed at one end and having an internal void 24.

1 In an alternative embodiment (not shown), only one 2 face of the hollow channel letter 20 is open.

3 Accordingly, when the open face is positioned on the 4 base element 10, the combination of the base member 10 and the hollow channel letter 20 define an opaque 6 closed-wall three-dimensional shape.

8 Fig. 3 shows a transparent or semi-transparent lens 9 30 the shape of which corresponds to that of the front opening 26 of the hollow channel letter 20 of 11 Fig. 2. In use, the transparent or semi-transparent 12 lens 30 is affixed to the front opening 26 to thus 13 define a closed-wall three-dimensional letter "T".

It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art 16 that the signage components 10, 20, 30 of the ::. 17 present invention can be arranged to produce a 18 number of different visual effects, particularly * S..

19 when illumination devices such as light emitting : * 20 diodes, ultraviolet bulbs, neon glass, fluorescent 21 tubes, electroluminescent materials etc. are 22 employed. For example, when illumination devices 0*S* 23 are mounted on the base member 10 of the preceding 24 example, illumination of the transparent or semi-transparent lens of the letter "T" is visible from 26 its exterior.

28 Alternatively, if the hollow member 20 is mounted on 29 the base member 10 such that a gap is defined between the base member 10 and the edges of the side 31 walls 22 of the hollow member 20, light will be 1 additionally or alternatively emitted from behind 2 the letter "T" to give a silhouette or halo effect.

4 In a further construction, the hollow channel letter 20 may be aligned over a standard negative cut-out 6 panel and back illuminated via, for example, 7 fluorescent tubes. This arrangement could be used 8 with either or both of the front and back faces 26, 9 28 being left open.

11 It will be appreciated that the thickness of the 12 base element 10, the walls 22 of the hollow channel 13 letter 20 and the transparent or semi-transparent 14 lens 30 will vary depending upon the overall size and required physical characteristics of the 16 signage. * S. * 17 **

. 18 The channel letter 20 is formed into the desired **S.

19 shape by removing surplus material (by cutting or * 20 milling) from a single block of millable 21 polyurethane foam material. The term milling is to 22 be understood to encompass the removal of material 23 by passing a rotating tool over the material.

It has been found that SikaBlock M450 and 26 SikaBlock M200 are particularly suitable 27 polyurethane foam materials for forming the channel 28 lettering of the present invention since they are 29 easily workable whilst having high edge stability.

These are currently supplied in rectangular blocks 31 measuring (l500x500x50)rnm and (250x250x100)rnrn 32 respectively.

2 The method of manufacturing channel lettering is as 3 follows: a block of millable material is selected 4 such that its thickness corresponds to that of the desired lettering to be produced. The block of 6 material is then cut or milled to delineate exterior 7 return surfaces having the exterior surface profile 8 of the desired lettering. Further material is then 9 removed by cutting or milling through one or both its front and back surfaces to define interior 11 return surfaces and thus a hollow channel letter.

12 The step of removing material by cutting or milling 13 through one of said front and back surfaces can be 14 controlled such that the other opposing surface remains intact. Alternatively, the cutting or 16 milling step is continued through both the front and ::::. 17 back surfaces to define a passage between the *S..

18 interior return surfaces. S. **

* 20 It may be desirable to form one or more inwardly 21 directed flanges extending from the interior return 22 surfaces, for example to provide a shoulder for *5*S 23 supporting the lens 30. Accordingly, the step of 24 removing material by milling through one or both of said front and back surfaces can be controlled to 26 define such an inwardly directed flange extending 27 from, and integral with, the interior of the return 28 surfaces at, or recessed from, an edge thereof.

If it is desired to form the base member 10 from the 31 same block of material as the channel lettering 20 32 then this can be achieved by cutting through the 1 lettering along a plane substantially parallel to 2 the front or back surface. This step is preferably 3 carried out before the step of milling through one 4 or both of the front and back surfaces. A peripheral flange can then be milled around the 6 perimeter of the base member, the width of said 7 flange being adapted to match the thickness of the 8 return surfaces of the channel lettering. In doing 9 so, the hollow channel letter can be mounted on the base member such that an edge of the return surfaces 11 is received on, and is in general register with, 12 said peripheral flange.

14 In order to achieve high quality and repeatable results, computer numerically controlled (CNC) 16 machinery is used to produce the signage elements :.:::. 17 10, 20 and 30. This involves using computer aided 18 design software to create a digital graphic model of 19 the desired channel lettering. The graphical model * 20 of the lettering is then transposed into a 21 mathematical model which the computer numerically 22 controlled (CNC) machine interprets thus allowing S.' 23 its tool heads to accurately cut or mill the desired 24 three-dimensional shapes from the block of material in a single cutting or milling process.

27 Although the present invention has been described 28 with reference to specific examples, it should be 29 understood that the invention as claimed should not be unduly limited to these specific examples.

31 Modifications and improvements may be made without 32 departing from the scope of the present invention.

2 For example, surface textures or profiles may be 3 applied to the signage elements 10, 20, 30 to give 4 an added three-dimensional quality to their internal or external surfaces. The surface profiles may be 6 in the form of raised portions provided on the front 7 faces 26 or side walls 22 of the hollow elements 20.

8 The raised portions can be formed in a variety of 9 different shapes, for example, rounded, square, V-shaped or other more intricate configurations.

12 All or part of the walls 22 of the hollow channel 13 letter 20 can be formed from transparent or semi- 14 transparent (translucent) material in order to produce a silhouette or halo effect. Indeed, such a 16 construction could be utilised as an alternative to 17 forming a gap between an opaque-walled hollow member Se..

18 and the base member 10 as described above. The 19 transparent or semi-transparent elements 30 may be provided in a variety of colours and surface 21 textures. The semi-transparent elements may also be 22 provided with varying degrees of translucency. S... *S * * a * * S.

24 In addition to milling the millable material, laser cutting or water-jet cutting may also be employed in 26 circumstances where it is not important to control 27 the depth of the cut.

29 It will of course be appreciated that whilst the letter "T" is used for illustrative purposes, any 31 letters, numbers, symbols, logos, designs and 32 combinations thereof could be produced.

Claims

1 CLAIMS 3 1. A method of manufacturing three-dimensional 4 hollow

channel lettering from a single block of millable material, said method comprising the steps 6 of: 8 (1) selecting a millable material having 9 opposed front and back surfaces separated by a depth substantially corresponding to 11 that of the desired lettering to be 12 produced; 13 (ii) milling through the millable material to 14 delineate exterior return surfaces and to form a first solid intermediate shape * 16 having the exterior surface profile of the 17 desired channel lettering; and S..

18 (iii) removing material from said solid 19 intermediate shape by milling through one or both of said front and back surfaces to 21 define interior return surfaces of the *5S 22 channel lettering. S. * * 2 * S.

24
2. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the step of removing material by milling through one of 26 said front and back surfaces is performed before the 27 step of milling through the millable material to 28 delineate exterior return surfaces.

3. A method as claimed in claim 1 or 2, wherein 31 the step of removing material by milling through one 1 of said front and back surfaces leaves the other of 2 said surfaces intact.

4 4. A method as claimed in claim 1 or 2, wherein the step of removing material by milling through one 6 or both of said front and back surfaces defines a 7 passage between the interior return surfaces.

9 5. A method as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the step of removing material by milling 11 through one or both of said front and back surfaces 12 is adapted to define an inwardly directed flange 13 extending from the interior of the return surfaces 14 at, or remote from, an edge thereof.

16 6. A method as claimed in any preceding claim, 17 wherein the step of milling through the millable * S 18 material to delineate exterior return surfaces is 19 followed by the step of cutting through the lettering along a plane substantially parallel to 21 the front or back surface to produce a second solid S..

22 intermediate shape. ** . * 23 * S.

24 7. A method as claimed in claim 6, comprising the further step of milling an outwardly directed flange 26 around the perimeter of said second solid 27 intermediate shape to define a channel lettering 28 base member.

8. A method as claimed in claim 7, comprising the 31 further step of mounting the hollow channel letter 32 on the base member such that an edge of the return 1 surfaces is received on said outwardly directed 2 flange.

4 9. A method as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the milling operations are achieved by the 6 steps of: 7 (i) creating a graphical model of said channel 8 letters by means of computer aided design 9 software; (ii) transposing said graphical model into a 11 mathematical representation thereof; and 12 (iii) utilising said mathematical representation 13 to control a computer numerically 14 controlled tool to selectively remove material from said single block of * ** 16 millable material to thus delineate the 17 desired three dimensional shape **** 18 corresponding to said graphical model. ** ** * S * * .

10. Three-dimensional hollow channel lettering 21 integrally formed from a single block of millable S..

22 material. * S* * SI

24 11. Three-dimensional hollow channel lettering as claimed in claim 10, wherein the millable material 26 is a composite polyurethane material.

28 12. Three-dimensional hollow channel lettering as 29 claimed in claim 10, wherein the millable material is polyurethane foam.

1 13. Three-dimensional hollow channel lettering as 2 claimed in any of claims 10 to 12, wherein the 3 density of the millable material falls within the 4 range of 0.2 gcm3 to 0.5 gcm3.

6 14. Three-dimensional hollow channel lettering as 7 claimed in any of claims 10 to 13, wherein the 8 flexural strength of the millable material falls 9 within the range of 3 MPa to 15 MPa. * ** * * S S... * . S... *0 *S * . S * S S.. * S S...

S S * * *S