One Giant Fiberglass Coffee Cup

Sign Effectz designed, built, and installed a giant coffee cup sign for their client, Stone Creek Coffee in Downtown Milwaukee. This 8’ diameter, fiberglass-skinned cup now looks down on the streets of downtown Milwaukee from its perch atop Stone Creek Coffee’s factory. This fiberglass coffee cup was constructed with an aluminum ribbed substructure, filled, then lined with fiberglass to add strength and smoothness.

The design of the composite skin was simple: it is similar to the hull of a boat, which consists of structural fibers laminated together with a bonding resin. Because of the versatility of fiber selections, we could make it as strong as needed.

There is a wide range of materials when it comes to structural fibers and bonding resins. The mixture of the two, as well as the layup method used,fiberglass chopped strand mat gave us the level of structural stability required. It also impacts the cost as there is a direct proportion between strength and cost. So they chose fiberglass.