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What is the best finish to use for the lettering on routed signs?

Started by 21incher, December 17, 2015, 08:57:22 PM

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21incher

Got my CNC router that I built with scrap parts I had laying around running today. https://youtu.be/RbtwXwM0f_g
I have a question for those that are making signs. What do you use to darken the lettering and artwork? I thought that I read on here there is some kind of dye that should be used instead of paint. Any info on the finish you use in these areas will be appreciated. :)
Hudson HFE-21 on a custom trailer, Deere 4100, Kubota BX 2360, Echo CS590 & CS310, home built wood splitter, home built log arch, a logrite cant hook and a bread machine. And a Kubota Sidekick with a Defective Subaru motor.

Magicman

Busy Beaver Lumber (Fred) is the "ink" man.  He knows and posted about it.
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21incher

Thanks Magicman. I did a search for ink and found his post about making a sign. I'll see if I can find something on Amazon. :)
Hudson HFE-21 on a custom trailer, Deere 4100, Kubota BX 2360, Echo CS590 & CS310, home built wood splitter, home built log arch, a logrite cant hook and a bread machine. And a Kubota Sidekick with a Defective Subaru motor.

sandhills

Kind of crude I guess but my brother made me a sign once and he just used a torch to darken the lettering then sanded the smooth part back off  ???.  Turned out nice though.

Ljohnsaw

John Sawicky

Just North-East of Sacramento...

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21incher

Quote from: sandhills on December 19, 2015, 11:01:46 AM
Kind of crude I guess but my brother made me a sign once and he just used a torch to darken the lettering then sanded the smooth part back off  ???.  Turned out nice though.
That is a great Idea that I will try. With my luck I will keep a fire extinguisher near by.

Quote from: ljohnsaw on December 19, 2015, 12:30:16 PM
Fun to watch.  The vacuum sure does a great job, too.
It gets everything when I am only cutting 1/2" deep with a short bit. I tried a longer bit with some 1' deep cuts and some leaked out. May need to velcro a adjustable extension on it. :)
Hudson HFE-21 on a custom trailer, Deere 4100, Kubota BX 2360, Echo CS590 & CS310, home built wood splitter, home built log arch, a logrite cant hook and a bread machine. And a Kubota Sidekick with a Defective Subaru motor.

Larry

That cnc is pretty cool. 8) 8)

I wish I had the smarts to be able to design something like that.

Larry, making useful and beautiful things out of the most environmental friendly material on the planet.

We need to insure our customers understand the importance of our craft.


Kbeitz

You gotta watch using dye. It creeps and makes your letters blurry.
Collector and builder of many things.
Love machine shop work
and Wood work shop work
And now a saw mill work

landscraper

Marsh Ink is what I have been told for a dark finish on routed letters. 
Firewood is energy independence on a personal scale.

Ozarker

What is the intended purpose of the finished piece? Is it for outside use? Will there be a clear-coat applied?

Lettering enamel, of the type used by sign painters, is most durable, if colors are desired. It used to be that it still contained lead, unlike most paints, and may still, for all I know.

21incher

Quote from: landscraper on December 19, 2015, 05:31:29 PM
Marsh Ink is what I have been told for a dark finish on routed letters. 
That is the one that I found on amazon and it sounds like it is the one many people use. They say that it soaks in less then paint and comes in several colors.

Quote from: Kbeitz on December 19, 2015, 05:26:48 PM
You gotta watch using dye. It creeps and makes your letters blurry.
Sounds like the stencil ink is the way to go. I found some videos on you tube that say to put sanding sealer on before routing will keep the ink from soaking in on the surface you will be sanding.

Quote from: davemartin88 on December 19, 2015, 04:41:27 PM
Acrylic paint works well for me.
I tried that on the signs that I just made and it worked pretty good, but it soaked in to the ash pretty deep. Had to joint off over 1/16" to get rid of all traces of it. Tried sanding first, but it plugged up the paper.

Quote from: Ozarker on December 19, 2015, 06:19:37 PM
What is the intended purpose of the finished piece? Is it for outside use? Will there be a clear-coat applied?
Lettering enamel, of the type used by sign painters, is most durable, if colors are desired. It used to be that it still contained lead, unlike most paints, and may still, for all I know.
Both inside and out. They will all have a clearcoat on them for protection. I think lead paint is a thing of the past and no longer legal to use. :)
Hudson HFE-21 on a custom trailer, Deere 4100, Kubota BX 2360, Echo CS590 & CS310, home built wood splitter, home built log arch, a logrite cant hook and a bread machine. And a Kubota Sidekick with a Defective Subaru motor.

Brian_Weekley

It's not dark lettering, but if you wanted to get fancy, you could apply gold leaf (or fake gold leaf) to the carved letters...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QQpVlq2fp0
e aho laula

Planman1954

 

 
Here's my sign I built and hand painted. I used the acrylic paint from Walmart. I did NOT clear coat the final product for fear of the sign yellowing over time. So far, so good. It looks as good today as it did about a year and a half ago. Oh, and I did prime the entire surface before applying the lettering and white background.
Norwood Lumbermate 2000 / Solar Dry Kiln /1943 Ford 9n tractor

Ozarker

Polyurethane protects from moisture, as does spar varnish (the real kind), yet the wood does still breathe, albeit more slowly. These also contain UV blockers and scavengers.

Lead in paint has been banned, for most uses but especially for residential usage, since 1978. Even so, lead was/is still used in commercial/industrial applications, as previously noted. I did check, though, and lead is no longer used in lettering enamels. No idea how these new enamels would hold up. Might look into some marine paint. I'd expect that to have a long life, though would have fewer choices in color. But, you may not have wild colors in mind. Industrial paint might also provide a suitable longevity outcome, too. Neither of these options will be inexpensive, but they will hold up.

davemartin88

Should have mentioned that I seal the surface of the wood before carving or before painting to help the acrylic paint keep from seeping outside the carving- only had to do a small amount of sanding. I also don't apply anything over the acrylic, it's like house paint when it dries so eventually will fade but doesn't need a top coat. I think they sell a "patio" type acrylic for outdoors, not as many color choices and haven't tried it myself but might hold up a bit longer? Good luck with your sign!

Ozarker

I wouldn't apply a top coating over acrylic, neither, nor over any of the painted parts, regardless of the type of paint. Leave the painted parts so that they can be retouched with fresh paint, down the road.

Busy Beaver Lumber

21 incher

I use Marsh spray ink. It comes in about 7 colors that i know of ; black, red, white, orange, green, blue, and tan.  Cheapest place i have found to buy it is at Zoro Tools. It dries very quick, so it does not have time to leach into the grain of surrouding wood, so when you sand the face to remove the ink from everywhere but the routed lines, you get a nice crisp, clean edge.

So far as spray finish, we have tried at least 10 or so. What we have come to like the most is rustoleum clear glossy spray enamel. It is good for indoor projects, but also is UV rated for outdoor exposure. Best part is that is is readily available at lowes or home depot for about $3.75 a can.

These two sign were done with spray ink and rustoleum spray glossy enamel so you see the type of finish you get.





Hope this helps.
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SwampDonkey

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21incher

Thanks everyone for all the great ideas, I will have to try some of them out. Fred that is the look that I want on my clear wood signs and I ordered some of the marsh ink from amazon. I will have to pick up some of the Rustoleum next trip to HD. I only wish I had cedar for the outdoors signs. Here are how my first 2 simple signs came out using acrylic paint and poly. Made them for my grandsons rooms and I know they are not fussy. Made a couple of tops for them to play with also.


 

Time to start saving up for a copy of Vcarve to be able to make signs with more then converted fonts. :)

Hudson HFE-21 on a custom trailer, Deere 4100, Kubota BX 2360, Echo CS590 & CS310, home built wood splitter, home built log arch, a logrite cant hook and a bread machine. And a Kubota Sidekick with a Defective Subaru motor.

samandothers

Your grandsons' signs came out great!  The tops are really neat also!

SwampDonkey

"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

Busy Beaver Lumber

21incher

Those signs look great to me. You will love vcarve Pro. I am running that software and really love it. When i first bought the DWC CNC, they were almost exclusively shipping with Bob Cad, and I beleive I was the was the first to ask them to verify machine operation using Vcarve Pro with the new USB interface they were offering. Now the folks at DWC prefer Vcarve Pro as well recommend it over Bob Cad.

Personally I would not run Bob Cad or let a copy of it in my house, even if you gave it to me for free. The sales people outright lied to us, claiming that their software could do functions that Vcarve Pro could not, and tried to still continue lying even after i showed them evidence on the Vcarve Pro site that what they were saying were complete lies. We told them we were not going to buy Bob Cad and asked them to stop calling, and they ignored that request and continued to bother us almost weekly for the next year until i offered to have my attorney contact them with a harassment lawsuit, then they stopped. Go read on line and you will discover many other people that have had similar..if not much worse experiences with them.

You are making the right choice going with vcarve pro. We have only had to contact them twice in 3 years for tech support, and both times they were great. Their manual that you can print out is very comprehensive and fills a 3" three ring binder. I am also finding that several of the nearby vocational schools are now using vcarve pro as well as their classroom standard. I have had some students bring their vcarve files over to my place and run them on my cnc without any problems at all. Most recently a 54 year old student, with no previous cad experience, generated the vcarve pro files and came and ran these two tray bottoms shown below that she generated without any difficulties and she plans to come back and do many more. All we had to do was re-generate here vcarve pro .crv file and select the output processor for my machine instead of the one they used in class. And you are always free to call me if you need help as well.





Woodmizer LT-10 10hp
Epilog Mini 18 Laser Engraver with rotary axis
Digital Wood Carver CNC Machine
6 x 10 dump trailer
Grizzly 15in Spiral Cut Surface Planer
Grizzly 6in Spiral Cut Joiner
Twister Firewood Bundler
Jet 10-20 Drum Sander
Jet Bandsaw



Save a tree...eat a beaver!

21incher

Thanks Fred. I am looking at the Vcarve desktop version that seems to be the same except you can only cut up to a 24 inch square job. My router will only cut 28 inches square so it will work for me and save a couple of hundred dollars. So far the router has only cost me a little over 400.00 and I think the Vcarve will be a good investment.  I have downloaded the demo and it seems real easy to use. I will just have to modify a post processor slightly for my machine. I am using Sheet Cam that I purchased for my plasma table and that works good for 2d jobs right now. Ran a jewelery box in a walnut slab today and started worrying that something may go wrong and ruin it after watching it run for 45 minutes, but it ran great and finished the job with no problem. I never realized how long it takes to cutout a part. I would like to know how Vcarve works out with your rotary axis because I am now thinking about building a  CNC lathe that uses a router controlled by one of the low cost Arduno boards. :) 
Hudson HFE-21 on a custom trailer, Deere 4100, Kubota BX 2360, Echo CS590 & CS310, home built wood splitter, home built log arch, a logrite cant hook and a bread machine. And a Kubota Sidekick with a Defective Subaru motor.

Busy Beaver Lumber

21incher

There is a video on youtube that DWC put out there showing the 4th axis programing with vcarve pro and it running as well. Search youtube for Digital Wood Carver
Woodmizer LT-10 10hp
Epilog Mini 18 Laser Engraver with rotary axis
Digital Wood Carver CNC Machine
6 x 10 dump trailer
Grizzly 15in Spiral Cut Surface Planer
Grizzly 6in Spiral Cut Joiner
Twister Firewood Bundler
Jet 10-20 Drum Sander
Jet Bandsaw



Save a tree...eat a beaver!

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