What are Epoxy Resin Letters ?
Epoxy Resin channel letters are made of epoxy resin face, metal returns, and inner LED lighting. It is a common advertising sign used in shops, branding chain stores, front door signs, etc.
The appearance of Resin letters is similar to opal acrylic face-lit letters. What is the difference between them? How to make the perfect epoxy resin letters? What are the advantages and disadvantages of epoxy resin channel letters? In this article, we discuss more details about the epoxy resin letters.
How to make Epoxy Resin Letters ?
1. Fabricate the letters returns and base
Cut out the letters’ sides, based upon the layout, and weld to 3D channel letters shape.
The material for the letters is commonly stainless steel (Polish or brushed).
To get smooth and perfect letters with fantastic lighting effects, first, we use grinding tools to remove the rust and burrs on the steel surface. Then we need to paint white on the interior wall of signs to reflect the LED illumination to the face.
2. Install LED lighting
The lights usually use LED strips which are ultra-thin, ultra bright.
3. Spray painting
Polish the letter’s case, and spray paint on the side. More details about spray painting, please find in this article.
4. Pouring the first layer of clear epoxy resin
To avoid the epoxy liquid leak into the LED strips, we place an acrylic plate above the LED and use the glue gun tightly sealed.
Then pour the resin liquid onto the acrylic plate; the thickness of the pouring resin layer is about 20mm, and it stops flowing when it is 5 mm away from the top of the letters. As it is clear, we call it a light guide layer.
This layer reflects the light exposure at the bottom into the light guide plate to improve light utilization efficiency.
5. Pouring the second layer of epoxy resin
When the first light guide layer turns into a solid, we pour the second layer, called the diffuse layer, to fill into the top.
The formal is resin, curing, color paste, and leveling agent.
This layer diffuses the linear light emitted by the LED on the light leveling layer so that the entire surface of the luminous characters can be evenly illuminated, and the bright spots of the LED inside cannot be seen.
Pouring resin is a critical step for making the epoxy resin channel letters. During the operation, we clean the room, equip a thermostatic device, use a clean container for resin liquid, wear disposable gloves to work, and wear shoe covers too.
The pouring process should be done in one go.
6. Solidify
The resin liquid turns naturally into a solid in 4-6 hours at a constant temperature and 8-10 hours at an average temperature.
7. Clean the finishing letters and lighting aging
Clean the extra resin overflowing outside the letter’s sides and age the light source to prolong the letter’s lifetime.
Epoxy Resin Letters VS. Acrylic Face-lit Letters
Epoxy resin letters are a front-lit advertising sign letter, and acrylic front-lit letters are illuminated on the face too.
What’s the difference between them? We make a comparison of the aspects in the following elements.
- the appearance
- the performance
- the production cost
- the maintenance cost
| Sign type | Epoxy resin letters | Acrylic face-lit letters |
| Refer picture |  |  |
| Face Materials | epoxy resin | opal acrylic |
| Face appearance | flat and sealed well | flat, types of trimless and trim cap |
| Color | various colours, vinyl applied on the face is available | various colours, vinyl applied on the face is available |
| LED | Various colors | Various colors |
| Font strokes | thin strokes letters is available | thin strokes have a higher risk of being broken, and they have dark spots in the corner |
| Sealing | tightly sealed with epoxy resin | Trimcap less types will see the light from side |
| Face open | ✘ | ✔ |
| Product Cost | a bit cheaper | affordable |
| Install | Easy | Easy |
| Life Span | interior use, easy fade or change color exposed in the sun or rain | exterior and interior use, corrosion and oxidation resistance |
| Maintenance fee | Difficult to repair, as the resin filled in the case | Easy to repair, loose the grub screws and open the case |
Advantages and disadvantages of epoxy resin letters
Advantages
Versatility
Resin channel letters come in a wider range of color resin paste and LED strips, which brings various color appearance and multi-color illumination.
Two resin layers have different functions to diffuse the inner LED light, illuminating it brighter.
Smooth surface and excellent sealing
Epoxy resin has the lowest curing shrinkage rate, limited to 1%-2%. Therefore, the resin faces have stable dimensions, minor internal stress, and are not easy to crack.
The face is tightly sealed with a stainless steel case, with no trouble of light leaking from the side of the face and no extra resin parts visible outside too.
Suitable for thin strokes letters
If the corner of the letters is thin strokes, resin letter is a great option. The resin liquid can flow and fill the corner well, no matter how small the strokes.
While for the acrylic face-lit letters, the thin strokes have a higher risk of being broken, and they have dark spots in the corner.
Affordable production cost
Compared with acrylic face-lit letters, resin letters have a cheaper production cost.
No limits on the letter size
The regular size of one piece acrylic sheet is 1200*2400mm. It is only workable for large-size letters if we customize the suitable size acrylic sheet.
Unlike the acrylic sheet, resin faces do not limit the letters’ size and get beautifully crafted letters.
Disadvantages
Not suitable for outdoor
Resin letters are moisture-proof, waterproof, and anti-corrosion, but it is not recommended to install them outdoors because they will turn yellow under long-term sunlight exposure.
High maintenance cost
The resin face is solid with the steel case, and we cannot open the beginning easily like the acrylic face. If the inner LED is not lit, the only maintenance method is to remake a new one.
Take away
Epoxy resin channel letters have brought a new type of face-lit letters since 2008; the various color options, brighter led illumination, and beautiful appearance attract us to them in our interior signage project.
As a team of signage specialists, FT signage understands the epoxy resin channel letters-making process and international export rules.
All components of advertising signs have passed ROHS, CE, and UL certifications to assure quality and safety.
Welcome to take advantage of our custom signage supply service, and discuss further with us.
