Metal Letters in Dubai: Fabricated or Cut From Solid
There are two ways to make a metal letter and they produce very different objects at very different prices. Metal letters in Dubai are either fabricated as a hollow box from sheet, or cut as a solid shape straight out of plate. Knowing which you are being quoted is the useful thing.
Letter height: Up to 30 cm · Location: Indoor · Installation: Supply and install
An estimator replies with a firm, VAT-inclusive price and a production date.From your file to the finished job.
Six steps happen between the brief and the finished job. Here they are, in the order they happen on our floor in Dubai South.
Fabricated Letters Are Hollow
A face is cut from sheet and sides are folded or welded around it to make a shallow box. Light, able to house electrics, and the standard construction for anything on a shopfront.
Solid Letters Are Cut From Plate
Thick plate goes under a waterjet or laser and the letter is cut out whole. There is no inside. The result is heavy, extremely rigid and has a genuine machined edge all the way round.
Weight Decides Where Each Goes
Solid letters at any size become heavy quickly, so they live at low level on reception walls and entrance pillars where fixing is easy. Fabricated letters go up facades because they can be carried and fixed safely at height.
The Edge Tells You Which Is Which
Look at the side. A fabricated letter has a folded or welded return with a consistent thickness. A solid one has a single cut face with the tool marks dressed off. Up close the difference is obvious.
Finishes Apply to Both
Brushed, polished, powder coated, anodised or coated in a gold tone. The finish is chosen after the construction, and the construction is chosen by position, weight and whether the letter needs to be lit.
Fixed on Studs
Both types mount on threaded studs set into the wall from a drilled template, with a small gap behind for airflow and shadow. On a stone or clad facade the stud positions are set out against the panel joints, so no fixing lands on a seam where it would be difficult to drill cleanly.
A cost point worth stating plainly. Solid cut letters are several times the price of fabricated ones at the same size, and from three metres away almost nobody can tell them apart. Spend it at reception where people stand close, and save it on the fascia.
Related: stainless steel signage, aluminium signage, and unlit letters.
What you get.
- Letter height
- Up to 30 cm · 30–60 cm · 60–100 cm · Over 1 m
- Location
- Indoor · Outdoor
- Installation
- Supply and install · Supply only
- Turnaround
- Typically 7–14 working days after artwork approval
- Proof
- A digital proof before anything prints
- Delivery
- All seven emirates, or collect from Dubai South
What every order includes
- A free prepress check on your file
- A digital proof before anything prints
- One VAT-inclusive quote with a production date
- Delivery to all seven emirates, or collection from Dubai South
Setting up your file.
- 01Send the logo as a vectorLetters and shapes are cut from your outlines, so we need AI, EPS, SVG or PDF, not a screenshot or a JPEG.
- 02Measure the real spaceWidth, height and a straight-on photo of the wall or fascia. The tape measure often disagrees with the drawing.
- 03Send names as textFor plates and directories, send names and titles in a document, so nothing is retyped from an image.
- 04Tell us about power and the wallFor lit signs, where the nearest power point is. For every sign, what the wall is made of.
Quick answers.
Solid at reception, fabricated on a fascia.
Fabricated ones yes. Solid ones no.
Threaded studs from a drilled template.