Cleaning Yellowed Plexiglass

[Skye]

Morning,
i have a client that desperately wants us to reuse there old plexiglass sign..
however when i remove the old lettering it is very yellowed.

are there ways to removed the yellow by cleaning or should i tell them just to buy a new?

also trying to clean because they open today.

thanks for your time!

skye

 

[Kottwitz-Graphics]

There is no way to turn those faces white again. Its uv damage, and no way to reverse that.

 

[signage]

Is your time not worth anything?

When I have a customer that wants to reuse a substrate, the price for my removing and cleaning substrate is always higher than getting new!

 

[Billct2]

If there's no time or money, flip and us ethe back, but let them know it's a cheapsh*t solution and there may be a ghost of the old copy when lit

 

[Gino]

This past summer, I had a customer want us to revamp their pylon sign and add a few new names. We quoted using ivory substrates from a photo he provided.

Upon getting there and taking the first one or two out, we told him his idea was not going to work. He asked us why and we told him, they were all white backgrounds at one time and have yellowed so much, they've turned into new colors. He said, can't we still use ivory to kinda match ?? Nope. So he had us do the entire sign over and we used white instead of ivory. After the job was finished, all the tenants exclaimed how they like the new colors. They were amazed at how much brighter the sign was and how much more it stood out at night.

If you have a single face, you can turn them around like Bill mentioned, but as he pointed out, that doesn't extend the life of them at all. In fact, by the time that stuff turns to yellow, it's probably as brittle as plain acrylic.

Be careful and explain to your customer you won't warrant them against anything, even while transporting them and taking off the old vinyl, let alone how long they might last in their new position, now that the UV side is hidden from the sun and the cases are literally installed backwards at this point.

 

[Skye]

yep

Thanks for all your responses,
Thats what i thought. and yes my time is worth something. i just wanted to check what others do.

take care

 

[Z SIGNS]

Using old material and peeling the old vinyl cost the customer more.Do the math.Unless your time isn't worth anything.Don't be a bottom feeder.Let someone else have that job and use your time moving on to a profitable job.

 

[jfiscus]

It always costs more to remove old vinyl and clean the face than a new identical face costs, plus you KNOW what you're using and can warrant your product.

 

[visual800]

i have wetsanded these yellow faces in some cases and removed top layer of yellow, buffed it out and then flipped over and they look fine. it did cost more for customer though.

 

[WB]

I recently did 2 4'x8' for a client originally We were to remove the old vinyl and determine the condition of the lexan. Once I saw the signs up close I told him we'd have to replace Lexan with his current design (just lettering). He ended taking the signs and having his employees remove the lettering (cheaper for him and I didn't want to do it) When he brought them back the Lexan look brandnew!!, His employee buffed it with something he was going to find out and let me know. I told him if I ever need lexan cleared I was bringing it to him. I've never seen Lexan go from yellow to white like that.

So there is a away to clean it. All I know if it involves a large buffer!

 

[visual800]

Hey WB, we buff our signs out with Prestige Ultra cutting Cream, none of this cheap a$$ Mequires crap you see on most shelves....Mequires sucks. Im am also not impressed with 3M products in the buffing line. This stuff with cut anything couple with wool pad. Some acrylic and lexan I have brought back from the dead and some not so much if they are too far gone. When cutting with wool pad I run buffer at slow speeds.

 

[Gino]

Most of these faces don't start yellowing until about 3 or so years in the sun or indirect sun. Once it gets to the point of when removing the vinyl, it looks like white lettering on a beige background, why would anyone want to refurbish that old of a sign face ?? Seems silly to me.

As for costing more to peel vinyl off and clean it vs. a brand new piece.... I don't understand that logic, either. The cost to do anything vs. what you ultimately charge the customer, shouldn't matter in anything you do. You just propose the scenario you want to do and don't give options as using old crap over, unless it's useable and worth your time to do.

If it's one thing I hate doing, it's polishing a turd. ​

 

[Techman]

I had several panels that looked new. No yellow at all.
The client insisted they were only a few months old. Great,, this will work.

Should I post a few pics to show what happened? The panels continued to age and now there are some really nice yellow and white ghosts showing up behind the new lettering. Looks like a polished pile of bullscat. IT looks doubly bad at night when back lit. Looks filthy dirty and old. Not very becoming to the entire scene.

It simply is not worth it to peel and reuse. Even if the client is wiling to pay to clean and reuse that old panel.