A customer brought in four old 2'x2'acrylic lighted letter faces. The negative space was painted bright red and the letters white. They wanted me to scrape off the old red paint and replace. i said it would be better to just make new ones.
Would you use translucent red vinyl, reverse weed it, and apply white letters in the weeded part or
Paint it with...can't remember the name of the paint. Thanks
Posted by Mark Smith (Member # 298) on :
Wayne,
Unless they want to reuse them for environmental (reuse) reasons, in which case money is less important, explain to them that it will cost them more to have them redone than to use new panels. That should wake 'em up! Posted by TransLab (Member # 470) on :
I would reverse weed translucent vinyl ...It's hard to paint a backlit sign evenly, takes lots of experience. No question about replacing with new ... not worth trying to salvage the old.
[ July 31, 2003, 02:23 PM: Message edited by: TransLab ]
Posted by Glenn Taylor (Member # 162) on :
I'd contact a sign shop that fabricates lighted signfaces in-house and farm the work out. Mark'm up and be done with 'em.
Posted by Dave Grundy (Member # 103) on :
OR...Do what I have done in the past when a customer INSISTS that the old faced must be used. Let THEM clean off the old faces!
Posted by Joe Rees (Member # 211) on :
"Grip-Flex" yummy!
Posted by Bill Cosharek (Member # 1274) on :
If they try to scrape off the old paint then they're definitely gonna need new faces. Best to do what Glenn suggests & be done with it.
Posted by Jeff Ogden (Member # 3184) on :
Don't Scrape. The best way to remove paint from acrylic is with lacquer thinner. If they're polycarbonate(lexan), use denatured alcohol. Test a small area first. It should clean off without fogging or hazing the face...it should be clear.
If it was me I would spray with Gripflex, but there is nothing wrong with vinyl, especially if you would have to order paint just for the one job.
Posted by Wayne Webb (Member # 1124) on :
Grip flex ....that's it. Thanks Joe
Can that be sprayed through a conventional gun? Any specifics on that? Would that last much longer than translucent vinyl?
No, I told them that up front that it wasn't worth trying to re-use them and they agreed.
Glenn, I'll check into farming it out too.
Thanks
Posted by Wayne Webb (Member # 1124) on :
thanks Jeff You're right, I don't think i want to spray this little job. But it would be interesting to do.
Posted by Brian Snyder (Member # 41) on :
These are 2'x2' squares, right? If so, why farm out? A 24"x10yd roll of premium translucent vinyl and a 4'x8'x3/16" sheet of translucent white acrylic should cover the job. 1 to 2 hours of labor and $170 in materials. Wouldn't it take more time and money to paint it with masking it off and all?
Posted by Jeff Ogden (Member # 3184) on :
I was picturing channel letter faces, which would also bring into play the need to have jewelite trim for the new faces, so that's why I thought it would ne better to use the old ones. Alright, not better, just another way to do it. The fit is important if they are channel letters, and since they already fit, I would just clean them. I don't think it would take more than 30 minutes.
Posted by Alfred Toy (Member # 3844) on :
Use Spraylat Sign Strip or Grip Flex T-4000 to wash off the faces. The solvent may craze the plastic if it is old. Then you can use Translucent red for the negative background, then spray Spraylat or Gripflex white completely on the back face. Or roller on a Spraylat rubber mask on the back and handcut the letters, peel off the mask, but leave the mask on the letters, then spray your red on the complete back, then peel off the letter mask and spray white on the complete back.
[ July 31, 2003, 11:06 PM: Message edited by: Alfred Toy ]
Posted by Kathy Joiner (Member # 1814) on :
Another easy way to remove the paint is "Greased Lightning" available at Lowe's in the cleaning section.
Apply, let sit about 10 minutes and it will wash off under water. No scrubing.
Posted by Wayne Webb (Member # 1124) on :
Alfred, Thanks for the instructions.
Translucent red on the front.......spray white on back: Will that also work with putting translucent white vinyl on the back?
Would it last longer if all of the translucent vinyl were on the back of the face?
Hey, I could just use white acrylic and reverse weed the red on the front right? Wouldn't that work? The original faces are clear acrylic.
[ July 31, 2003, 09:18 PM: Message edited by: Wayne Webb ]
Posted by Alfred Toy (Member # 3844) on :
I guess you could just cover the complete back with white translucent. You'll create more work if you try to cut white lettering. It'll last longer and look better if everything is on the back. The vinyl on front will look satin eventually, whereas the acrylic will stay shiny if its in good shape. Or like I said use white spray and cover everything on the back. This is the normal way to do it. You don't scrape the paint off, wash it off, if the acrylic is still in good shape. It won't be if you scrape it.
The customer carries the cost whether you spend the time to wash, then red vinyl and spray or if you use new acrylic. Sure you can reverse weed red on the face and use white acrylic, but like I said the vinyl will start to dull after time.
[ July 31, 2003, 10:50 PM: Message edited by: Alfred Toy ]
Posted by James Donahue (Member # 3624) on :
I don't know about saving the used plastic, but I just got done re-lettering a plastic face that had translucent white vinyl on the back and red on the front. Edit: let me clarify, the white was already on the plastic, I just changed the red. the white worked well.
[ July 31, 2003, 10:20 PM: Message edited by: James Donahue ]
Posted by Stephen Deveau (Member # 1305) on :
Alf is right on this one. Thats the way I would do it.
Quick and easy. Posted by Wayne Webb (Member # 1124) on :
As you can tell, I don't know much about backlit signs.
Can you just use white acrylic and reverse-weed the red on it?
Posted by Brian Snyder (Member # 41) on :
Yes Wayne. Thats what I was refering to in my reply. Just use a quality cast translucent vinyl.
Posted by Wayne Webb (Member # 1124) on :
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