Filling in the lines.......

[daniel]

Hey Guys, I'm trying to figure out how to paint my signs after machining. So Far this is what I'm doing.
1) I paint sign blank with background color.
2) Then I mask the blank
3) I V-carve
4) I paint the V-carved Cuts Black.

Now the Problems begin.
I want to peel off the seperate pieces of mask one at a time to paint different colors. But these paints are then going into my black V-carved cuts.

Is the only option to go back and try and mask the V-Carved Grooves. This wood take a tremendous amount of time.

I was wondering if there was some kind of silicone or someting I could fill in the grooves with that would peel out real easy.

Any sugestions on any techniques is apreciated.
Thanks!

[Brady Watson]

Why not just paint the layered areas 1st....then mask the entire deal & go back and v-carve it?

-Brady

[gene_marshall]

Try using your brush flat on its side.
work only from the center of a flat area out over the top of the v carve.
dip the brush often and only pick up a small to medium amount of paint.
sometimes I will flattenn the brush out by squeezing it flat in a paper towel.

Hope this helped
Gene

[kerrazy]

Daniel,
I do as Gene explains, but I use lettering quills, a type of brush that lets me use the side of the brush rather then the tip. You pull the brush and it will not drop into the incised areas. There are different quils for oil paint and water paint depending on the media you are using. Good luck,
Dale

[daniel]

Hey Thanks Guys,

Brady, I agree with your approach and use it when I can, However as the vector art becomes more complex this method become a pain in the rear.

Dale and Gene,
Thanks for the tip. I will get some brushes and keep your advise in mind. Sounds like I'm gonna have to break down and hand paint for now.

I've been trying to do everything with spay paint or a sray gun. It kills me when it takes hours to paint something the bot carved in 20 minutes.

I'm considering getting a vinyl cutter. I would 1) Cut paint mask with vinyl cutter and apply it
2) Peel pieces individualy and spray paint
3) Remask entire piece and V carve
4) Paint v-carved lines.

Thanks Guys!

[jhicks]

Not sure this would work for you but for what its worth I am working on a 24" X 54" sign that has 2 background colors separated by V carved oval outline. Primary background is dark green, and interior oval is light green. The oval and fonts are V-Carved so I created a stencil in simple poster board. I offset the oval V carve outline by half the width of the V. In this case .250 to create an oval stencil edge in the center of the V carve channel.
Cut the cardboard with a small engraving bit and then used blue painters tape to position the outer stencil on the piece squaring the edges to the HDU blank.Not a tight tolerance or clean smooth edges but I had .250" to work within for tape edges. Once set on the HDU. I simply taped a very thin edge around the ID of the oval to the HDU & poster board to hold it in place. Then rollered the center oval the light green.
Once 3 coats were applied and dried, I removed the stencil and rollered the background dark green to the edge knowing I had .500" that would be V carved away.
Finally the pieces were masked, Zeroed, and carved so all thats left is prime, letter and outline painting then final white coats in V carved sections.

It worked well but not sure how effective it would be on thin outlines.
I've purchased "Lettering quills" but havent tried them yet. Dale tells me they are the answer but I'm not sure I have the steady hand to use them well and this seemed to be a way to "Get it done" with my limited skills and experience.
I suppose you could go to a vinyl shop and have them cut each piece on mask, then apply/remove in the color order you want and know the thin V outline would hit/separate the outline edges for final black fill.
Then again I could do what others recommend and learn how to use the lettering quills. Guess thats on the next one.