CNC Routing Dibond (ACM)

Why sign shops use Dibond

ACM stays flat across big panels, doesn’t rot or swell, and takes direct print, vinyl and paint on its coated face. It’s light enough to hang from a truss or mount on rails, and stiff enough to stand as a freestanding sign face. On the CNC router it cuts to any outline, with clean holes and cutouts for mounting hardware and lit details. Printed vinyl graphics for the face are vinyl printing, quoted on request.

ACM is sold under several brand names, and the catalog carries Dibond in the metric thicknesses listed on this page. Face colors and finishes vary from panel to panel, and many panels carry a different finish on each face, so ask the shop which face the stocked panel has before you build a design around its color.

Common Dibond parts and thickness

Thinner panels suit wall-mounted sign faces, wayfinding and directory signs, menu boards and kiosk cladding, where the wall or a frame does the stiffening. Thicker panels suit freestanding and post-mounted signs, big exhibit headers and panels that span between supports. A sign bigger than a stocked sheet is cut as panels that butt together over a frame member or a seam strip, with the joint worked into the graphic.

Edges, faces and handling

Routed ACM shows a thin dark core line between the aluminum skins at every edge; most installs leave it, frame it or cap it with trim. The painted faces scratch more easily than they dent, so where a protective film is supplied, keep it on through handling and peel it at install. Don’t leave it on for weeks outdoors, though: Las Vegas sun can bake the film onto the paint.

Carry big panels on edge with a hand under each end, and store them flat on a clean surface or upright in a padded rack. A dropped corner dents both skins, and a dent in ACM doesn’t come back out, so order a spare of any panel that will be handled on a show floor.

Routed flat: cutouts, holes and folds

Online orders cut Dibond flat: outlines, cutouts, mounting holes and engraved lines. Folded returns, trays and wrapped corners are made by routing a V-groove through the back skin and most of the core, then folding the panel by hand; that groove isn’t part of an online order, and a line on a V-GROOVE or FOLD layer is read as an engraved line, not a fold, as the layer-naming guide explains. If a design depends on folds, ask the shop before you order, or plan the returns as separate flat pieces joined behind the face.

Keep holes for rivets and screws back from the edges — the thin skins are what hold a fastener — and use slotted holes anywhere a panel has to move. Round holes down to 3 mm (0.118″) are drilled on the drill bank, and cutouts and letters keep the bit’s 1/16″ radius in their inside corners.

Cutouts for lit details — a logo backed by a light box, or push-through letters — are routed to the outline you draw. Size a push-through opening to the acrylic piece plus room for it to expand, and route both parts from the same file so they match.

Outdoor signs in the desert

Dibond handles sun and heat well, but its aluminum skins expand with temperature. Leave expansion room around large outdoor panels, use slotted holes for mechanical fasteners, and choose a light face color where you can — dark panels in direct Las Vegas sun get very hot. Permanent exterior signs may need a sign permit, so check with your city before you install.

A large panel fastened tight on every edge can bow or ripple — oil-canning — as it heats, so let it float in a channel or on slotted holes, and follow the tape or adhesive maker’s guidance for exterior panels. A freestanding or post-mounted sign catches monsoon gusts across its whole face; the panel is light, but the structure behind it should be sized by your sign installer or engineer.

Printed faces and graphics

Most Dibond signs carry a graphic, printed directly onto the face or on vinyl laminated to it. Online orders cut blank panels and the graphic is added afterward, so size the artwork to the routed shape, with bleed wherever vinyl will be trimmed at the edge. Lettering for the same sign can come off the same sheet as flat-cut letters, while solid metal letters and brackets are cut on the shop’s fiber laser — see laser cut aluminum.

What a Dibond order includes

Dibond parts ship as cut and flat, with the core line showing at each routed edge and any protective film the panel came with. Printing or vinyl, folding, edge trim, framing, rivets, posts and installation come after the parts leave the shop. For a sign built and installed start to finish, start a custom fabrication inquiry; the signage guide covers planning a sign around routed and laser-cut parts.