Plaques & Letters: Custom Cast Plaques Textures & Surface Finishes

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Cast Bronze and Aluminum Plaques are incredibly durable, require minimal maintenance, project an image of class, and amortized over time, are economical..... Cast Bronze and Aluminum Plaques are incredibly durable, require minimal maintenance, project an image of class, and amortized over time, are economical.....P&L offers many options to meet virtually any artistic, time and budget perameters you might have............

General Textures

All plaques provided are manufactured with a background texture. When none is specified, leatherette will be used. NOTE: If you entered this page directly please click "Up" in Navigation to arrive at our Custom Cast Plaques Page.

Leatherette	Pebbled (limited to 30" x 40")
Travertine	Sculptured

Helpful Hints

	In addition to the background textures shown, custom textures can be provided at additional cost. Not all textures are suitable so please consult with us. Depending on the texture, we would require either the actual textured material in an appropriate size, or black & white artwork.
	Background textures are provided not only to provide a decorative design element, but also to disguise background imperfections inherent in the sand-casting process. We do not recommend a "no texture" (or sand finish) and do not warranty this texture.
	The largest material background textures are available in is 30" x 40". All plaques exceeding this size will have a seam in the background texture. (The plaque itself is not seamed, only the texture.) These seams are disguised during the production process by craftsmen, but may be visible on the final product. Because of the design regularity of pebbled texture, seams on plaques with pebbled texture cannot be hidden. We do not provide plaques larger than 30" x 40" with pebbled texture.

General Finishes

Once the background of the plaque has been painted, the surface areas are highlighted by sanding (flat areas) or buffing (sculpted areas). To inhibit natural oxidization, a clear, protective coating is then applied.

Highlighting Finishes

	Satin Bronze The Natural metal color with subtle horizontal grain lines meets NAAMM finish designation M33-C11-060. Cast Bronze: Equivalent to Copper Development Association Alloy C92200; 88% copper, 6% tin, 4% zinc, 2% lead.
	Satin Aluminum The natural metal color with subtle horizontal grain lines. Meets NAAMM finish designation AA-M33-C11-R10. Cast Aluminum: Cast from Aluminum Association Alloy Designation C443.2.
	Polished Bronze The natural metal color buffed to a high gloss, obtained by polishing with successively finer abrasives, then buffing with fine buffing compound. Meets NAAMM finish designation M42-M22-C10-060.
	Chrome Plated Bronze The raised surface of the bronze plaque is polished to meet the polished bronze specifications. The background of the plaque remains in its "natural sandblast" state, providing contrast with the polished raised surface. The entire plaque is then electro-plated using a standard commercial copper/nickel/chrome plating process.

Protective Finishes

In order to protect the natural, highlighted finish of a cast bronze or a aluminum plaque, two options are available:

Heritage Line Clear Protective Lacquer
Providing a low gloss appearance, this clear coating was developed by Heritage Line to help ensure many years of carefree maintenance. This option should be selected when matching older plaques or when a lower gloss look is desired (particularly for interior applications.)

Diamond Shield® Protective Coating
Exclusively from Heritage Line, their chemists developed this 2-part coating for protection in the harshest environments. Diamond Shield® can be factory-applied only and provides maximum protection. This coating is applied with a heavier thickness than other clear protective lacquer and is available in a high gloss version only. Diamond Shield® is particularly effective in harsh, exterior environments, where plaques are exposed to salt, pollution and weather. Unless otherwise specified, all plaques will receive this protection.

Helpful Hints

	The maximum size available for polished bronze plaques is 48" x 36". A polished finish is not recommended when there are large raised areas due to normal surface inconsistencies inherent in the casting process.
	The casting alloy of aluminum used by Heritage Line does not lend itself to polishing. Polished aluminum plaques are not available.
	The largest size Heritage Line metal plaque castable in one piece is 120" x 120".
	Bronze castings are the material of choice for interior as well as exterior applications. Although the finish of bronze will naturally patina over time, the material itself will not deteriorate. Objects made from bronze have been found submerged in seawater for over 3000 years still in excellent condition.
	The weight of a bronze plaque may be roughly estimated by calculating the plaque's volume in inches (height x width x depth) x .31. For most smaller plaques (under 36" x 30") allow .25" as the approximate depth. Use .375" for plaques over 36" x 30". Example: For a 36" x 24" plaque calculate 36" x 24" x .25" = 216 cu. inches x .31 = 66.96. The plaque's estimated weight would be 67 lbs.
	An aluminum plaque is approximately 1/3rd the weight of a comparable sized bronze plaque. In the above example, simply divide the answer by 3. A 36" x 24" aluminum plaque weighs approximately 23 lbs.