Snap n Glow letters

[boarder3]

There out of stock at christmas light show is there anywhere else to get them?

[omzig]

I don't remember where, but I think I remember seeing that they were discontinued by the manufacturer. Maybe you should e-mail christmaslightshow and ask them.

[dmoore]

I've produced a replacement for Snap-N-Glow letters here: http://www.holidaycoro.com/CoroText.asp

[wonko]

The snap and glow were discontinued by the original manufacturer. From what I've heard, there's another company that picked it up and is supposed to make them available again, but who know's when. If you could get your hands on some coro you could very easily and cheaply make your own. Many sign companies are willing to save small cut off pieces for you (at least mine here do) as long as your not needing anything too big. I'm lucky, I have a friend in the business that sells me 4'X8' sheets of 4 mill white for $4.00. Another good source of coro is election signs, if there are any in your area.

Brian

[dmoore]

I'm lucky, I have a friend in the business that sells me 4'X8' sheets of 4 mill white for $4.00.

I buy several hundred sheets at a time and I can't get anywhere close to that price - that's a sub-wholesale or right at wholesale rate and surely not anywhere close to what would be considered retail, which is usually $15-20 a sheet for white. I'd also recommend against using white since it will result in "halos" around the lights, preventing a nice crisp letter outlines.

[dirknerkle]

Another good source of coro is election signs, if there are any in your area.

Brian

You have to be careful of taking those -- they're actually the property of the campaign and if memory serves me right, "appropriating" them without the permission of the campaign is actually a felony. :shock:

[kychristmas]

I agree. The cheapest I purchased when I had a sign shop 18 years ago was around $7 sheet. That was Skid pricing. If you are getting $4/sheet, he's a very good friend :)


I buy several hundred sheets at a time and I can't get anywhere close to that price - that's a sub-wholesale or right at wholesale rate and surely not anywhere close to what would be considered retail, which is usually $15-20 a sheet for white. I'd also recommend against using white since it will result in "halos" around the lights, preventing a nice crisp letter outlines.

[ErnieHorning]

You have to be careful of taking those -- they're actually the property of the campaign and if memory serves me right, "appropriating" them without the permission of the campaign is actually a felony. :shock:It will be a theft charge if taken before an election; it varies after an election for public property. You may be able to take them after the grace period, check your state. It’s legal after 30 days after an election in all 50 states though.

You can’t ever take anything from a private residence unless you have the owner’s permission.

[wonko]

I buy several hundred sheets at a time and I can't get anywhere close to that price - that's a sub-wholesale or right at wholesale rate and surely not anywhere close to what would be considered retail, which is usually $15-20 a sheet for white. I'd also recommend against using white since it will result in "halos" around the lights, preventing a nice crisp letter outlines.

The only thing I use it for are making corostars, and I dyed those black, so I haven't seen the halo around the lights you mentioned.

Yeah Kychristmas, he's not making any money off me, and I only bought 3 sheets from him for the stars. He has more stacks of the stuff than I've ever seen (not that I've seen any other places that sell the stuff) in any color or size a person could want. He also deals with a PVC based material that (imo) is far better than coro, but a bit more pricey as well. I've made a couple of nutcrackers out of it, and the stuff is a dream to work with compared to coro. I've looked into shipping the stuff, but shipping a full sheet of the stuff is stupid expensive considering how much it weighs.

Brian

[erm213]

... He also deals with a PVC based material that (imo) is far better than coro, but a bit more pricey as well. I've made a couple of nutcrackers out of it, and the stuff is a dream to work with compared to coro. ...

Do you know what it is called by any chance?

Erik

[kychristmas]

There are a number of PVC Sheet products. If gets brittle in cold and with exposure to Sun. Generically it's called Foamed PVC Sheet, but a couple of brands are Trovicel and Sintra. Its far more expensive than coro. I just purchased some sheet scraps from a sign guy. Its great for making fixtures because it machines nice and glue up with PVC Plumbing Glue. Personally, I don't think it would be worth it for this.


Do you know what it is called by any chance?

Erik

[erm213]

There are a number of PVC Sheet products. If gets brittle in cold and with exposure to Sun. Generically it's called Foamed PVC Sheet, but a couple of brands are Trovicel and Sintra. Its far more expensive than coro. I just purchased some sheet scraps from a sign guy. Its great for making fixtures because it machines nice and glue up with PVC Plumbing Glue. Personally, I don't think it would be worth it for this.

Thanks, I was interested in the product in general. Sounds like it could have some cool possibilities!

Thanks,

Erik

[dmoore]

He has more stacks of the stuff than I've ever seen (not that I've seen any other places that sell the stuff) in any color or size a person could want. He also deals with a PVC based material that (imo) is far better than coro, but a bit more pricey as well. I've made a couple of nutcrackers out of it, and the stuff is a dream to work with compared to coro. I've looked into shipping the stuff, but shipping a full sheet of the stuff is stupid expensive considering how much it weighs.

Is it possible you could pass along his information - I'd love to get in touch with him for pallet quanities.

The "PVC stuff" is most likely Sintra and I would NOT recommend it for anything outdoor. At 150f it will start to thermoform - so storing it in the attic could result in damage. It's so temperature sensitive that I had a sheet of black sentra curl up like a noodle during this last summer just on the way back from the plastics supplier and that was only in 90f air temps and a little sun.

[wonko]

Not sure of what it's called, other than to say it's very similar to (but not the same as) the material they use for cutting boards. It's available in different thicknesses, but the stuff I got from him (which was some scrap he had left over) was about 2mm thick. On larger pieces you still need a frame behind it, but it's much easier to cut (I used tin snips and scissors) and glues with pvc cement or 2 part epoxy. I'm not sure of it's exact uses, but he supplies it to a company that laminates it onto closed cell foam. It comes to him in 3'X10' sheets, and he cuts it down to whatever size the buyer needs because shipping full sheets is not cost affective. The other thing that I liked about it was instead of regular paint, you can use vinyl dye. I used it to make my 2 Nutcrackers this year, and it held up well. It's about 34" tall, and all I did was attach it to a 24" stake I drove in the ground. After a good primer coat, I used regular acrylic paints and sprayed a coat of matte clear coat over the top.

Brian

[kychristmas]

It definitely is very versatile and a great product. Just not durable outdoors long-term and it doesn't make sense to use it in place of coro. IMHO anyway. Now, I'm interested in what wonko is talking about. I can't remember the name, but I do remember another products that I used at the Signshop. I was able to cut some of them with big scissors, but as I recall, they were thin and woudl require support for any type of display item. I don't remember any color other than white, but I believe it was some type of ABS/Styrene plastic.


Thanks, I was interested in the product in general. Sounds like it could have some cool possibilities!

Thanks,

Erik

[wonko]

I talked to him tonight and asked him if it had a name. He called it extruded ABS. He said his biggest buyer for it is a trailer (utility type) manufacturer that laminates it onto closed cell foam and uses it on the insides of their trailers. The thing I noticed when I cut it was that the color went all the way through, so it must be something they add when they're extruding it.

Back to the OP, I found this (http://christmaslightshow.com/xcart/product.php?productid=24). There's not much other info on it, but it seems like it's trying to make a come back.

Brian

[tfalvidr]

Has anyone been successful in tracking a seller of the Snap n Glow panels? I've been on the look-out for three years now.

[dmoore]

Has anyone been successful in tracking a seller of the Snap n Glow panels? I've been on the look-out for three years now.

There was a long discussion on this over at PC and the result was that I produced a coro based product to replace the snap-n-glow letters since they are no longer in production. You can find them here: http://www.holidaycoro.com/CoroText.asp - the detailed assembly instructions are here: http://www.holidaycoro.com/docs/CoroText%20Assembly%20Instructions.pdf

Off angle photo:
11428

Here they are viewed at 25ft from the sign (for readability):
11429