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Most SEG framing is meant to be assembled at the site where it will be used, says Casey Ford, president and CEO with 40 Visuals in Spring Lake, Mich.
“Current SEG framing is extruded aluminum and is designed to be able to assemble easily,” Ford says, “but if the SEG framing system is to provide for lighting to be used from the rear of the graphic, there are three different types of light boxes that can be used. All three SEG light box construction types use LED lighting. Two types are intended for on-site construction, and the third is shipped as a completely assembled light box.”
Perimeter light box. This is the most popular and widely used light box. The extrusion is designed to have lighting modules assembled along the inside of the extrusion located around the perimeter and attached to the power supply to be concealed behind the graphic. Most extrusions for this type of light box range from 4-1/2 to 7 inches deep, depending on whether the light box will be single- or double-sided. Light dispersion and brightness are both crucial to the overall performance and look of the SEG backlit visual.
“Because LED lighting is constantly evolving, we here at 40 Visuals take painstaking efforts to constantly test the newest LED options to make sure that the lighting is at its optimal performance level for displaying graphics,” Ford says. The company has designed a new 3-1/8-inch deep extrusion that has the best possible light dispersion in its class and provides for a slimmer profile for the light box.
LED lattice light box. This type of light box is also assembled on site, but the LED lighting is meant to be used from the back of the light box instead of from the perimeter of the extrusion. The lighting comes stringed together in a lattice format meant to cover the internal area of the light box. The advantage is that the depth of the extrusion can be narrower than with perimeter light boxes. The disadvantage is that depending on size, the light dispersion can be less than optimal, and can create a hot-spot effect in the graphic and appear uneven. This type of light box is limited to smaller sizes because of the hot-spot issue.
Backlit LED panel light box. In this type of light box, an LED panel is assembled before shipping; the lighting tends to be very even. Most LED panels are not as bright as lattice or perimeter light boxes, but each year the technology is improving, making panel lighting an increasingly attractive option. There are size limitations to panel LED light boxes, and shipping is more expensive, but the convenience and ease of not having to do any assembly makes the panel LED light box a popular alternative.