Results 1 to 15 of 15

Thread: Adding color to v-carve plaques

  1. #1

    Adding color to v-carve plaques

    I can make intricately v-carved wooden plaques all day long at a good pace.

    However,

    I am about at my wits end at painting color in the carving, mostly gold paint in the carved areas. The process takes forever and doesn't look particularly great. I really need a better way to do it, i.e. faster and neater, or I am going to have to give up on the whole idea.

    The process I am using is:

    1. Carve the plaque from unfinished wood, sanding lightly when done.

    2. Brush a coat of shellac over the carving areas and let dry (shellac dries in about an hour) so that the color doesn't bleed into the wood.

    3. Brush color into the carving, trying to be as neat as possible and wiping most excess off.

    4. After the acrylic color dries (about an hour) I then sand the face of the board to remove any spillover of color.

    5. I then apply a finish coat of poly.


    This takes way too much time, especially in brushing the color. If I am too sloppy in step 3, the sandpaper gets gummed up badly in step 4. If I am not very careful in how I wipe the excess color, I wipe color out the grooves and have to re-do it with a brush, and no matter how careful I am it seems to happen 50% of the time anyway.

    I sure help someone has a better way they can tell me about. Help!

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Mar 2005
    Location
    portland oregon
    Posts
    1,286
    I would spray the color on. rattle cans would be ok. you could also just use a shellac primer to seal the wood paint it sand it off and finish it. get it spray cans if you don't have the tools.
    Steve knight
    cnc routing

  3. #3
    you could also just use a shellac primer to seal the wood paint it sand it off and finish it

    That's what I described in the first post.

    Cant find spray acrylic like the stuff in artist's tubes. Anything I've tried from a spray can 1. takes too long to dry and 2. Gums up the sandpaper when removing.

    I know some of you actually make signs - could anyone who does this share with me? I am not a commercial operation.
    Last edited by Gary Liming; 07-30-2010 at 10:46 AM.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
    Location
    Hayes, Virginia
    Posts
    14,760
    Gary,

    These two signs vcarved in Corian took just twelve minutes to finish.
    Tape the edges, spray paint with a rattle can and after ten minutes of drying time sand with an ROS.
    When it comes to wood signs I feel your pain and have the same problems.
    I am experimenting with gold leaf this weekend on a couple of large cherry signs I am making that have a very dark custom stain finish.

    Ace Hardware brand spray paint is the best I have found that doesn't load up sandpaper to bad. Rustoleum is the worst then Krylon.
    The two signs below were painted with Ace Hardware Royal Blue spray paint. I can sand about ten sets of these signs with one sanding disk.
    .
    Attached Images Attached Images
    Last edited by Keith Outten; 07-30-2010 at 10:53 AM.

  5. #5
    Thanks, Keith,

    but what kind of paint is that? When I've tried that, the sandpaper gums up and smears the paint into the wood even worse. I womder what I am doing wrong?

  6. #6
    Quote Originally Posted by Gary Liming View Post
    When I've tried that, the sandpaper gums up and smears the paint into the wood even worse. I womder what I am doing wrong?
    You are not letting the paint dry long enough. If you look at a can of Valspar spray paint, it says to recoat within 3 hours, if not 3 hours, you need to wait 36 hours. If you have to wait 36 hours to recoat, that tells you that their paint isn't cured until then.

    Also, if you put the paint on thick, it will gum up quite a bit as well.

    Not saying you need to wait 36 hours to sand, but if you put multiple light coats on instead of a couple of thick coats, it will help in that problem.
    Lasers : Trotec Speedy 300 75W, Trotec Speedy 300 80W, Galvo Fiber Laser 20W
    Printers : Mimaki UJF-6042 UV Flatbed Printer , HP Designjet L26500 61" Wide Format Latex Printer, Summa S140-T 48" Vinyl Plotter
    Router : ShopBot 48" x 96" CNC Router Rotary Engravers : (2) Xenetech XOT 16 x 25 Rotary Engravers

    Real name Steve but that name was taken on the forum. Used Middle name. Call me Steve or Scott, doesn't matter.

  7. #7
    Thanks for the reply, Steve (Scott.) I do understand, I thought this, too. It doesn't seem to matter how long I let it dry, except that long drying times screw up schedules. Keith said his dried in 10 minutes before he sanded, and it came off just fine.

    In order to keep the paint from bleeding into the wood (which would make the sanding so deep as to remove finer details from the carving) I think some kind of sealer needs to be applied, and any of the sealers I've tried (wax and non-wax shellac, poly (but that takes too long to dry), spar varnish (ditto)) also gums up the sandpaper even after a week of drying time.

    Somebody must be doing this better than I have been able to!

  8. #8
    What kind of paint are you using?

    I haven't tried the Ace Hardware paint Keith mentions, I'll have to give that a try myself. Paint can be a beast. It seems to simple, but I'd have to say that paint has probably been my biggest problem over the years. It's kicked me in the butt more times than I can count.

    I just had a job I did that required letters to be painted. I painted them, then I hit the painted part with the edge of a piece of sandpaper by accident, so I thought "I'll just put another coat on and we'll be done".

    Painted another coat, it crinkled up all the paint like I just put paint remover on it. Completely ruined the paint. I had to strip all the paint from the letters and start again. Same can of paint used for all coats. If you read the back of the can, it says don't paint a second coat after 3 hours or before 36. I painted it about 12 hours later. It even says it will cause the other coat to crinkle. It would have been helpful had I read that before I started
    Lasers : Trotec Speedy 300 75W, Trotec Speedy 300 80W, Galvo Fiber Laser 20W
    Printers : Mimaki UJF-6042 UV Flatbed Printer , HP Designjet L26500 61" Wide Format Latex Printer, Summa S140-T 48" Vinyl Plotter
    Router : ShopBot 48" x 96" CNC Router Rotary Engravers : (2) Xenetech XOT 16 x 25 Rotary Engravers

    Real name Steve but that name was taken on the forum. Used Middle name. Call me Steve or Scott, doesn't matter.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Jul 2005
    Location
    Sammamish, WA
    Posts
    7,630
    Here's my procedure which has always worked without bleeding with the laser:

    1. Clear Poly finish on surface before engraving, let dry well
    2. Apply high-tac transfer tape
    3. Engrave through the transfer tape
    4. Paint with spray, normally Krylon
    5. Let dry, peel off transfer tape

    or

    Have also used a plastic (vinyl application) squeegie to apply acrylic
    paint from tubes instead of spray paint.

    I don't know if a CNC would cut cleanly through transfer tape or not.



    Sammamish, WA

    Epilog Legend 24TT 45W, had a sign business for 17 years, now just doing laser work on the side.

    "One only needs two tools in life: WD-40 to make things go, and duct tape to make them stop." G. Weilacher

    "The handyman's secret weapon - Duct Tape" R. Green

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
    Location
    Hayes, Virginia
    Posts
    14,760
    There is a masking material made for CNC work but I have never used it so I don't now how well it works.

    ACE Hardware has their own brand of paint, it dries fast and can normally be sanded in ten minutes depending on the humidity. Lots of times I will put thirty door signs outside in the direct sun light. By the time I have painted the last one the first is ready to sand. I have to make hundreds of these every month so time is a major consideration.

    Drying time for painting wood versus Corian may not be the same, wood may take a bit longer.

    .

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Feb 2010
    Location
    San Jose del Cabo, Mexico
    Posts
    329
    http://www.talkshopbot.com/forum/sho...ighlight=snake

    shopbot forum. search "snake oil", "Dr Crumleys snake oil mask"
    Creative Woodwork and Design
    Vector Studio 22

  12. #12
    Thanks for the ref, Keith. I went out and bought some "Premium Enamel" which was the only spray paint Ace carried that had their own label on it. Will let you know how that works.

  13. #13
    I had the same problem. I finally tried One Shot paints. Have to brush
    them on, can even be sloppy, let dry overnight and sand and finish. My bleeding problem went way down.
    Bob

  14. #14
    What are One Shot paints? Where do you get them? How fast do they dry? How bad do they clog the sandpaper?

  15. #15
    1-Shot is a paint product made for sign painters. It's wonderful stuff. It flattens out like magic. You can be sloppy, come back and it'll look like glass. Amazing product. It's not a water based product, be aware of that. It's also not cheap, but a little goes a long way. It can be hard to find locally, but their site will show you if anyone near you carries it. You'd want the 1-Shot lettering enamel.
    Lasers : Trotec Speedy 300 75W, Trotec Speedy 300 80W, Galvo Fiber Laser 20W
    Printers : Mimaki UJF-6042 UV Flatbed Printer , HP Designjet L26500 61" Wide Format Latex Printer, Summa S140-T 48" Vinyl Plotter
    Router : ShopBot 48" x 96" CNC Router Rotary Engravers : (2) Xenetech XOT 16 x 25 Rotary Engravers

    Real name Steve but that name was taken on the forum. Used Middle name. Call me Steve or Scott, doesn't matter.

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •