Painting Corian

[Gary Hair]

I am going to make a sign for a friend out of Corian. It will be 48" x 36", too big to fit in my laser. I'm thinking I'll cut paint mask with my vinyl cutter and paint the lettering - just 3 lines of 6" tall letters. First, what paint works best and, second, what surface prep to the Corian to make sure the paint sticks? I'd prefer to laser the lettering and then paint fill but it's just not an option for this sign. Any help is appreciated!

Thanks,
Gary

[Scott Shepherd]

Gary, most anything works, but any of the "made for plastics" paints work excellent (like Krylon Fusion). Nothing special to do, just make sure it's clean and paint it.

[Mark Sipes]

You could cut tactile lettering and attach. (Raised Letters used for ADA signage. Acrylic tape bonds letters to acrylic.. and Corian is "acrylic"

[Kev Williams]

If you're going to cut vinyl paint masks, why not just cut vinyl lettering? The better vinyl will likely outlast paint, and if it ever does need a repair, just call up the job and make replacements...

And there's so many colors and types of vinyl available you can get pretty wild...

Like this race car- the sides are "painted" with a strip of 15" vinyl, we just laid it down wet and trimmed it afterwards.

The cool part? Notice the green rear quarter panel and the purple door panel? It's all the same piece of colorshift vinyl...

colorshift.jpg


this shows the door in green...

colorshift2.jpg

[Doane Buksar]

Gary, If you can do slightly smaller than 48", I could fit into my machine for you. Never worked with Corian before, so would be a good opportunity to learn something new.

[Ross Moshinsky]

To answer your question, any spray paint works fine. Rustoleum's new stuff is actually pretty good as it Ace's stuff.

If you asked me how I would do the job, I would absolutely v-carve the sign.

[Gary Hair]

Gary, If you can do slightly smaller than 48", I could fit into my machine for you. Never worked with Corian before, so would be a good opportunity to learn something new.

Can you fit 48" but not engrave it or can you not fit 48" in the machine? The letters are actually 42" x 31".

[Gary Hair]

To answer your question, any spray paint works fine. Rustoleum's new stuff is actually pretty good as it Ace's stuff.

That's what I was thinking - Rustoleum seems to be as durable as anything I've seen.

If you asked me how I would do the job, I would absolutely v-carve the sign.

I agree, v-carved would be nice, same with lasered, but it's likely that neither one are in the cards. Even when I had my cnc router it was too small to do this job and I my friend won't be able to pay what it would cost to run it on a machine big enough for it to fit. She runs a farm in the outskirts of town and hopes the sign will draw in business. The main thing for now is something large enough to be seen and fairly durable - Corian with painted or vinyl letters seems to fit that bill.

[Kev Williams]

I may be wrong, but I can't help but think a 3 x 4' sign to 'draw in business' would be a bit small...?

To expound a bit on Mark's idea: How about a 4x8' sheet of marine plywood, a coat of fiberglass resin will seal it, then paint it or just leave it 'natural'... Then use your laser to cut letters out using 1/8" thick plex? The lettering can be affixed with clear silicone or marine adhesive, and every bit of it will be pretty much weatherproof, and I think it would look pretty cool...

OR, send me the thing, and I'll engrave it and 'paint' the engraving with vinyl Done a couple of those jobs in aluminum in the past...


harbeng[1].jpgharbor plate1 (Medium).JPGHarbor plate2.jpgDSC03878.jpgDSC03917 (Custom) (2).JPG

[Gary Hair]

I may be wrong, but I can't help but think a 3 x 4' sign to 'draw in business' would be a bit small...?

I agree but she can only put up that size unless she gets a permit - that's very expensive and not likely to happen.

To expound a bit on Mark's idea: How about a 4x8' sheet of marine plywood, a coat of fiberglass resin will seal it, then paint it or just leave it 'natural'... Then use your laser to cut letters out using 1/8" thick plex? The lettering can be affixed with clear silicone or marine adhesive, and every bit of it will be pretty much weatherproof, and I think it would look pretty cool...

That's not a bad idea and would eliminate the expense of the Corian.

Thanks for the ideas!

[David Somers]

Gary,

Just trying to be creative. If regs prohibit a sign larger than 3x4 without a permit, would multiple 3x4 panels be acceptable? If yes, use a number of them to create a more visible presence?

Dave

[Gary Hair]

I'll have her look at the regs to see if that would work. Maybe she could do it like the old burma shave signs...

[David Somers]

hah! That image came to mind while I was writing but I thought better of saying it! I was thinking more of a grouping of separate, individually mounted signs that were close enough together so that from a modest driving distance they could be taken as one message, but closer than that and they would clearly be individual signs that obviously didn't require permits cause they were no bigger than 3 x 4. <grin> Of course, that assumes the county sign inspectors appreciate creativity and subtle distinctions in interpreting their sign codes. <wishful grin>

Share your final solution if you think of it! Curious to hear what you come up with, and how it works for her!

Dave