Another Hair Brained Idea

[captain ron]

I have an Idea in my head that would be cool but don't know how practical. I would like to put acrylic panels on the side of my bus with my logo and other designs in it and have it lighted to show the design at night. If nothing else I would at least like to cover the area between the bays and the bottom of the windows or for more exact placement inside of the trim around that area. It would give me a smooth side look without reskinning.   Ideas? opinions?  Stupid? Cool? Go For It? Forget it?

[HighTechRedneck]

Cool sounding idea for your situation, but I'm not sure acrylic would be the best material because its appearance degrades rapidly out in the elements.  I remember one city I lived in did something like that with the bus stops in the shopping district.  It looked really nice at first, especially at night.  However within about 3 months it looked really bad during the daytime due to scratching, color fade and yellowing.  They still looked pretty good at night but before the year was up the advertisers cancelled and they were taken down.

Just to give you some insight on how they utilized the night lighting - they engraved the designs they wanted lit at night and edge lit the panels.  Where it was engraved lit up.  The daytime graphics were nearly opaque, but slightly translucent.  They used bright high saturation colors alot.  At night, the lit up engravings were highly visible at a distance and up close augmented the printed graphics.  It is just a shame they didn't last longer.

[captain ron]

How about clear coating the acrylic or covering it with thin clear acrylic with the clear plastic left on it or replace the clear acrylic every year.

[WEC4104]

Sounds interesting, but be sure and check the D.O.T. regulations for your state (and others) and make sure you are in compliance.  I seem to recall specific rules against lighted signs. Also, they are very specific about what color lighting is permitted on certain faces. For example, there are laws against having red colored lights shining forward (except emergency vehicles). Suggest you consult the regs before proceeding.

[DrivingMissLazy]

I believe the proper material to use would be Lexan.

When I had my business, I had a machine that would reverse engrave. It actually engraved on the back side of the lexan so that the front surface was smooth.
For our meter panels we typically sprayed the back of the lexan white, then engraved the lettering thru the black paint. Of course you could use any color you desired for the background, or even some psychedelic type painting. After the engraving, then the engraved letters were sprayed black. When the panels were edge lit, then the engraving really stood out!
I suspect that many shops may have this type of equipment available. I was in the greater LA area at the time and I did find a shop to do this for me before I bought my own machine.
Richard

[gus]

The last time I checked Lexan will not tolerate direct sunlight. It is not used in aircraft windows for this reason.

Acrylic (Plexiglas) is used for light aircraft windshields and windows.

[TomC]

Freightliner uses Lexan on the headlight covers that are both subject to sunlight and severe artificial light.  Good Luck, TomC

[Jeremy]

Lexan is one trade name for Polycarbonate, of which there are many grades - no doubt a plastics supplier could advise the best one to use.

I think the idea is a great one, though probably only for use when the vehicle is stationary as has been said. depending upon how large your sign is going to be, I would also want to be sure that it could handle any flexing or twisting, and wind loadings etc, that it might be subjected too when the bus is being driven (I suspect Lexan would score over Acrylic in this regard).

My first step would probably to speak to a professional signmaker to see what he advises - I would think for instance that translucent vinyl (made for back-lit signs) would be prefered to engraving, and would also allow you to change the design much more easily. Also consider large-format printed vinyl, which wouldn't be back-lit but would allow a much more sophisticated design using full-colour rather than just spot colour. (ie. your design could include photographs or any other type of artwork you wanted)

Jeremy

Printed (but not back-lit) vinyl:

[rv_safetyman]

Ron, a secondary consideration might be insurance and registration.  If you have your business "announced" on the side of your bus, my guess is that your bus could then be considered a commercial vehicle.

I am being very careful not to put anything about the business on our bus.

Just a though - maybe someone with more knowledge could comment.

[captain ron]

Remember I had my logo on my old bus with no issues and it's still on there with the new owner.
I was thinking after Jeremy's post I could get the design routed into the plastic, then the rest of the plastic covered with vinyl for both protection and better design.

[Kristinsgrandpa]

Ron, maybe you didn't have any issues with your advertising but at least one guy did.
He was stopped by the state patrol and given a citation for not having a CDL because he had his amatuer race car number and name on the side of his trailer he was using to haul the car.

  No commercial business, nor professional racing circuit, but still a ticket.

Check the archives, I'm sure it's on here, and not too long ago.

If you have your CDL then it shouldn't matter.

Ed

[JackConrad]

Ron,
   Lonesome Whistle Band (a family bluegrass band out of Guyton, GA) was stopped in Pennsylvania on the way home from a festival. They had Lonesome Whistle Band and their Logo on the  bus.  The first thing the officer asked was "Are you a band?".  Russ explained that they were a family band and that everyone on the bus was a member of their family. The officer asked if they had any CDs, T shirts ,etc on the bus for sale?. He then told Russ that he needed a CDL and the bus needed to be registered and insured as a commercial vehicle. After quite a bit of talking, the officer wrote a warning ticket with the stipulation that they take the warning ticket to the GS DMV and straighten out the bus registration and insurance.  You might be better off not advertising on your bus.  Jack
PS: the only lettering on the outside of their bus now is PRIVATE COACH

[niles500]

Every private coach should have "Private Coach" on its exterior - why do you think they invented the "Private Coach" placards? - FWIW

[Hartley]

one of the outoor sign materials is UVEX
it is flexible and UV tolerant. Comes on a roll..

The other idea for signs and not getting into CDL trouble would be to have the roll out awnings printed
with your advertising on it. That way when you are rolling along no signage is visible, But when you park you
extend the awnings and ( signs ! )....

Roll up banner signs can be digitally printed and all you have to do is extend them when you want people to
see them.

[Charles Seaton]

The private buis companies in New York City used to use lighted advertsing panels on the sides of their vehicles.