Outdoor routed sign material

[George Skinner]

A friend of a friend approached me about a replacement sign for their subdivision. It is currently a plywood or MDO plywood sign with vinyl or painted letters. I have only seen the pictures that I have also posted here.
They would like to have a slightly upgraded sign with painted v carved letters.
What material would be suitable to route the letters in? Would MDO work or should I use sign foam? If I use sign foam can it be mounted the same as the existing sign? Since I am not a sign guy what would some of you charge for such a sign?
I have only played around with some small wood signs on my CNC and this would be a good opportunity to do a larger sign that could possibly lead to more.

[Joe Pelonio]

I'm working on one now that's similar, sandblasted rather than routed. I'm using clear heart cedar, however sign foam has the same look. The difference is only in resistance to vandalism, sign foam is softer and easier to damage, but should last longer otherwise. It can be mounted the same way
but with some metal on the back to receive the backside of the bolts without smashing the foam. MDO is great when painted and staying flat, or for mounting dimensional letters, but for routing it will become very thin and is subject to internal voids that will have to be filled, and won't last as long as cedar or foam, the edges will start to delaminate over time.

I'm charging $100/SF plus more for several colors of detailed painting, however the prices in your area may vary.

[Scott Shepherd]

Or you could use Extira. Just make sure it's thick. The thin stuff moves a lot with heat and moisture, in my experience.

We did some routed signs out of it recently for someone, all v-carved, and we had some water in my wet dry vac. We got up some of the dust with that vacuum and when we opened the top, the "sawdust" wouldn't mix with the water.

It's made for outdoor use. It's not my favorite material by any means, but might be an option for you.

[George Skinner]

Thanks, that gives me some information to work from.
Scott do you have a square footage price you charge for the signs made from Extira? How well does it paint?

[Keith Outten]

George,

I'm a big fan of Dupont Corian for both interior and exterior signs. It machines beautifully, takes paint well and doesn't need a backing material. Lasts for fifty years ouside.
.

[George Skinner]

I thought about Corian but since this sign is taller then 30" I wonder how well a seam would hold up outdoors. I also do not think they would want to go for the expense of Corian. Could you give me an idea what you would charge for a sign like this made from Corian?
Thanks

[Scott Shepherd]

George, Extira paints well. You can find their recommendations on their website. Here's an address to their sign specific information :

extira.com/pdf/extira_signmaker.pdf

I can't give you a price, as it was wholesale for another sign company, but the standard for stuff like that is in the $100 per sq. ft. range. A little less if it's simple, a little more if it's complex.

Sounds like a lot per sq. ft. until you have to do the work and then you'll realize it's a good number and a fair price.

A seam would hold up fine in Corian. Also, it would probably be cheaper to make it from Corian, as you could easily get Glacier White and that would skip all the priming and painting of the background (if it is white). Corian would do well.

[Keith Outten]

George,

Roughly 16 square feet at $100.00 per square is $1,600.00 which is the going rate as Scott said but you could make money on this job at $1,000.00 if the text is vcarved and painted and there isn't any 3D work. You only have to glue a small strip at the top or the bottom to get the additional 9" you need for the height, you would glue a two inch wide backing piece behind the seam. Glacier White Corian is about $230.00 per 30" wide by 144" long sheet, add a few bucks for paint and you are still under 300 bucks for material and Corian adhesive. This sign would be a cake walk.

This is assuming you will be using the existing posts to hang the sign.
.

[Robert Alexander]

Since you are talking about large Corian signs. This was a simple sign, but big
It's 30'' by 48''. they wanted a stone type look with only one color (white) to fill in the machined areas. The customer provided the Corian, and will do everything else except for the painting. All I had to do was 3 hours programing time and about an hour and a half for the machining.

[Richard Rumancik]

Just a bit over 12 square feet, isn't it? Say 13. Makes quite a difference in price. As far as the posts - even if you can use them, you should assume some repair and repainting. It looks like they may need a little attention. The new sign on some old posts would not look so good - so probably allow some repair time into the posts.

If you don't like the idea of gluing the Corian then maybe you can shrink the vertical 9" by redesigning the outline a bit. If you tell the customer it will save a few hundred dollars they might go for it.

[George Skinner]

I thought Corian was more expensive then that. Being in the construction industry I am more accustomed to Corian being fabricated into counter tops.
With Corian only 1/2" thick how deep do you route the letters?
Now that I have an idea what to charge I will put an estimate together and see what happens. If I get the job I am sure I will have more questions and when finished will post some pictures of the completed sign.
Thanks

[Scott Shepherd]

Charles Town? I worked there for a year. Just outside of there, a few blocks from the race track. Pretty part of the state when you get out in the country and away from all that industrial stuff down the street.

White Corian is about $8.50 a sq. foot. It's very reasonable when it comes to comparing it to other products, especially if you can skip the paint for the base color.

[Tony Dietz]

george... one more option to consider is expanded pvc (sintra, kometex) in the 19mm thickness... it should be available for around $120 a sheet...

you can really come up with a few options since that material is reasonable.. think layers of material..

it glues well with pvc cement and paints great with the krylon for plastic paint... there are "other" methods... just a bit more complicated.

[Aaron Koehl]

George,

I'm a big fan of Dupont Corian for both interior and exterior signs. It machines beautifully, takes paint well and doesn't need a backing material. Lasts for fifty years ouside.
.

For Corian you would have to use a very wide angle V-bit for v-carving; given the wide font the letters would be rather shallow. You could area-clear the text and paint fill that way as an alternative. Otherwise, you might have to double the Corian up, which gets awfully heavy.


Offtopic:
There is a neat technique that I want to try, though. Very wide, shallow V-carved letters, with two tones of paint split around the medial axis (centerline); say, gold and a darker gold. Might allow the deep V-carved effect with shallower material.

[Tony Dietz]

For Corian you would have to use a very wide angle V-bit for v-carving; given the wide font the letters would be rather shallow. You could area-clear the text and paint fill that way as an alternative. Otherwise, you might have to double the Corian up, which gets awfully heavy.

Depending on the stroke size you could also do a "flat bottom" type cut... beveled sides into a flat bottom. Gives the illusion of incised carving but not needing to thickness of material on a very wide stroke. I've got pictures somewhere if anyone needs to see.... let me know.