Re relettering Lexan?

[bayviewsignworks]

We have a customer who wants us to take the vinyl off a Lexan lit sign. It is white with black vinyl letters on the lower half. The want to take off those letters and put on some new info? Will there fading or a silo of the letters when we take it off? Obviously they're going cheap on us.

 

[Just Another Sign Guy]

will there be fading? or ghost or discoloration... almost guarantee it, depends on how long it has been up.

make sure you explain to them the cost of removing the vinyl and adhesive compared to the cost of a new face. in my experience the savings simply are not there in most instances and then you are still left with a sign that is less than perfect in most instances.

 

[Mosh]

+1 on what Dan said. If they are being that cheap on you have them bring you the face with the old stuff removed and ready to letter. Otherwise price a new face.

 

[Mainframe]

Some of the jobs like this are not so cut & dry to answer, if this is a steady customer & he is determined to get the face re lettered, he will find someone to do it & you could lose the customer, also it depends on how much work you have, if you charge for r&r the face with a truck, remove the vinyl, clean the face & re letter it, there is not a lot of out of pocket cost involved, if you would have been standing around sweeping the shop, you are ahead of the game, if you want to do the job, explain to the customer when you take off the vinyl, there will be ghosting, then scrub the face with SOS & soft scrub with bleach & hose it down, letter it upside down from the old lettering & you should be fine. As long as there is not too much ghosting, which I have not seen yet.

 

[basicmetal]

There will always be someone out there that is willing to do it, but it doesn't change the fact that it probably shouldn't be done. Just remember that if you do it, you put your name & reputation on it as well and the client will most likely forget all of your warnings when talking to his friends about how bad his new sign looks.

 

[Billct2]

Yes there will be fading/ghost, how bad varies....
If I understand correctly you are only changing text on half the sign...
so go ahead, just let them know the ghost/fade may be visible.

 

[G-Artist]

That kind of job should be bread and butter.

I'd love to do 3 a day instead of 2-3 a week.

Sure there will be some sort of ghost outline. So what? Depending on the viewing distance it may not even be noticeable. Just clean it well before applying the new legend. In any case, tell the client to expect that.

If you do electric work, it would be a perfect opportunity to sell the client on replacing all the bulbs while you are there vs. a later service call @ $90 plus bulbs.

 

[Techman]

remove the vinyl, clean the face & re letter it, there is not a lot of out of pocket cost involved, i

No out of pocket costs? How about the 3 hours lost trying to clean that monster. Around the first hour and 1/2 it starts to get close to the cost of a new sheet. Never mind the sun stains and the clean up of the shop afterwards.

 

[UFB Fabrication]

If its a flat face and small than likely cheaper. If its a pan face likely not. Give the customer 2 options and what either would cost. Let them chose, as long as you are getting paid and will hopefully make a profit who cares.

 

[731SignTech]

If the customer dont wanna buy a new face , When you peel the vinyl off , reletter the other side instead of the side it was on.

 

[artsnletters]

sell the cheapo new faces...the old ones will no doubt be yellowed and maybe even a bit brittle (depending on it's age)...guaranteed you'll have mega ghosting when you take the old stuff off.
Tim

 

[Westcoast Sign Guy]

Polycarb is the worst plastic that yellows so fast leaving ghost images

I would love to be a fly on the wall on some of these sales meetings that take place with a client with some of these people.

What happened to doing a job right, and right the first time around, not just collecting your money and walking away. But leaving integrity, and with?

I don't know, maybe this is just one of those clients that just leaves their own image to the bottom line

 

[mark galoob]

what if you break it trying to pull it out of the sign or taking it down...

i dont think its worth the hassle...quote a new one, and dont tell your customer thats what your doing...take the old one down...clean it on your off time or when someones standing around, and resell it used.

mark galoob