Metal Plaque Types Options and Design Tips | American Cast Bronze

This cast plaque information guide was developed to help our customers understand designing and providing cast plaque guidelines, as well as for cast aluminum plaques, etched plaques, photo plaques, and other specialty plaques.

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Our cast bronze plaques will provide you with a quality long life product. Our cast bronze plaques are installed across this country in Colleges, Cities, Bridges, Court Buildings, Schools, Stadiums, Businesses and Gardens. No matter the application, we have the metal plaque you are looking for, whether you need to dedicate, recognize, donate, or memorialize that special person or group.

Cast plaques can be installed on many types of surfaces, such as drywall, brick, stone, and even on stakes or posts. Whether your plaque needs to be square, round, or any special shape, just provide us the task and we will design a beautiful plaque for you.

Step by Step Process

1. Type of Plaque: When most people think of dedication or memorial plaques they think of those that have a dark background, raised bronze letters, and mounted to a stone or brick wall. This type of plaque is the classic Bronze Plaque. Even though this type of plaque is the most common you should know that there are other types that may be better suited for your application. You can trust that we will always guide you with the best option for your scenario.

Other Types of Plaques:

So, you do have options. The cost for plaques is solely based on the overall size, or if you need an attached logo or photo on the plaque. The bigger the plaque the higher the cost. The amount of lettering usually does not impact the cost. Cast Bronze Plaques are usually the most expensive option. If you have a limited budget, you either should aim for a smaller plaque, or an alternative material, such as a Cast Aluminum Plaque. The biggest differences between aluminum and bronze plaques are the letter color, which would be either silver for aluminum or gold for bronze, as well as the weight, since aluminum is much lighter than bronze. The final installation location may also help determine between aluminum and bronze. If you are installing a plaque on gray granite, you may want to go with an aluminum plaque to match the color palette, for example.

For those looking for a bronze plaque, but not the cost, there is another option – Flash Bronze Aluminum Plaques. These plaques are aluminum but are painted to look like bronze. To the naked eye, you can not tell. The only drawback to these plaques is that they are not suitable for outdoor use.

Here is an example of a Flash Bronze Aluminum Plaque

It is not uncommon for customers to submit an order for a small plaque and request either a lot of text or an intricate logo. The reason for this guide is to help the customers understand the limitations of metal plaques. We stick to strict guidelines when it comes to cast or tooled plaques since if the lines are too small or thin, they will simply not hold up and we never want to produce a product that will fail.

In cases when a customer must have a detailed logo or image, or needs a lot of small text, we would offer an Etched Plaque. Etched Plaques can be made out of Bronze, Aluminum, Brass, Copper, or Stainless Steel. With etched plaques, the process begins with solid piece of metal at a couple of thickness options. Most materials offer thicknesses in 1/16″, 1/8″, and 1/4″. So, for a comparable etched bronze plaque to be similar to a cast bronze plaque, we would start with a 1/4″ piece of bronze, and then etch into the metal the letters, logo, or photo. The biggest difference to cast plaques is that etched plaques have a reversed appearance. Instead of a dark background with raised bronze letters, the plaque would instead have a bronze background with recessed dark letters.

Here is an example of an Etched Bronze Plaque Etched Bronze Plaques In cases where a customer wants an intricate logo, such a state seal, but demands to have a cast or tooled bronze plaque, we provide the option of creating the logo or seal out of etched bronze and mounting it into the cast plaque. The final product is seamless and comes with a lifetime guarantee.