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MDO Panels - Primed vs Painted?

Johnny Best

Johnny Best

Active Member
Those primed MDO boards have a worn look to them, plus they will break down faster without a good top coat of paint. As suggested buy the painted MDO, a lot nicer sign.
 
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unclebun

Active Member
HAS to be painted, front and edges. Best to use oil-based bulletin paint like Ronan. Roll it on with a thin foam roller (after thinning with the appropriate reducer to get the right viscosity) and then brush out smooth with a high quality, soft wet 4" brush. Let dry at least 24 hours until surface is hard before lettering. The paint will not be fully cured at that point and still soft under the dry skin so you still need to treat it gently for a while. If the board doesn't have a back sealer laminate you will have to paint the back too to prevent warping and moisture intrusion.

Prepainted MDO will save you time but it isn't a very good paint job in my experience, and doesn't last as long.
 
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rickmdc

New Member
Gino said:
Why must you use MDO ?? Does the realtor think it's less money ?? Til you buy the wood, horse around with it filling voids, priming, 2 top coats, you'll have the cost of a 10mm acm board in 5 minutes vs. 4 days of fartin' around with the wood. Educate your customers.
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Great question! I typically do ACM. I only print and mount, I don’t really do installs. I always suggest to do ACM and add additional support across the backs rather than just the vertical 4x4. The realtor wanted to do MDO to see if they could go without the cross bar support. I really think it was just their first time and they wanted what they saw their parents get (family of realtors). So I told them I’d help them if that’s what they really wanted. I highly prefer ACM
 
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unclebun

Active Member
You can do an installation with less bracing/stringers if you use 1/2" MDO because the face can be a structural member of the installation. But you do have to take into consideration the shop time of prepping the board (especially if you have no painting tools and supplies).
 
gnubler

gnubler

Active Member
unclebun said:
You can do an installation with less bracing/stringers if you use 1/2" MDO because the face can be a structural member of the installation. But you do have to take into consideration the shop time of prepping the board (especially if you have no painting tools and supplies).
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I hope the OP is charging enough for all that additional shop/prep time, for a sign that's meant to be temporary. Every realtor I've dealt with is so cheap they either want Coro or printed banners that they fasten to plywood.
 
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netsol

Active Member
To answer the original question, YES IT MUST BE PAINTED.
MANY PRIMERS (I can't say all) ARE NOT NECESSARILY WATERPROOF
ask your friends from auto body shops, if you prime an automobile panel and leave it UNPAINTED, the panel will most likely RUST through, under the primer.

considering MDO's tendency to be hydroscopic (wanting to absorb moisture) you would no more apply vinyl to primed MDO than you would to bare MDO
 
Precision

Precision

New Member
Buy 1/2" MDO, one side painted, one side primed, from your sign supply warehouse. It is usually a stock item. Saves lots of time and labor $.
 
visual800

visual800

Active Member
Nope I would use 1/2" coro with direct print. I would not dare do all that labor to get a sign panel done. Ive had several cutomers request MDo and I refuse to use it
 
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