A Flange is the area of a pan face that slides into the retainer. A Retainer is an outer piece of metal or aluminum that keeps the pan face from falling out. Pan faces are made from thermoplastic that expands and contracts with temperature changes, about 1/6 per foot. It is critical that it be allowed to move back and forth in the retainers as it expands and contracts.

Normal Retainer: Found on about 70% of all signs. This is the most common type of retainer found on stick built signs (steel welded frame with a sheet metal or sheet aluminum skin) and most aluminum extrusion sign frames.

Inset Retainer: Normally used in tight areas so the retainers can be screwed in from the front. Will normally be hinged face system.

ZF Retainer: Used when the retainers need to be attached from the front.

A Hanger bar is a piece of plastic glued to the sign face (Normally on top) that captivates the face into the retainer. Either the frame or the retainers has to have a slot built into it for the hanger bar to fit into. 90% of all aluminum extrusion frames have some type of provision for a hanger bar.

T-Bar is normally used to divide a sign frame up for multiple faces, such as multiple tenant signs.