Fabricating Custom Metal Products - Ecolab Light poles
Lights, Camera, Action! At StellarCraft, we don’t just manufacture pre-engineered products. A large part of what we do is fully custom metal products.
One recent example is a project involving 23 custom light poles and shrouds for the entrance plaza a Ecolab’s headquarter in St. Paul Minnesota. These poles were designed to become a visual feature of the space rather than just a functional element.
Meeting the Customers Design Needs
Shroud Seam Challenges
The initial design intent was for the shrouds to appear seamless. However, once the lighting element was introduced, the design needed to accommodate multiple thicker light stripes within the perforation pattern. This requirement made seams necessary, and the design had to adapt while still maintaining the intended aesthetic.
Color Selection Inspired by Branding
To tie the installation into the surrounding environment, the final design incorporated varying shades of blue inspired by Ecolab’s logo. Each shroud was finished in a different blue tone AAMA 2605 powder coat, adding depth and visual interest across the installation.
Peforation Pattern Changes
The original perforation pattern selected by the architect from BWBR was uniform and consistent. As the design progressed, the architect wanted something more dynamic—greater variation in circle sizes and locations across each panel to make the poles visually engaging and distinctive. This required redesigning the pattern so no two shrouds looked exactly the same.
Engineering the Materials
The outer shroud was fabricated from form-rolled aluminum. Inside, a polycarbonate plastic liner was used to allow light to pass through effectively.
This introduced another layer of complexity. Our design team spent significant time researching, testing, and sourcing a heavy-duty polycarbonate that could:
- Be rolled to match the aluminum shroud
- Maintain structural integrity
- Allow adequate light emission
The polycarbonate was water-jetted in house to precise dimensions and then hand-rolled to create a custom fit for each individual shroud.
Why We Love Custom Metal Projects
While we value having pre-engineered products that architects and engineers can easily specify, projects like this are where custom fabrication truly shines. They require adaptability, creative problem-solving, and close collaboration to bring the evolving of your custom metal products to life.
