posted
I have a first to accomplish next week. I think I bid high enough, but as the day approaches I am wondering if there are any tips or tricks I should be aware of. The job is to remove channel letter faces that have old peeling vinyl practically falling off of them. They are mounted to a wall above an awning. The awning is being removed Monday & replaced Thursday. I will have to go get the faces, remove the old vinyl, apply new vinyl & replace the faces during my 48 hour window of opportunity.
There are only 2 parts I'm concerned with, one is getting all the old vinyl off, but I'm not looking for tips on that, just hoping it all goes as easy as the one letter I climbed up a ladder to check out before I bid. The other is laying down the new vinyl.
I didn't do this job the first time & there is not a file for the letters, so I plan to just rough cut pieces by hand after laying the letter over the vinyl & marking with a stabilo. My concern is based on the trim-cap or whatever the edging is called that screws into the cans. One concern is the slight ridge that I want to bring the vinyl right to the edge of & then hand trim. If not for the ridge I know I could lay down the vinyl dry, but I wonder if I'll get a mess of bubbles or worse.. creases if I try to do this dry. Also I'm not sure how strong the edgetrim is, but I like to squeegee with a lot of pressure, & I'm not sure if I will be able to press hard without flexing the letter or damaging the edgetrim.
I'm sure once i start I'll begin to get a plan, but it's nervewracking sometimes starting a job with a deadline & no experience to reassure myself that I can do it.
For 25 characters in 12" Helvetica Bold about 10' up a ladder with seemingly easy vinyl removal, I'm charging $850
(I'll be using about 10 yards of Gerber Translucent HP vinyl)
Seems you been gettin into a lot of "new" stuff lately... ...keeps ya humble don't it?...hehehehe
You will be just fine...it is pretty easy to do...I would personally suggest ya trim your vinyl first by cutting individual pieces by flippin the letter over and pattern cut the vinyl!
Then lay her on to the face...get some foam or whatever...little thicker underneath to bring your surface up enough to clear the trim cap off the table so there is pressure on the plex and not the trim!
Hope this helps!
-------------------- Robert Beverly Arlington, Texas Posts: 1033 | From: Arlington, Texas | Registered: Jan 2001
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posted
Been here...Bob is right about using the letter as a rough pattern then cutting the letters sightly smaller...if the letter allows it leave a halo of the plex color showing around the edge of 3/16" or 1/4" (they'll look great) find a box big enough to set the letters inside of and fill it with (clean) foam peanuts to rest the letters on and cut a squeegee down small enough to fit the narrowest part of the letters...apply the vinyl dry if you can... minimum wet if you can't after the letters are in place use a washer (like you would use on a bolt)that will give you the proper distance to the edge to trace around the inside edge of the trim (stabilo thru the hole) and roll it around the edge to mark the cut then free hand the cut for final trimming.
"werked fer me it'll werk fer you.
-------------------- "Werks fer me...it'll werk fer you"
posted
Doug... You could use soup cans under the letter when you put the vinyl on, letting the trim (its called Jewelite) hang down undisturbed. Trimming the letters like Monte descibed sounds like a good method. Is the plastic clear or white? The exposed edge may look good as it would create an outline around the letter in addition to the trim color. If it's clear, you may want to paint a black opaque outline in that gap.
-------------------- Jeff Ogden 8727 NE 68 Terr. Gainesville FL, 32609 Posts: 2138 | From: 8827 NE 68 Terr Gainesville Fl 32609 | Registered: Aug 2002
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Actually I like the soup can idea...I forgot to mntion placing a rag over the peanuts so the static doesn't give you fits...but the soupcan is better...use chicken noodle...you'll be free of colds all winter.
-------------------- "Werks fer me...it'll werk fer you"
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Hey Doug, Watch out for the trim cap! Chances are that it will be dry and brittle. Once that breaks, you're almost screwed. What color are you using? I'm curious why the client or original fabricator just didn't use colored acrylic. If things go wrong, you may be able to peel off and replace the trim cap, but, my suggestion would be to replace the letters completely using the old as a pattern.
Havin' fun,
Checkers
-------------------- a.k.a. Brian Born www.CheckersCustom.com Harrisburg, Pa Work Smart, Play Hard Posts: 3775 | From: Harrisburg, Pa. U.S.A. | Registered: Nov 1998
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posted
great... lots of good tips! I feel better already. Yeah I wondered about the static on those peanuts... would'a gave me somthing to add to the "stray ashes or hairs" post (if ya seen that one)Chicken noodle is good, but I'm thinking chicken of the sea may be lower & seem more stable.
The plex is white, & the washer idea sounds great. I asked if there was supposed to be a white outline (hard to tell how the first job was... damn things shrank about 3/4" & then they are peeling too) client said whatever I thought, but white outline might look good. I didn't promise it, but sems easy enough now.
posted
Ohyeah... forgot.. Checkers, I wonder why the first guy didn't use colored plex too. Cheap I guess. The client is the Ford dealership. The color is cobalt blue. I pray I don't damage any Jewelite trim, because 48 hours won't get me any on Maui... & I think $850 is good, but not good enough to make my job harder by choice. I'll watch for brittleness. Maybe a pack of kitchen sponges, spread them under each corner instead of tuna cans? Well I'll let you know next week.
Reminds me of how I totally screwed up my excellent set of flat files. 3 banks of five 2" drawers & 1 bank of 10 1" drawers. all fit smooth until I repainted the faces. Heck, they all looked the same so did I mark them? never fit right again no matter how many times I switched them around theres gotta be thousands of wrong combinations.
posted
thought I'd post a quick follow-up here. Job went great... about an hour to load ladder, go on site & remove faces & return to shop. Another hour to wash them all... maybe an hour & a half (with heat gun) to peel them all (that is where I really made up on some of the time I was prepared to need) re-installing was also about an hour.
The real job was done by tracing the letter onto a roll of Gerber translucent Cobalt blue. I xacto'd out the rough shape in the vinyl, applied application tape, then sizzor cut the shape through the tape, vinyl, & backing.
It only took 2 or 3 letters to figure out I should just mask all the uncut vinyl, then trace then sizzor cut my shapes duh!
Sticking down the vinyl went better then expected & I made up some more time there. One reason for that is the advice here. The ridge from the Jewelite was much higher then I thought it was, & if I had promised to, or tried to run the vinyl to the edge, I'd still be working on it.
Jeff's idea with the washer as a way to set an equi-distant line for hand trimming was an excellent tip. It not only worked great but was actually kind of fun! Reminded me of the old Spirograph toy!
The UPS guy was pretty impressed too. (I gave you cerdit Jeff)
[ September 30, 2003, 05:26 PM: Message edited by: Doug Allan ]
posted
Pretty tricky, well done... I don't even see any bubbles :-)
-------------------- Glenn Thompson Tell-Tale Signs Williams Lake, BC sign@telus.net (250)398-7446 Posts: 201 | From: Williams Lake, BC | Registered: Dec 2000
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...keeps ya humble don't it?...hehehehe
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