Paint mask issues

[John Miller]

Hi All,
We have been carving signs for ages, we prime & paint the HDU with Matthews paint, let it dry for at least 48hrs and then apply a vinyl paint mask. All pretty standard sign making practice that has worked flawlessly up to now. This time, when removing the mask, new roll (yellow, my supplier calls it Pro Grade HI TACK) we have marks in the paint finish. You can see on the attached photo they are vertical marks, You can't feel them, they have just changed the look of the paint. We have tried gentle wiping with naptha, soap & water, even WD 40. Nothing changes them. Any ideas on repairing this?

Any insight will be greatly appreciated. Thanks, John

 

[zzzhhheee]

Super risky but you could try polishing it out but a super fine product used on cars. maybe McGuires ultimate compound?
definitely a last resort but surely better than starting again.

 

[Billct2]

That sucks John. I hate when a proven method fails because the some product isn't what it used to be. I agree with Garth, I would try polishing with a mild abrasive, we have a few in stock for such occasions. Some I've used are for glass cook tops, chrome and of course fine auto compound. Then wax. Good luck.

 

[John Miller]

Thanks Bill & Garth, The fine abrasive route was our last resort also, problem is the sign is double sided 5'x7'.
I will be contacting the mask manufacturer today, I have the lot number, it may be a bad batch.

Ahaag the sign business, when it was good it was bad

 

[MikePro]

is it certain the blemish is in the painted finish? or could it possibly be that the HITACK adhesive may have left traces of itself behind?
could be worth polishing a small area with a clean rag & adhesive remover, and the solution might be as simple as "cleaning" it.

otherwise, if it is in the paint, then my guess is that the paint hadn't fully-cured before the paint mask was applied.

 

[visual800]

is it possible that heat from the sun will even this out? Ive seen strange things happen to paint

 

[John Miller]

Paint Mask issue update. Visual800 mentioned getting the sign into the sun. We figured, why not, so we rolled it out into the sun and were amazed to see that in the sunlight the lines were quite a bit less noticeable. It baked for a day and although the lines are still there, and about the same as they were, they are far less noticeable outdoors and un-noticeable from 4' away. We played around with rubbing compound and wet sanding on scrap pieces and decided that route would be a nightmare. The sign is going up as is. I truly believe that a few months of atmospheric dust and the like will blend in the lines.

 

[GB2]

Hi John! Although we are not using Mathews paint, we have had similar issues with other types of paint and have found that the marks do basically disappear either with time and sun. You should be just fine.