Installing channel letters has become a typical job in many sign shops, but that doesn’t mean shops still can’t learn new techniques here. Sign installers and suppliers offer some advice on the best ways to get letters to the job site and in place.
对于大部分的标识商店来说，安装槽形发光字是他们最为得心应手的工作，但这并不意味着标识商店的员工就无法从中学习到一些新的技术了。在本篇文章中，标识安装人员和标识供应商就为如何将标识安全地运送到施工现场和如何对标识进行安装提供了一些非常好的建议。

Proper Preparation
适当的预先准备
Whether this is a shop’s one hundredth channel letter install or its first, there are some things to always check on before heading out to the site.
一个标识商店无论是拥有丰富的安装经验还是第一次学习标识安装，在前往现场之前总需要对一些事情进行检查，做好提前的准备工作。
And that preparation begins as early as the initial site survey and the bidding process. “It is all about the survey and being prepared from the start. What is the substrate? What are the landlord specifications? Are you talking about a flush mount or a raceway mount?” says John Lewis, president of Direct Sign Wholesale in Denver, Colorado. “how thick is it? Is there crawl space?”
科罗拉多州丹佛的Direct Sign Wholesale总裁John Lewis说：“从一开始的现场调查和投标过程就应该开始做好标识安装的准备工作。从一开始就做好相关的调查和准备工作是非常重要的。你需要了解清楚标识的制作材料是什么？标识的规格是什么？是使用嵌入式的方式安装还是使用轨道安装的方式安装？发光字的厚度是多少？有供电线或是水管通过的凹槽空间吗？”
Those questions, along with what type of access and power is available, are important ones to answer before quoting or bidding on a job.
以上这些问题以及标识的使用权限和电源如何使用，在竞标标识安装工作之前是非常有必要了解的。
Oftentimes landing a job or making a profit from one a shop already has acquired comes down to price. Properly assessing the time and labor needed for a job and how that translates into a price will get a shop started off right. “The mistakes that are usually made here are in the bidding process, not necessarily in the installation,” says Lewis. “If you do not account for enough time for the install, you can lose money real fast on a channel letter job.”
通常，从一家商店已经获得的一份工作或赚取利润都归结为价格。为了使商店能够正常运转，我们需要正确评估工作需要花费的时间和如何将劳动力成功转化为利润。Lewis说：“比起标识安装的过程，招标的过程中就往往很容易犯错。如果你安排给标识安装的时间不够充分，那么在发光字项目中你很容易赔钱。”

Site inspections should also include a look at the entire area. “Installers need to survey the location of the installation,” say Dave Soulsby, owner & president, and Steve Ehmann, production manager, at Central Graphics in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. “Consider the affects of climate on the letters.”
俄亥俄州凯霍加福尔斯Central Graphics公司的总裁Dave Soulsby和产品经理Steve Ehmann都认为，安装人员需要对发光字的安装区域进行检查，并需要考虑到气候对于发光字的影响。
Another important part of the survey is measuring. Referring to a blueprint (if one is available) is helpful, but an installer can and should take his own measurements, as well. “The old adage ‘measure twice, cut once’ applies,” says Lewis.
调查还有一个重要的部分是测量。参考蓝图（如果有的话）能为你提供帮助，但安装人员也可以自己进行测量。Lewis说：“俗话说‘做好充分的准备，再付诸行动’。”
Knowing the overall dimensions of the fascia is also helpful. “Many cities have stipulations in the sign code. For example, a sign can only occupy 70 percent of the available space it is on,” says Michael McClure, service manager at Arrow Sign Company in Oakland, California. “It is important also for the permitting process to have that be correct.”
了解标识的整体尺寸也会对你的工作提供很大的帮助。加利福尼亚州奥克兰市Arrow Sign公司的服务经理迈克尔·麦克卢尔说：“许多城市对于标识尺寸都有所规定。例如，标识最多只能占据其可用安装空间的70％。保证项目施工的进程不出现失误也是非常重要的。”
Sure a thorough site survey may take time, but it is time an installer will save later on. “If you put forth just a little bit of time and effort on the front end, it does tend to make things go a lot better on the back end,” says McClure.
当然，进行彻底的现场调查可能需要一些时间，但是它能够帮助你节省事后安装的时间。麦克卢尔说：“如果你在前期投入的时间和精力越多，那么你后期就会更加轻松，事情也会往好的方向发展。”

Transporting Tips
运输技巧
Once the letters are fabricated, transporting them to the job site without jostling, scratching, or denting them can seem like a daunting task. Luckily transportation is not as difficult as it was when channel letters primarily used neon (which included fragile, glass tubes that broke easily). LEDs may be a hardier illumination source, but some of the materials used to make the letters still require care. For example, acrylic faces can be susceptible to some breakage, and brushed aluminum can easily be scuffed or marred.
一旦发光字制作完成，我们现在就需要想办法把它们完好地运输到现场，运输过程中要保证标识不会出现碰撞、划伤或是凹陷的情况，这看起来是一项艰巨的任务。值得庆幸的是，运输发光字比过去运输霓虹灯（包括其中易碎的玻璃管）要方便很多。LED或许是一个强大并且耐用的照明光源，但一些用于制作发光字的材料仍需要我们去小心对待。例如，使用亚克力做表面材料时很容易发生破裂，而拉丝铝的表面则很容易磨损或损坏。
The key is in proper packaging. “Whether an installation is local or requires long travel, the slightest shift of materials could be a costly result so taking the extra time to protect your letters is very important. Wrap the letters in plastic bubble wrap and cardboard and then use plastic shrink wrap to hold it all together,” says Soulsby. “I see a lot of companies that do not want to spend the extra money and time in wrapping up their product to transport it, and [this] ends up costing more in the long run.”
对运送的标识进行适当的包装十分关键。Soulsby说：“无论是在本地安装还是需要进行长途的运送，哪怕运输材料的过程中有多么的谨慎，也难免会出错，此时你很可能要为这个错误付出高昂的代价，因此做好对需要运输的标识的保护工作就显得十分重要了。你可以使用塑料泡沫和纸板将标识包裹好，然后用塑料收缩包装将它们全部固定在一起，我知道很多公司不想花费额外的金钱和时间在运输产品之前进行包装工作，但从长远来看，如果你不这么做的话，日后可能会花费更多的金钱。”

Installation Instructions
安装说明
When the letters arrive safely onsite, an installer should be sure to take his time. “Avoid being in a hurry to complete an installation because drilling or adhering letters is a permanent process and the slightest miscalculation could result in a poor-looking result,” says Ehmann. “I also recommend checking your measurements multiple times and performing a ‘dry fit’ of your letters before final installation to ensure your results appear the way you had planned.”
当标识被安全运送到现场之后，安装人员也要把握好标识安装的时间。Ehmann说：“尽量避免匆忙完成安装工作，因为钻孔或粘贴标识是一个永久性的过程，最轻微的错误计算可能会导致标识无法呈现最佳的效果。我还建议你在最终安装前多次检查你的测量结果，并对你的标识进行‘干式贴合’的测试，以确保最后的安装结果和你测量的数据相符。”
Take the time to also properly secure a pattern to the wall before drilling. On surfaces where tape is not an option, McClure recommends using staples if the surface allows.
在进行钻孔操作之前，你可以先花时间将标识的图形材料挂在墙面上。如果现场不可以使用胶带来固定标识图形，麦克卢尔提议在条件允许的情况下可以尝试使用图钉之类的辅助工具。
Wall surfaces can not only pose problems to taped patterns but also to drilling. “As far as actual drilling, probably pre-cast concrete or tilt-up concrete is the worst—particularly if it has rebar in it because you do not know where that is at,” says McClure. “Some of the other more difficult surfaces to deal with would be granite or marble. Marble is really difficult to drill.” (Note: When drilling marble for previous jobs, McClure used a diamond-tipped saw.)
墙面的材质不仅会对图形使用胶带固定造成影响，还会对钻孔造成影响。麦克卢尔说：“在进行实地的钻孔操作时，预制混凝土或浇筑混凝土可能是最难操作的墙面材料，特别是这种墙面内部还存在你根本不知道具体位置的钢筋材料。其他还有一些比较难处理的墙面材料，比如花岗岩或大理石，人们真的很难在大理石材料上面进行钻孔处理。”（注意：麦克卢尔曾经使用镶嵌有金刚石的电锯对大理石材料进行钻孔处理。）
When working with brick surfaces, installers should be aware that not all brick is laid perfectly. “Measuring off slanted joint lines will leave you with a sloped final product,” says McClure. “Take careful measurements and use tools like bubble and laser levels as a guide of reference.”
当标识安装的墙面是由石砖材料修筑而成时，安装人员应该注意到这种墙面的不平整性。麦克卢尔说：“测量过程中，倾斜的水平线很容易让你最终的产品成果也变得倾斜，所以工作人员应该仔细测量并使用起泡或激光水平线等工具作为工作时的参考。”
An installer should know what material he will be up against ahead of time so he can prepare—hence the need for a proper site survey. “The important thing is just to have the correct kind of bits or hole saws or whatever you need to do the job right,” says McClure.
安装人员应该提前进行适当的现场调查，确认好需要的材料，以便做好充足的准备。麦克卢尔说：“确认好需要的钻孔工具和你需要做的事情是十分重要的。”
When securing letters to a pylon sign or panel, the option to use an adhesive may be available. “Use a durable adhesive that can be relied on to keep performing over time and against the  elements,” says Soulsby. “Also, if required, the use of correctly measured mounting hardware will not leave you wondering if your application will fail or not.”
当你准备将标识固定到塔架或是面板上时，粘合剂是一个非常好的选择。Soulsby说：“耐用性高的粘合剂可以长时间地保持标识的外观和性能正常工作。此外，使用正确的测量安装硬件将保证你安装的标识可以正常运行。”

Securing Safety
确保安全
The proper precautions should always be taken when installing channel letters to ensure the safety of everyone on the job site. “Proper knowledge of your tools and equipment is key. Safety glasses, harnesses, and headgear are always a must,” says Ehmann. “More times than not, an installer will be elevated on ladders, scaffolding, or bucket cranes so following safety regulations is a must to avoid any injury on the job.”
安装标识发光字时应始终采取适当的安全防护措施，以确保工作现场每个人的安全。Ehmann说：“正确了解你的工具和设备是关键。护目镜、安全带和头盔是必须按规定佩戴的。很多时候，工作人员需要借助便携楼梯、脚手架或铲斗起重机来上升到一定高度之后再进行标识的安装，因此必须遵守安全规定，以避免在工作过程中受到任何伤害。”
Those safety regulations include OSHA rules regarding service vehicles. “Typically when you are working out of either an aerial ladder or a boom truck with a basket or even a boom lift, OSHA requires you to have a safety harness and to have a safety lanyard tied off to a stable attachment point,” says McClure.
OSHA关于车辆服务的规则也被包括在这些安全规定的范围之内。麦克卢尔说：“通常情况下，当你借助空中脚手架或是吊臂升降机进行高空作业时，OSHA要求施工者必须佩戴安全装置，并且安全装置上的安全绳必须挂在一个稳固的连接点上。”
Installers should be familiar with all OSHA rules and regulations before heading out to the job site.
在前往工作现场之前，安装人员应对OSHA的所有规定有一个系统的了解。