If you have surfed on the Atlas Signs and Plaques website or seen our plaques online then it should come as a small marvel that our products are not solid cast metal. Instead of using heavy and impractical cast metal to make our signs, we employ a special process that allows for higher detail and more customization. So how, exactly, does one turn this into this this? Lets find out.

Your Sign Used to Look Like This

All of the beautiful signs we make stark their journey as boards of high density urethane (HDU). As you can see, these boards are not exactly the belles of the ball (yet). But there is hope for them; someday, every one of these dull, monochrome boards will turn into bright and colorful signs that will retain their luster for many lifetimes.

The first step on the journey is the boards’ meeting with the “Chuck” machine. Chuck is an interesting guy—his favorite hobby is chewing on HDU! One meeting with Chuck shapes the HDU into what they will be for the rest of their lives!

After going through Chuck, we then take the signs to the cutting board where they will receive incisions on their backs so that the customer can hang the sign or screw it onto some sort of prop. Here, Lou and Kelly are assuring that those incisions are lined up perfectly.

Next stop is the prepping station!

"Whale," Chuck Told This HDU

Plaque Mounted on a Ground Stake

It happens. A client orders a plaque mounting system that just isn’t compatible with the mounting surface. What to do? What to do?

Just email Atlas Signs and Plaques. Describe the situation, and send pictures. Send clearly labeled pictures. Send pictures from different angles. Send pictures that include a ruler or some other method for Atlas to determine scale. Send pictures that include the plaque. In short, give Atlas information to work with. Atlas can’t be there in person, so give information such as thicknesses, dimensions, and materials used.

Atlas will do the best possible to make it all work and save the day.

Here is the response from Atlas to a client that was having a mounting issue.

Aloha Vickie. Thank you for your compliment. It was our pleasure to create this plaque for you.

You selected our standard keyhole mounting system which may work with your rock wall either as-is, or with a little modification. Let’s talk about as-is first. We shipped the plaque with screws that are of a length suitable for smooth or slightly irregular surfaces. We often bore these same screws into brick or mortar using a 1/8 inch masonry drill to make a pilot hole. If you are able to do this on an area of your rock wall, it will be easy. I would suggest a bit of  construction adhesive around the screw head and between the sign and rock wall in places that will contact the plaque.

If your selected mounting area is very irregular, you might modify the above method a little by using longer screws. Spacing of the screw heads is critical and that is why we include a mounting template. But this is going to be difficult when using longer screws. So you might try getting longer screws and use construction adhesive to first secure the screw head into the keyhole hangars that are currently mounted to your plaque. You would then drill oversize holes into your rock wall and fill them with adhesive or a mortar mix intended for securing fencing to concrete or rock. What you would be doing here is roughly converting the keyhole method into the stand-off mounting system. This is illustrated on our installation page http://atlassignsandplaques.com/installation.aspx, This will approximate the stand-off method, but will likely not be as secure. Again, using adhesive where the plaque and rock touch would be a good idea.

These are just some ideas that are sent without benefit of being at the site, so we can’t make any guaranties about the method or our suggestions.  I realize that shipping is expensive, but an alternative would be for you to pay shipping both ways and return the plaque to us. We would convert to the stand-off mounting method and get it right back to you.

Errors and mistakes happen. If it the fault of Atlas Signs and Plaques, it will be corrected without cost. If the error was made by the client, Atlas will offer advice to help, or possibly modify the plaque to make it work.