Skip to content

December 16, 2014

Channel Letters and Brushed Aluminum

brushexample for channel letter sign

Channel Letters and Brushed Aluminum We have had many customer requests to give their channel letter sign returns a brushed aluminum look. A custom brushed aluminum surface can have an appearance like this:

TextureX Brushed Spin Aluminum Metal Texture Stock Texture_800

The procedure to create the circular brushing pattern is sometimes called “spotfacing” or “face milling.” Direct Sign Wholesale can certainly provide an appealing and presentable version of the custom brushed metal appearance.

However, for several reasons we cannot provide a custom brushed aluminum can for channel letters. First, that treatment would expose more of the return surface to the outdoor elements (spotfacing opens the metal surface to dirt and water trapping.) That could result in an accelerated weakening of the return surface.

This particularly applies when the letters will be mounted in a geographic area with high humidity. Another reason we cannot provide custom brushed aluminum returns is the labor required would have a prohibitive cost. Your customer would reject your proposal when they saw the letter set price using custom brushed aluminum returns.

This same principle applies to reverse channel letters. The letter returns and faces can be given a brushed aluminum appearance, but they will not have the “spotfaced” patterned look.

 

brushexample

 

Prefinished brushed aluminum coil at top, Silver metallic coil below The Matthews brushed aluminum paint is very similar in appearance to the prefinished brushed aluminum coil. For example, the channel letter below has brushed aluminum paint on the face, but the return is unpainted coil with a brushed appearance: metalliccomp So a brushed aluminum return appearance is certainly possible using one of three options. You may specify 1) prefinished silver metallic coil, 2) prefinished brushed aluminum coil or 3) have the coil painted a brushed aluminum Matthews Paint color. Any of these options provide an excellent brushed appearance without the expense and issues associated with a custom brushed aluminum surface.

Skip to content