I have a customer that moved into an old tattoo parlor and wants the sign faces redone. (He is a car salesman) The sign face is 6'x12'. This is my first lighted sign that I have had the opportunity to do ... soooo. I made a 4'x8' sign for him last year fading the main copy from blue to white. Used a gerber edge print of a car for the center artwork. My question is this. I used clear enamel receptive vinyl for the main copy and sprayed one shot lettering enamel for the fade effect.
Will this work for the lighted sign?
Are there any other tips out there for doing this kind of work.. should I get new faces or try and save the old ones (They were painted)?
Thanks in advance! From a newbee!
"It's not what you think you know, It's what you know that makes the difference!"
Posted by Curtis hammond (Member # 2170) on :
yer goona have fun with this one.. if ya got more time than money, then u might reuse them ,, but then u will still have sun fadin and yellowing whatever to contend with, I do not re-use an old sign face. IT just aint worth it.
the one challange you will have is keepin the paint even so it dont look like its running when backlit...
Wish i was doing htis one.. good luck
[ July 12, 2003, 12:11 AM: Message edited by: Curtis hammond ]
Posted by David Harding (Member # 108) on :
Although I cut my teeth in the electric sign business in the early ‘70s, I don’t do many lighted signs now. A close friend and former employee, Nathan Lohri, owns Diamond Signs, a custom electric sign fabrication outfit. I will check with him next week on some of the options available to you.
I would, however, recommend new faces for the following reasons:
Getting into back spraying sign faces is not for the faint of heart. One Shot will not transmit the light properly. There are several lines of translucent paints specifically designed for painted plastic sign faces. To evenly paint the sign faces requires setting the face in a light fixture to monitor the evenness of the coatings as you go along. It takes a real master’s touch to do so.
Unless very special circumstances dictate, repainting the existing faces is rarely the way to go. Cleaning off the old paint is a royal mess, doing so without any “ghosting” is hard to do. If the face is old, the plastic may be crazed and there are likely to be X-Acto marks on the plastic where the mask on the old letters was cut.
To replace the faces, you should measure precisely the faces that are in the sign (assuming they are original to the sign, they should have been fabricated with the proper expansion clearances). Is the face flat or embossed? Is it multiple pieces? How thick is the plastic?
You may be able to purchase white face material from a sign supplier and supply graphics cut from translucent vinyl. If you want to do the color fade, you have to decide how to manage that. With a light source behind your vinyl, you may be able to spray an even enough fade using the translucent paints for plastic. I would think they will adhere to vinyl but you should do a test piece. One of the Edge Heads here could tell you if this could be printed on an Edge.
There are also companies that can image your computer files in large format manner on translucent vinyls that can be applied to the face. Their products are designed for just the type application you have in mind. I won’t have access to any of their phone numbers until I talk to Nathan on Monday.
Your anticipated project will be quite a learning experience. I wish you the best on it.
P.S. My father was raised on a farm about 20 miles North of you. He was the valedictorian of New Lisbon High School circa 1942, of a graduating class numbering about 35.
His first few years of school were in a one room school house, grades 1-6 in the same room. He literally walked miles through the snow to school, although, contrary to what I have been told, I firmly believe it was uphill only ONE way.
You live in some mighty pretty country up there... except when trudging to school in the snow.
[ July 12, 2003, 12:36 AM: Message edited by: David Harding ]
Posted by Shane Bennett (Member # 3968) on :
Thanks alot for the input... I have a little lead time on the sign so I'll wait to hear what you have to say come monday! Thanks for taking the time. It's hard to know some times what to do in some situations. And learning from experience can be more that I want to handle..:}
And yes it is wonderful country up here.. even if the snow makes for hard walking.. :}
Thanks again!
Posted by Rick Whitmire (Member # 3443) on :
Shane ALWAYS replace the faces of painted BACK-LIT signs...I like poly-carb faces. NEVER spray on a gradient to a back-lit sign unless you have a translucient paint ( I have never found one). Only use tranlucent vinyls ...not opaque. Start from scatch ..."new"...your customer will get a clean sign and you will make probably the same amount of money, not costing the customer more in the long run. You can give the old faces to the neighborhood kids for building skate board ramps...Your a hero twice!
Its the way I do it...time and time agian about evrey two weeks.
Rick@Trick
Posted by Rick Whitmire (Member # 3443) on :
Shane ALWAYS replace the faces of painted BACK-LIT signs...I like poly-carb faces. NEVER spray on a gradient to a back-lit sign unless you have a translucient paint ( I have never found one). Only use tranlucent vinyls ...not opaque. Start from scatch ..."new"...your customer will get a clean sign and you will make probably the same amount of money, not costing the customer more in the long run. You can give the old faces to the neighborhood kids for building skate board ramps...Your a hero twice!
Its the way I do it...time and time agian about evrey two weeks.
