Finishing HDU

[Fitch]

Wow ... your first dimensional sign... congrats for two reasons: 1) for aiming higher 2) for asking BEFORE you have already painted it and "stuffed it up - now what do I do?"

A good learning lesson. I would probably have done things a little differently to this point... but seeing that you are at this point... lets move from here. Make sure you either wash or vaccuum dust out after sanding. First, you need to "seal" the cells. Now I am from Oz so don't know too much about O/S paints, but have found that a water based primer or auto primer works well at sealing. You might as well either spray, very thinly handpaint or hand paint / roll the background. Say at least 3 coats. Consider: are you going to do the returns in the base colour or the character colour? Some paint the returns the same as the base, some the same as the backgound. Personal choice. I tend to use only exterior grade acrylics (water based) paints. Down here we have harsh UV so the technology is good.

Once you have done the "sealing" it really is up to filling in the rest. Usually by hand or high density foam roller - the HDFR will give a smoother finish if continually worked back and forward.

If I can help in anyway... feel free. I "blah blah blah "specialise" " in dimensional signs.

Check it out www.coloradosigns.com.au if I can help in any way.

Cheers - G

PS Only new so not so sure if pointing to your own website is permitted... if not - Admin... feel free to remove.

 

[LowcountrySigns]

Not to hijack this thread BUT......

I have and HDU sign my client asked for the background to resemble an old wooden sign.

Any ideas on how to paint/stain this to resemble an old plank sign??

 

[Fitch]

@ lowcountry : not to hijack either but this is on the router right now,,, should be finished background in a day or two.

Cheers - G

 

[k.a.s.]

I route the woodgrain backround on our CNC, you can also blast with a Grain Frame.

Kevin

 

[LowcountrySigns]

@ lowcountry : not to hijack either but this is on the router right now,,, should be finished background in a day or two.

Cheers - G

Looks Good! Are you painting to look like old wood?

 

[LowcountrySigns]

I route the woodgrain backround on our CNC, you can also blast with a Grain Frame.

Kevin

at the end, to achieve that "old wood" look, should I paint or is there a stain that will work?
Thanks

 

[J Hill Designs]

I would paint then stain to achieve "old wood"

 

[SARAH RUBIN]

Hi Guys, Not sure if this is the spot to post this in but I am building an HDU sign for a customer. I designed it then took it down to a wood working shop and had them CNC router it. It came out beautiful. So now since this is my first HDU sign i was curious on finishing it. I read tons of threads but noticed that I didn't see anything about home depot latex paint. The customer wants to pick out the colors and thought for convence on getting materials and colors that the new line of Baer primer paint would be a good choice but wanted to hear from the experts! I read that 1-shots primer is the best but wasn't sure if there was any other good primers that might be ready available at the depot. Home depot is just 1/4 mile from my shop. That is the reason for using them plus easy for the customers to be responsible for the color picking. Thanks and will take pics after the sign is all done!

Josh

We are a wholesale sign manufacturing company and if you want to save yourself the trouble of doing all that running around we do it ALL.
Please keep us in mind for any HUD, Sandblasting OR Monuments your may come acorss in the future. We do it and you make the $$$

Thank you for your time

 

[k.a.s.]

We are a wholesale sign manufacturing company and if you want to save yourself the trouble of doing all that running around we do it ALL.
Please keep us in mind for any HUD, Sandblasting OR Monuments your may come acorss in the future. We do it and you make the $$$

Thank you for your time

You know I'm sure you all do nice work and I am happy that you are here supporting signs 101. But you have three posts and all three are ads stuck into threads where no one was asking where to buy wholesale signs, its a little annoying frankly.

Feel free to start your own threads, maybe post some of your work. I'm sure there are people in need of your services, but try not to be a


Then again maybe I'm being to sensitive.

Kevin

 

[petrosgraphics]

we use a lot of signfoam, 15lb. as well as 18lb.....
before you paint sand with 220-300 grit paper.... blow off and wash off...let dry completely.. 4 coats of latex primer, we use BEN MOORE FRESH START, good high body primer. sand foam between coats.. finish with almost anything..
have used 2 part paints, chromatic bull.colors, latex, all work well..
as for fixing unwanted cuts, marks etc. we have used a lot of dif. things from lite body filler to putty.. we have always waited till the 3rd coat of primer to do any repairs....

 

[signsolutions]

Hello All,

Wow, I am seeing a whole lot of different ways to finish HDU. We are struggling with painting V-routed letters with latex paint. Anyone have the following issues: ?

1. Latex lettering is not covering in one coat (I would think by brushing it on, it would...using BenMoore exterior latex w/brush)

2. Paintmasking lifts off and/or leaves choppy edges (so far, the rubber cement w/ application tape holds the best, but frilly edges and some lifting in smaller areas)

A note: We pre-painted the panel with Exterior BenMoore latex prior to applying the mask. Should we be switching to a different paint? We'd prefer to stay away from oils....

Thanks to all for the wealth of information here.....we should make a sticky for this topic!

- Keith Watkins
Sign Solutions

 

[GB2]

Wow, I am seeing a whole lot of different ways to finish HDU. We are struggling with painting V-routed letters with latex paint. Anyone have the following issues: ?

1. Latex lettering is not covering in one coat (I would think by brushing it on, it would...using BenMoore exterior latex w/brush)

You generally need two coats for good coverage. Benjamin Moore Aura paint is an excellent paint to use.

2. Paintmasking lifts off and/or leaves choppy edges (so far, the rubber cement w/ application tape holds the best, but frilly edges and some lifting in smaller areas)

What kind of "paintmasking" are you using? You should be using a good quality product made for that purpose such as Gerber Ultra Mask, Avery Mask, etc. Rubber cement with application tape is completely inappropriate. Standard masking tape from a paint store is also not the product to use. If you use the right product you won't have a problem.

A note: We pre-painted the panel with Exterior BenMoore latex prior to applying the mask. Should we be switching to a different paint? We'd prefer to stay away from oils....

As I said, Benjamin Moore Aura paint is an excellent paint to use. If you use any other variety of Benjamin Moore latex paint it will have silicone and other ingredients in it that makes it difficult for masking or vinyl to stick properly.

 

[prime signs]

I have been using ben moore for a long time. Pull the tape before it dries. When painting borders i brush on one coat let sit for a couple minutes and then flood the brush and go right over the first coat. Don't be slow doing this and poll the tape as soon as you are done. this will eleviate the choppy edges. I am using ben moores impervex high gloss metal and wood latex enamel the 309 line they are pre mixed colors, 9 to choose from.

 

[Eric H]

How do you price and sell something that you have no idea how to do or how long it will take.

 

[k.a.s.]

1. I wouldnt expect oil to cover in one coat, let alone latex. If it is a light color latex or it should cover in two, if its a dark color I've had to do three or four coats.

2. I usally dont pre-paint panels then rout, I know many do and it must work but I've never had success doing that. I'm wondering though how smooth your surface was if ur using BM primer, I think you really need two coats of a filler type primer (Jay Cooks, Sign Prime) to get a really smooth surface on HDU and that might be contributing to your rough edge.

I'd rout an 1/8 deep edge around your v-letters so you have a crisp 90 degree angle to paint to. I think its hard to get a straight line otherwise.

Honestly people can jump up and down and shout about how great latex paints are these days, but I have yet to encounter ANY laytex that comes close to Ronan paint. They just arent as glossy and dont finish as smooth, period.

I dont know if thats helpfull at all but those are my thoughts.

Kevin

 

[signmeup]

I always pre-paint the panel and carve through a mask. Paint lifting is probably caused by non-stick additives in the house paint. Find a brand that doesn't add non-stick stuff to their paint. Pittsburg Sunproof latex works well for me. (Use real paint mask vinyl.)

The last few signs I've done I cut down to a single coat of brushed on primer, sand and roll on a second coat. Then roll on the top coats of colour... two at least depending on the coverage. Then I apply the paint mask and carve the lettering. Then I seal the edge of the mask with the top coat colour. When that is dry I paint the letters whatever colour they need to be. Usually 3 coats sanded in between as required.

I've never done an HDU sign with oil based paint so I can't help you there.

 

[shakey0818]

I have used almost every paint on the market for all kinds of surfaces and i really like the Benjamin Moore Aura primer plus paint also the Home Depot primer plus paint is good also however if sanding between coats is required then i would use Gliddens latex Gripper primer found at home depot it sands better than the primer plus paint systems.Then i would top coat it with 2 coats of the Ben Moore Aura that will give you the best finish and longevity.Be sure to use a tack-cloth after sanding each time.If you have to use tape for edges or anything use Frog tape its the best and gives a crisp line when removed.

 

[signsolutions]

Perhaps the eye opener here for me is the notion of this 'non-stick' additive in the paint. We moved to BenMoore because the Duron latex paints we were using seemed to never dry....we would wait 24 hours and it was still tacky and paint could be easily pulled off by another painted surface touching it. Production time was taking waaaay too long.

The BenMoore line has been a dream for drying time and handling.

Is the sheen of the paint (flat vs. semi-gloss vs. gloss) something to be considered as far as adhesion of mask?

Now, please allow me to clarify:

1. Using 15# HDU primed w/ SignPrime. Smooth finish.

2. Rolled on Valspar (yikes) exterior semi-gloss. (this may be the problem...the BenMoore intended was not used) However, the finish was consistent that of an paint-rolled interior wall.

3. Tried 2 masking methods and V-carved with a 120 degree bit.
- Avery Paint mask did not adhere as well as I hoped, however nice routed edges in the areas it did.
- So I tried the rubber cement w/ RLA tape trick....this actually adhered very well with exception to smaller pointed areas. Fuzzy edges on the RLA that interfered with painting though.

(@ kevin, I thought of doing something like what you mentioned, more for cutting a nicer masking edge than a paint-to edge. I.e., route the outline first with an end mill a couple thou deep, then continue with the V-route)

4. Painted V-routed lettering with BenMoore MoorGard...royal blue low-lustre.

Thanks a lot my friends, all this feedback is wonderful!

- Keith Watkins
Sign Solutions

 

[Steve G.]

FWIW....
I just finished Eight V carved panels. 4 different layouts, and 7 colors, total. I masked and sprayed most all of the copy after painting the panels.

Used R-Tape Pro Grade paint mask and 3m green tape. They Both work Very Well.
You must remove the mask quickly to avoid problems.

All paint was Automotive Urethane, three coats of High build urethane primer on 15Lb sign foam.

 

[UFB Fabrication]

We spray automotive primer as well Marhide or something similar. Top coat with mathews or gripgaurd. IMHO latex paint is for yard sale signs and temporary signs.