Screen printed acrylic sign faces??

[LouieJ99]

I have a customer that wants me to change out a phone number on the sign faces in the light box sign hanging in front of her store.
I think to myself that it's easy enough... peel the old vinyl off... put new numbers on. Right? WRONG??? The lettering on the acrylic ISN'T cut vinyl!!!
Is there a such thing as screen printed sign faces?? Has anyone seen anythign like this before?
Would something like Acetone remove the printing so I can apply new lettering with cut vinyl??

Any input is appreciated.

 

[royster13]

Probably sprayed like they made signs in the "olden days".....

 

[signage]

is the lettering face(1st surface) or back side(2nd surface)?

 

[LouieJ99]

is the lettering face(1st surface) or back side(2nd surface)?

If you run your finger over where the lettering is... you cant feel any "edge" on the lettering. So now that you mention it... it might be on the back side.
Have you seen something like that before?

 

[signage]

Yes!

 

[headfirst]

I have a customer that wants me to change out a phone number on the sign faces in the light box sign hanging in front of her store.
I think to myself that it's easy enough... peel the old vinyl off... put new numbers on. Right? WRONG??? The lettering on the acrylic ISN'T cut vinyl!!!
Is there a such thing as screen printed sign faces?? Has anyone seen anythign like this before?
Would something like Acetone remove the printing so I can apply new lettering with cut vinyl??

Any input is appreciated.

Try Bean-e-doo from Franmar. It takes off most of the inks we work with.

 

[ChicagoGraphics]

Rayco sign supply has a great paint remover just for plastic faces, might want to give them a call 773-267-5200

 

[Farmboy]

I would suggest you figure out what your dealing with before you go spraying chemicals all over it in hopes of it coming off, or you may very well be replacing the whole panel.

 

[visual800]

chances are you remove the number your gonna remove the white spray on back, then you have a mess. not only will you have to replace the number but now you have to respray the back and belive me this is not going to match up. either order new faces or abort this job.

Since you mentioned the lettering is on back that leads me to belive the faces were clear in the beginning are they flat or pan?

 

[tsgstl]

Black out the number and cover with the new.
If the customer insists on going cheap, just make sure he knows at night he will just have a box where the number is (if it even lights)

 

[LouieJ99]

Yeah... if they're done from the back... I dont wanna do it.
She has a call into the guy who did the sign, but he hasn't shown up yet to do it. I'm guessing they are done from the back because she said something about he was gonna take the faces, fix them, and then bring them back.
I really dont feel like getting that involved in changing the faces. Was hoping it was gonna be a "peel and replace" job. I only offered to do it because I was doing another job for her.
I already suggested the 'blackout" cover idea. I suggested just covering the number with black and either applying white lettering (for white on black), or reverse weeding white (for black on white). But she'd prefer it lights up at night instead of being dark...

 

[DizzyMarkus]

So trying to help here and Im faily new lol -- Why cant you paint a black (or whatever color) rectangle over the current letters? make a rectangle or shape of vinyl? Sticking new over? There are all kinds of paints.

Thanks,
Markus

 

[OlsonSigns601]

So trying to help here and Im faily new lol -- Why cant you paint a black (or whatever color) rectangle over the current letters? make a rectangle or shape of vinyl? Sticking new over? There are all kinds of paints.

Thanks,
Markus

If the sign doesn't light up, just stick vinyl over it.

But if it does light up, its not going to look right.

If its a pan face sign, chances are in my experience is that its a polycarbonate and its not going to react very well to any stripping agent.

But maybe I'm mixed up. Maybe you can strip Polycarbonate but not acrylic.

Either way, I wouldn't mess with it. Besides smelling up the shop for a day and giving everyone a headache (unless you have a paint booth) the sign will never look as good as it did when it was 1st painted and its more time and effort than its worth.

 

[signcrafters london]

This is one reason I generally try to talk clients out of putting phone numbers on their signs.

 

[axis]

I have to laugh...

but, yes, there is such a thing as screen printed sign faces. Especially if there's more than 10 of them.

Don't bother trying to strip it, you'll spend more on chemicals than the face is worth. Any screen ink made for acrylic or polycarb is very aggressive and crosslinks with the surface. And, more often than not, you'll end up with a fogged, ghosted or crazed POS. Believe me, I know.

 

[Gino]

More than likely it's not screen printed...... not for a one-off only sign. If it's not vinyl, it's probably sprayed-on paint. Regardless, paint or screen ink.... denatured alcohol, a rag and some elbow grease will do it.

However, you have one minor detail. You do have to take it down to do the job professionally. You can't get it off up in the air. The chemicals will drip. That will create quite mess on the pavement, someone's head or just kill the grass according to whatever is under it.

Let me ask you this.... do you have proper insurance to cover you in the air with chemicals on someone else's property removing solvents ?? If not, you'd be better off declining the job since you aren't qualified...... more than because you don't want do do it cause it might be too hard for you.

 

[axis]

Umm, denatured alcohol is not going to remove screen printing ink and it's not likely to remove Krylon either, though unlimited amounts of elbow grease can probably remove anything.

As Gino says, trying to strip the paint with solvents in a public space is not a good idea. Aside from the liability issues and the mess, you'll probably be in violation of at least a half dozen ordinances dealing with VOC emissions. In any case, if it's masked and cut, vinyl or screened, it's going to be sub-surface, meaning you'll have to remove the faces. So before you do anything, your client will have to accept the fact that she may have to buy new faces if the old ones can't be salvaged.