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Suggestions re-installing stud mounted acrylic lettering

JBurton

Signtologist
I'd start with cards. Even better if you have a knife sharpener, run one through it to put an edge on it, and you may even get it to cut the tape. Putty knives are great, and doing the same thing, but I feel less likely to gouge the wall with a plastic card vs metal blade.
 

Shred_signs

Lost Member
Great tips, guys. The letters I'm dealing with are 1/4" thick mounted on drywall, so I'm guessing tape mounted. To find out for sure should I first try what Gino mentioned and run piano wire or something behind a letter to see if it releases? How about fishing line? I don't have piano wire laying around like Gino does (I'm not Italian).
Just MAKE SURE you wear gloves when working with wires for stuff like this. Wire can cut like a knife in the right circumstances.
 

Moze

Active Member
I remove a crap ton of letters. I only use putty knives. I've tried a bunch of other methods and putty knives work the best.
 

Shred_signs

Lost Member
I'd start with cards. Even better if you have a knife sharpener, run one through it to put an edge on it, and you may even get it to cut the tape. Putty knives are great, and doing the same thing, but I feel less likely to gouge the wall with a plastic card vs metal blade.
One of my worst cuts was with a putty knife trying to remove letters. Putty knife slipped, and then my hand slipped, now there is a bit of me that will always be in in that room.
 

Gino

Premium Subscriber
Ya don't hafta be italian to be musically inclined. Fishing line works, but not like piano wire. We have several wire removal kits, but the piano wire works by far the best. Piano wire is nothing more than a very strong steel known as music wire. It's tempered high carbon so it can take a lotta tension. You can even use guitar strings. Use a middle one like a D or a G.
 

Gino

Premium Subscriber
Ya know, you ARE thick. I just ignored that silly dig and tried to save your demeaning statement. You watched too many Godfather movies.
 

Gino

Premium Subscriber
Ya like mucker, better ??

I've been called lotsa things over the years, but none of them ever really stick. Most of them are dead.......... now.
 

MikePro

New Member
A "sharp" putty knife gets you behind the letter, and you can slice around the perimeter of the letter as you jam it/pry it to feel if there's a stud or not.

If its just tape&adhesive, you can just grab the letter at twist it off the surface after you've cut through the perimeter of adhesion.
If its studded, then you can pry it out of the hole after cutting through any perimeter adhesion.

...but i would always start there: slicing at the perimeter of the letter to make sure that the letter doesn't take out a chunk of wall with it when you go to pry it off.
 

petepaz

New Member
i was surprised to see this thread come up again. this job has been installed, billed and paid for a long time ago but here is how i solved my issue.
i laid cardboard on the table then rolled out craft paper on top, laid out my letters as they needed to be spaced. then traced each letter and pushed it in to the cardboard punching holes through the craft paper and presto stud template
 

gnubler

Active Member
I'm a zombie thread reviver. There was already a bunch of good info posted, so no need to rehash it all in a new thread.
 

gnubler

Active Member
Update to this potential job. Customer asked if the sign letters can be removed from the interior wall and installed outside on a brick surface. Without knowing yet if these are tape or stud mounted, if they don't have studs how hard would it be to put some on? Pretty sure the letters are 1/4" aluminum, is that too thin for studs? Tap & die or welded on, or what? If it's not worth the work I'll just try to sell them on having new letters made with studs. A bit nervous about installing into brick, never done it before.
 

JBurton

Signtologist
If they don't have studs, then no go on brick. Yes you can glue some on, but you'll waste more time and money screwing around trying to make a pattern than if you just got new letters. If I was forced to do it, I'd get a piece of acm or acrylic, tape the letters to it, then mount that panel with standoffs or on a frame depending on size.
Installing in brick is easy, aluminum studs are very forgiving if your hammer drill wanders off the mark. Just do yourself a favor and get an SDS drill, corded if you don't already have a battery ecosystem in your shop. The 'hammer drills' that are just drills with a brrrrr to them are worthless. Ideally you get a rotary hammer that has a hammer only setting so you can hammer the mark on the pattern, indent the brick enough to keep it in place, then turn on the hammer + drill function and go to town. Also use your depth guide, it'll save you time and energy.
 

gnubler

Active Member
Thanks for the tips. I was going to suggest that to the customer - mounting the letters to a backer and installing that on the building. It's a total of 17 letters and the thought of all the drilling for post holes makes me nervous.
 

Gino

Premium Subscriber
Some years ago, we had a job which involved many many holes being drilled into cement and then another wall of brick. Somewhere around 700 or 800 holes. Looked into the SDS drills and went with a makita electric. Makita is my 'go-to' brand of choice. Oh man, did the job in a fraction of my old dewalt corded hammer drill. That thing now has lotsa miles on it. Instead of using the depth guide, I just tape the bit. Been doing that on my drills for decades. So used to it now, it's just second nature.
 

DL Signs

Never go against the family
Will try the key card or putty knife trick. Saving the piano wire to "take care of" certain customers. I've had some doozies lately.
For removing taped on letters & panels.... Wire cutting kit for removing windshields. They're $20-30 for a kit with a spool of cutting wire & handles, replacement wires come on spools from 75'-300' in several different styles and thickness, some are smooth, some are braided or textured to cut better. You can even use the end of a roll and buy a different style so they can't match it to that "special customer" you need to take care of ;)

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