Mosh needs Help! In more ways than one....

[shakey0818]

being in the house painting buis. for 20 years i would eithor use rustolium oil based paint or i would use paint from lowes valspar duramax self priming paint in gloss it is a execelent self priming finish paint and it dries fast and is real durable. its $35 a gallon.2-3 coats is recomended

 

[Baz]

I am always amazed when I see some one sell a job and have no idea how to make it.

Marlene ... In business when talking to customers you get asked all kinds of things .. some you know .. some you dont .. Either you chose to say "no" and the conversation ends or you chose to say "yes" .. go back home and scratch your head about "how" the hell you are going to pull it off .. then somehow you do and end up with a happy customer. There is "risk" in business and this is part of it.


And sometimes you fail but at least you tried!

 

[visual800]

Definitely use latex. We use all Benjamin Moore satin exterior for all our routers letters and plaques. PVC< foam, Aluminum. it leaves a great sheen and holds better than freaking mathews down here in south. I understand mathews works well in other parts of the us, I blame this on weather.

latex is easier to take care of and easier to repaint down the road. i always prime with 2 part epoxy and some on top of that with about 3 coats of latex, everything we do is sprayed

 

[mrchips]

The "Real Sign Shop" in town uses the Mathews with great sucess.....but they have a spray booth and all the protections. Here's one that went on a cupola of a local town library that I carved and they finished with Mathews...It's been up there facing west for over 5 years.....it's like new!

In my shop I happen to use Ben Moore Aura with Jay Cooke primer tinted dark gray with acrylics. Mostly, I use the Ben Moore cause I can get it locally. I've also heard great things about the brands others have noted......I don't think you can go wrong with any of them.

Hope this helps.

Joe,

Makin Chip$ and Havin Fun!

 

[Just Another Sign Guy]

i/m just curious why everyone is priming? and before you stone me for asking this question do your research.

 

[mrchips]

Dan,

I know it isn't necessary to prime HDU when using laytex. I've tried it but just can't seem to get a smooth enough surface with the house paints.....the "dimples" do show for me.....especially on the carved surfaces. The primer I use can be sanded to mitigate that problem for me.

That is why I use it.............

As far as throwing stones, this old arm couldn't throw one across the street!

Joe,

Makin Chip$ and Havin Fun!

 

[Gino]

I agree, the necessity isn’t there in the idea behind priming, but it seems to address the problem of wasting so many top coats from bubbling and creating so many holidays.

We don’t do much in the way of HDU, because of the actual makeup of the substrate, but have found priming a very important step with this product… no matter what weight you use.

 

[SlightlyChilled]

Mosh why does it say boys and that is a girl with a pig tail to one side?

 

[Just Another Sign Guy]

Joe, what weight hdu are you using? the only time i have encountered the issues such as you are describing is when using lower poundage materials. for me it is worth the expense to use 35# or higher materials as the finishing time is much less and the final product is so much better.

and Gino that goes in direct opposition of everything i have experienced and i have been through THOUSANDS of sheets of hdu...something else is causing the issue, either poor paint, thinned paint, or improper finishing techniques..or a combination of those.

frankly i dont care if people are priming if they are doing it correctly but in my experience most ppl dont and it causes many more problems..so i would rather that they skipped the step all together because it is not necessary. the first and obvious reason i am opposed to priming is because it adds additional finishing time. the second and most important reason is that most people in my experience do not let it cure COMPLETELY before applying finish coats. what happens then is that some time down the road (maybe a couple years, maybe a month or two) the primer separates from the hdu taking the finish coat(s) of paint with it leaving raw hdu..it is always clear what the problem is that caused this problem..when i sold sign supplies and equipment i saw this problem literally 100's of times as people thought that there was either a failure with the hdu or the paint and not their finishing techniques.

i can not stress how important it is for your primer to be entirely cured before encapsulating it with finish coats of paint, if it is not entirely cured in time it will fail...and entirely cured does not simply mean dry to the touch.

 

[mrchips]

Dan,

Everything you said is true about the curing. I've had many discussions with Frank Manning and Kent Smith, (both are friends) over the years and I take precautions to prevent such mishaps.......I also do extensive testing of my own to verify (under my controlled conditions, in MY shop here in CT). In the past, when I was using pine and urethane coatings, I sent actual sample panels to trusted friends in the biz from Canada to FL, CA, TX, OR and in the Tetons at 5,000ft (can you say UV City?) for them to test for me in their own unique enviornments. Name me another nut that would do the same?

I used a lot of 15lb before switching to 20lb. I switched to the 20 for the same reason you use 30.....fewer coatings required (in my case primer and sanding). BTW, the "holding better detail" line you hear is a function of the craftsman and the condition of his tools.....not the weight of the material. The 30lb is not practicle for me.....harder material = more chips which = more time. No savings there for my personal situation.

For anyone following this thread, what Dan is saying is there is a HUGE difference between dry to the touch and curing.....REALLY BIG! Acrylic latex will take up to a month to cure......enamels, 7-10 days.

Test Test Test

Joe,

Makin Chip$ and Havin Fun!

 

[Mosh]

These letters are 12" tall, logo 32" tall. I cut them from 1", 15 lbs signfoam on a scroll saw, then routed out the back side and installed Gemini letter pads into them with 2 part epoxy (plan on a stud mount) I painted with a water based industrial emnael from sherwinn williams. So there you go, that is what I did in the end. Thanks for all the advice. To make the pattern I cut some studs down to 1/4", screwed them in, lined the letters up on a plotted pattern and pressed down leaving a mark where the studs go.

The big thing on this job is I would have just gotten Gemini to make the logo, but there was only 10 days to produce it. Hard to beat Gemini letters and logos.

letters


pads


pattern