Blog
October 18, 2026
Two Lit Signs for a Dental Clinic: How We Made Dr Aditi Natu’s Panacea Boards in Kothrud
A 10 ft board that mixes metal-look ACP, acrylic letters and five glowing photo windows, and a sign cut in the shape of a tooth. Here’s how we made both for Dr Aditi Natu’s dental clinic in Kothrud, and why we build our letters on ACP.
Two signs, one clinic
A name board and a tooth, both lit up
A clinic inside a building has a problem: people pass by without knowing it is there. Dr Aditi Natu's Panacea Multispeciality Dental Care in Kothrud, off Karve Road, needed the outside of the building to say three things at a glance: who she is, what she does, and that the clinic is right here.
So we made her two signs. A 10 ft board with her name and her five main treatments shown as glowing photographs, and a sign cut in the shape of her tooth logo for the building entrance. Both were made in our workshop in Pune and fitted by our own team.
Big board
About 10 ft x 4 ft
Tooth sign
About 3 ft x 3.5 ft, 2.5 in deep
Use
Both outdoors, lit at night
Making
A week to 10 days each
Some parts are flat, some are rounded, some are 2D and some are 3D. Each one is made differently. That's what makes this board a challenge.
A client since 2022
We already knew the clinic
This wasn't our first job for Dr Natu. We made the acrylic logo board in her reception, with an LED glow round its edge, and the printed frosted films on the glass of her treatment cabins. You can see more of the inside in our post on ideas for a clinic's interiors. Knowing the clinic's colours and style made the outside signs easier to plan.
Reception
The acrylic logo board in the reception, with an LED glow round the edge.
Cabins
Printed frosted films on the glass partitions.
Earlier jobs at the clinic, photographed after we fitted them.
Sign 1: the big board
Switched off, switched on
By day the board reads as a calm silver-grey panel with white letters. At night the five photo windows and the letters light up. The gold heading and the small grey lines stay unlit, which makes the lit parts stand out more.
Off
Silver-grey ACP, white letters with a gold edge, gold timings.
On
The photo windows and the letters glow; the rest stays calm.
Real photos in our office before the board went to the clinic, only light and colour corrected.
One board, many materials
What the big board is made of
Most shop boards use one or two materials. This one uses five, and each part is made in a different way. Dr Natu picked a special shade of ACP for the base. Even our dealer didn't stock it, so we waited for him to bring it in.
Coloured ACP
A special silver-grey ACP wrapped around an aluminium frame about 1 inch thick and 3 inches deep.
Photo windows
Five arch-shaped openings cut into the ACP, filled with white acrylic and covered with a UV-printed backlit film.
Raised letters
DR. ADITI NATU in white acrylic letters with a thin gold acrylic edge, like piping, about 8 mm thick.
Gold heading
CLINIC TIMINGS in gold, left unlit so it reads as an accent by day and night.
How we built it
From a sheet of ACP to a glowing board
Everything on this board was made in our own workshop: the routing, the printing, the letters and the wiring.
1
The frame
An aluminium frame about 1 inch thick and 3 inches deep holds everything together.
2
The ACP skin
The coloured ACP is wrapped around the frame to make a clean, flat face.
3
The windows
Our CNC router cuts the five arches out of the ACP, exactly to the layout.
4
The photos
We UV-print the five photos on backlit film. The print is outdoor grade, so sun and rain don't fade it.
5
Acrylic behind
White 040 acrylic fills each window and spreads the light evenly; the printed film goes on top.
6
The light
LED modules on a panel inside the frame light the windows, the letters and the logo from behind.
Up close
Photos that glow at night
A backlit film is made to be lit from behind. In daylight it looks like a normal photo; at night the whole picture glows. That is how a clinic can show its treatments, not just name them.
The name
White letters, the B.D.S. line, timings, website and phone.
From the side
The windows and headings, lit.
Real photos in our office, only light and colour corrected.
Where the time goes
Two months of ideas, ten days of making
The making was quick. The thinking took much longer. Dr Natu had particular photos she wanted in the windows, and we gave her several layouts for her name and the service headings before she chose one. That took almost two months.
Once the layout was fixed, cutting, printing, wiring and installing took less than 10 days. We think that's the right way round: a sign stays on a building for years, so it's worth taking time over how it reads.
Sign 2: the tooth
Your sign doesn't have to be a rectangle
Most sign boards are squares or rectangles. But a logo already has a shape people remember, so why not cut the sign to it? For the building entrance we made Panacea's logo as a sign shaped like a tooth, about 3 ft high and 3.5 ft wide.
It tells people walking in that there is a dentist inside, without a single extra word.
Day and night
Gold by day, a glowing tooth by night
The letters and the tooth outline are mirror gold acrylic. Gold is metallic, so light can't pass through it. When the sign is lit, the white face glows and the gold turns dark against it, which makes the name easy to read from across the road.
Off
Mirror gold letters and outline on a white face.
On
The face glows; the gold reads dark.
Real photos in our workshop, only light and colour corrected.
How the tooth is built
A tooth-shaped box with a gold face
The tooth sign is a hollow box, 2.5 inches deep, with the LEDs inside and the face on top.
The face
3 mm white acrylic that lets the light through.
The gold
The name and the tooth outline, laser-cut from 3 mm mirror gold acrylic and fixed on the face.
The sides
A black aluminium profile, 0.85 mm thick, bent to follow every curve of the tooth.
The base
ACP at the back, so the box stays flat and firm outdoors.
Why the base matters
Why we build our letters on ACP, not PVC board
Many lit letters and shaped signs are built on PVC foam board, because it is cheap and easy to cut. The trouble starts after a few summers. PVC softens in the heat and bends. When the base bends, the face on top comes loose, and sometimes falls off. A sign with its face hanging off looks worse than no sign at all.
We build ours on ACP: two thin sheets of aluminium with a core between them. It is much stiffer than PVC, it doesn't warp in sun or rain, and the face stays exactly where we fixed it.
The difference in one picture
PVC bends in the heat. ACP stays flat.
Both letters are boxes: a base, sides and a face. Only the base is different.
Illustration, not to scale.
Look inside
About 200 LEDs, laid to the shape
Inside the tooth are about 200 small white LED modules, laid in rows that follow the shape so the face glows evenly from edge to edge, with no dark corners and no bright spots.
Lit
The LED tray switched on, before the face goes on.
Close up
Small white LED modules, wired in a chain.
Real photos in our workshop, only light and colour corrected.
Meanwhile, in our workshop
Several signs, built at the same time
While these two were being made, the rest of the team was busy too: a giant ring-shaped letter on the floor, a long lit letter being wired on the router table. Everything you see here is made under one roof in Pune.
The tooth
Our team checks the lit LED tray.
A ring letter
Another sign being assembled on the floor.
A lit letter
LEDs being wired in a large letter tray.
Real photos in our workshop.
At a glance
The two signs: specifications
Big board size
About 10 ft wide x 4 ft high
Big board build
Coloured ACP on an aluminium frame (about 1 in x 3 in); windows routed in the ACP
Photo windows
White 040 acrylic with UV-printed backlit film, outdoor grade
Letters
White acrylic with a thin gold acrylic edge, about 8 mm
Tooth sign size
About 3 ft high x 3.5 ft wide, 2.5 in deep
Tooth sign face
3 mm white acrylic with 3 mm mirror gold acrylic letters and outline
Tooth sign body
ACP base, black aluminium profile sides 0.85 mm
Light
White LED modules; about 200 in the tooth sign
Where
Both outdoors, Kothrud, Pune; installed by our team
Want one?
Price and what to send us
Every clinic sign is different: its size, how many parts are lit, the photos, the shape and where it goes up. As a planning guide, our lit 3D signs work out to about ₹2,000 per sq ft + 18% GST. We give you the exact price with a free proposal: the layout, sizes, materials and a picture of the sign on your building, by day and by night.
Lit 3D sign boards
about ₹2,000 per sq ft + 18% GST (planning guide)
Logo-shaped signs
same planning guide; exact price in the proposal
Proposal with day and night views
free
Good to know
Send your logo
A CorelDRAW, PDF or AI file is best; a clear image works to start with.
Send a photo of the spot
And roughly how wide it is.
Photos for the windows
Send the photos you want to show; we size and print them.
Power point
Keep a power point near the sign; the wiring comes ready.
Not sure what your clinic needs: a name board, a shaped logo, or both? Send us a photo of your building on WhatsApp.
Questions people ask
Clinic sign boards: FAQ
Can these signs go outdoors?
Yes. Both of these are outdoor signs. The photo windows are UV-printed, so the sun and rain don't fade them.
Can you cut a sign to my logo's shape?
Yes. We laser-cut the face and bend the aluminium sides to follow the outline, as we did with the tooth.
Why does the gold look dark when the sign is lit?
Gold mirror acrylic is metallic and blocks light. The white face around it glows, so the gold reads dark and sharp at night.
Why ACP and not PVC board?
PVC can bend in the heat and push the face off. ACP stays flat for years.
Can I show my treatments on the board?
Yes. We print your photos on backlit film behind acrylic windows, so they glow at night.
How long does it take?
The layout can take a few weeks while you choose; making and installing usually takes a week to 10 days.
Made in Pune
Let your clinic be seen
A good clinic sign doesn't shout. It tells people who you are, what you do and where to walk in. If you run a clinic in Pune, send us a photo of your building and your logo, and we'll show you what's possible. More signs for clinics and hospitals: hospitals and clinics.
See more
Our work
The Panacea signs, every photo
Both signs, lit and unlit, and how they were built.
See the job →Product
3D LED acrylic sign boards
Ten ways to build a lit sign, from box letters to shaped boards.
See the product →Your turn
Want a sign like this for your clinic?
Send us your logo and a photo of your building on WhatsApp. We'll send a free proposal.
Looking for any specific product?
Drop us a line. Send us your query. And we’ll get back to you with solutions and answers.
Mitesh Sanghani
Mitesh lives, mostly for Saturdays.
But when forced to work, you’ll find him heading Orchid Digitals – a printing press in Pune.
If it’s an emergency, try looking for him in the hills behind his house. You’ll almost certainly find him… lazing under a tree, with a book in hand.
