HDU, Trupan, and Gold

[joe]

We installed a new sign last week for Rumors Salon that was a routerd HDU, double sided panel. After doing an area clearance for the background and letter insets, we gave it a quick sandblast with a grain frame, for texture.

The green colored material, on the surface, is sandblast mask. This is applied directly and cut with not problem.

I am so crazy about Trupan, it's easy carving and smooth easy sanding. I'm ordering it in now in units of a dozen. It costs $25.00 each. I've posted earlier how I treat it for exterior use, but here goes again. Dilute Epoxy with about 25 percent lacquer thinner. I dip my letter in this solution, twice. A day apart, and then finish was ususal. I never pentrate the surface with nails or screws.

The gold is as per usual. I like the Italian Manetti, 23K. Very consistant.

J
www.normansignco.com (http://www.normansignco.com)
6159

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[jhicks]

A work of art to be sure!

[tim_whitcher]

Beautiful! I've been looking for a Trupan supplier near me (S. E. Michigan) with no luck as of yet. Joe, you may not remember me, but you "walked me through" painting PVC with latex paints. The job turned out great. Thanks, again.

[Brady Watson]

Hey Joe,
That looks great!

[joe]

Sometimes we get so busy we forget to say thanks to all those people at Shopbot for having, and keeping this forum up and running

I took time out today to call Nancy, the Forum Director, to thank for her for the deligence. If you haven't spoken to her, youre in for a treat, as she has a most beautiful southern drawl. She's smart and helpful too. Probably could use a pat on the back every now and then.

THANKS TO ALL OF YOU!

J

[stickman]

Joe,

Love the sign. Great job on it, ITS LOOKS GREAT! What software did you use to design it.

You talked about dipping the letters in epoxy? How do you dry them? Wax Paper?

Jay
StickMan WoodWorking

[donchapman]

Fine sign, Joe!
What blast mask are you using and did you prefinish the HDU before applying the mask, and if not, is there a trick to getting the mask to adhere to bare HDU?
What router bit and rpm and feed rate do you use to cut through the mask and clear the areas to be blasted?
Does the blast mask adhesive not gum up the bit?

Add my thanks to ShopBot and Nancy and all those who contribute to this forum. I've had my Bot for about 5 years now and learn something from this forum almost every single day. It's an amazing community of many bright, knowledgeable, helpful folks, and sometimes, but not too often, one or two ranting old windbags. I strive to be counted in the first category but confess to having once or twice slipped into the second.

[joe]

Jay, If you thin epoxy as I've previously described, it will soak right in. The second coat will surface, a little, so we prop them up and let the edge rest on match sticks or tooth picks. One coat is enough for Extira.

Dennis Sapp came over today to help me with a rather complex, double sided sign. We had a little trouble with the sandblast resist staying down. I've made hundreds of sign with no problem but every once in a while I'm have a little trouble. Were looking at tempature as the problem. My adhesion problem could be easily solved with a thin coat of shellac on the primer. This will quickly seal off the primer coat.

I surface HDU with a good HDU primer. Sand smooth and put the mask down. Use shellac on the primer is you aren't sure about the tack of the mask. We use the very high tack version made by Harco. You probably should use a down spiral bit. This is a vinyl tape, as opposed to rubber, which seems to sheer a little better.

Thanks again.

J

[joewino]

Hi Joe.

My first post - just looking around and found the name of a person that is similar to this old man I know in Oklahoma.

Work looks good - as always.