Painting V-Bit Lettering

[sam]

What is the best way to paint V-Bit Lettering? We spray on the primer & outer colors with an air gun, but is it better to use brushes to paint in the lettering or should we mask it off and spray the text area as well. We did it ( the painting) with a brush but our customer was not satisfied the work they said "it was not very crisp".

[harryball]

I faced that same challenge... I just stopped making stuff for that customer. After comparing my work with other shops, he now wants me to make more signs for him. For various reasons, including the fact he's so #$@$% picky, I declined.

I've tried brushes and mask. The best method I found was to use a brush and wipe an excess paint off the face with a sponge. Signs are not meant to be viewed from 2 feet. At the proper distance it is fine.

Robert

[joewino]

While it can be done with a lettering brush, it takes some practice to do it well...and it's time consuming (both the practice and the doing).

We normally make a paint mask on our plotter and do the painting with a brush. Brush on the first coat using the same color as the background and any paint that creeps under the mask will be the same color as the background and will also seal the mask. Then just paint on whatever color you want the lettering to be. We do the same thing with gold leaf size.

Since we have a plotter and work with vinyl, we normally cut an outline for the lettering and let it overlap the edge of the v-cut lettering. This makes for a sharp edge and also better readability.

I don't mean to disagree but many of our signs are viewed at less than two feet. In fact most of the work we do we try to make it sharp and clear as if you were standing within arms length. Just the way we like to do things.

[bpfohler]

I paint the background color, then mask the sign. Carve the sign on the Shopbot then seal the carved area with shellac creating a barrier between the mask and the painted area.
Then we use a small gun like a Sata mini jet to paint the carved areas. We peel the mask while the lettering paint is still wet.
The smaller guns can throw a pattern small enough to minimize over spray but still get good coverage.

[mikelush]

What kind of mask do you use with the shopbot? Does it survive the routing process fairly well?