HDU primer

[Signs of All Kinds LLC]

I scanned through the tech pdf on your site, how many coats do you usually do (I know its says 2 recommended, but do you do more than 2 sometimes?) for carved or blasted areas with texture (wood grain) how are you applying? If you spray, what is the equipment set up?

Seams like a long time between coats, what does your drying setup look like (leave in a booth or ?)

Lastly, what are you usually topcoating with? Is it compatible with the types of paints (mathews, one shot....)

Hi Evan,
I always let anything dry overnight as a general rule, especially if we are priming for top coating and then masking before carving. You can get away with less dry time. I've painted carved letters in a sign foam sign in the morning and topcoated them with oneshot at the end of the day before no problems. 2 coats are usually sufficient, brush and roll. You could spray this but like any heavy latex paint, you need a wider nozzle in your spray gun, or a true turbine set up. A 2.2 nozzle in a HVLP gun would work. We stick to brushing and rolling mostly.
I've used Oneshot/Chromatic, Ronan sign paints, and have sprayed 2 part polyurethane paints like Akzo GGP for topcoats.
I've found that with sign foam, blowing off as much of the dust with compressed air first is the best for adhesion. Our drying set up is basically open air in the shop.
We've used this on cedar too, as well as a primer for painting the exterior of a couple family houses.
Hope this all helps.
-Geoff

 

[Signs of All Kinds LLC]

Also, whats your guilding process look like (assuming you guild over your primer)?

I like to topcoat with lettering white, then apply goldsize with a little yellow mixed in.

 

[Evan Gillette]

Awesome info Geoff, I will have to pick some up and give it a go!

 

[Signs of All Kinds LLC]

I would be happy to answer any other questions you have also.

 

[spectrum maine]

Ive always primed with latex and had great results, of course I spayed it and made sure the surface of the HDU wall completely clean. We also paint all HDI with latext As far as you guys using ONE SHOT for anything, throw all that away, ONE SHOT is crap and should not be used on anything.

Is there a reason you feel the need to use urethanes on hdu?

urethanes= longevity and color fastness. one trick on applying primer to hdu is that i squeegee the wet primer on the first coat on all the flat areas while super wet. has to be on its back. the squeegee fills in all the pinholes on the first coat, then sand and reprime.

 

[Signs of All Kinds LLC]

urethanes= longevity and color fastness. one trick on applying primer to hdu is that i squeegee the wet primer on the first coat on all the flat areas while super wet. has to be on its back. the squeegee fills in all the pinholes on the first coat, then sand and reprime.

There are a number of reasons we use one shot, mainly its availability and its durability. We often use their hardener in spray applications for greater durability. The do have a pantone color match system which is adequate to produce custom colors without having to rely on the paint store for exterior house paint, or the auto parts store for 2 part urethane paints or going out and spending $$$$ on your own in house mixing station.