-
I want to thank all the members that have upgraded your accounts. I truly appreciate your support of the site monetarily. Supporting the site keeps this site up and running as a lot of work daily goes on behind the scenes. Click to Support Signs101 ...
removing old vinyl from backlit panels
- Thread starter Brian46
- Start date
Sign Works
New Member
Nice effect, what's that Avery A4 ?
Marlene
New Member
if they insist on reusing, just scrap it off and don't worry about hurting it. just be careful with any chemical cleaner incase it is lexan. also include the quote for a new panel along with your qutoe to re-do this. this panel has seen it's better days and shoul be tossed.
Stormyj
Just another guy
Heres my 2 cents. By the time you scrape off that old vinyl and clean the panel, your looking at quite a few man hours worth of labor. So, two ways of thinking about. Remove panel, do it the way customer wants it, and send him a bill for all the man hours. Or, purchase new panel and re-letter the whole thing and charge him accordingly. I always recommend to my customers that it will be cheaper to simply replace the panel.
CanuckSigns
Active Member
Is the client aware that you will be able to see the area where the old lettering was if you reuse the panel? We've tried to re letter panels that were 18 months old, north facing and there was still a slight ghosting, i can't imagine how bad that will look when you get the old letters off!
But if they insist, plastic scraper, rapid remover and elbow grease will do the trick, but they might not like the final look.
Gino
Premium Subscriber
I, personally, just did 4 panels yesterday which probably equaled your entire sign. Mine were 24" x 44" and your's looks to be about a 4' x 8' double sided. If you're only doing the top, it looks about 22" x 96". It took me about 1/2 an hour to do all four of my panels and that includes cleaning the glue off. The panels were about 10 years old.
I use a regular double edged razor blade to start. Got it all off in minutes. After finishing up all four, put some 91% alcohol on it. Let it sit about 15 seconds and scraped a little more with the razor blade. After it was rather clean, I wiped it down with a clean paper towel and 91% again and they were ready to letter in 1/2 hour. Lettered them up and the customer picked them up around 4:30.
It's not hard to re-use the old panels over. If I were to guess, with the economy the way it is..... most people are trying to re-use stock over again. If ya can't do it and do it in a reasonable amount of time, like most here are complaining, then ya might hafta start with a new substrate. As for ghosting, your new copy will probably hide it for the most part. People will be reading fresh vinyl that will stand out at 100% where the ghosting is maybe 5% at best. The new lettering will overpower that without a problem. Be finicky and make sh!t up with your customer and you can kiss the job good-bye, altogether.
I use a regular double edged razor blade to start. Got it all off in minutes. After finishing up all four, put some 91% alcohol on it. Let it sit about 15 seconds and scraped a little more with the razor blade. After it was rather clean, I wiped it down with a clean paper towel and 91% again and they were ready to letter in 1/2 hour. Lettered them up and the customer picked them up around 4:30.
It's not hard to re-use the old panels over. If I were to guess, with the economy the way it is..... most people are trying to re-use stock over again. If ya can't do it and do it in a reasonable amount of time, like most here are complaining, then ya might hafta start with a new substrate. As for ghosting, your new copy will probably hide it for the most part. People will be reading fresh vinyl that will stand out at 100% where the ghosting is maybe 5% at best. The new lettering will overpower that without a problem. Be finicky and make sh!t up with your customer and you can kiss the job good-bye, altogether.
J Hill Designs
New Member
Not sure, they said it was up there for 4 years.
J Hill Designs
New Member
Gino
Premium Subscriber
It's not long for where you're at or us, since we're both around the same latitude, but he's far south of us where the sun is far greater and if that sign got direct sunlight on it all year round, it could easily look like that. I've seen trucks come in after a year or two with their hood lettering looking just like that..... using cast vinyl. Thing is, when lettering hoods, we learned to look under the hood to see if there is ample insulation or not in there.
This sign, does looks bad for 4 years, but since the OP didn't provide it, it seems the customer is not returning to the people who originally did it. It also looks like they didn't use translucent. Translucent generally doesn't react like that, but calendared does.
Z SIGNS
New Member
Nobody wins on a job like this
The customer does not want to pay for a new sign panel he only wants the top portion fixed and thinks it should be cheaper than a new one.
Yes sometimes peeling the old works but most of the time it turns out to be just as much time or more as building a new one
and they wind up with something that looks iffy.
Don't forget your overhead remains the same all the time.
I would charge the same for peeling and trying to concoct some way to make it look nice as I would for a new face.
I charge for time and effort and the "just change my sign" is usually more.
I walk away from the customer with this mentality.
When the signman agrees to change for cheap he loses and the the customer winds up with a questionable looking sign
Nobody wins
The customer does not want to pay for a new sign panel he only wants the top portion fixed and thinks it should be cheaper than a new one.
Yes sometimes peeling the old works but most of the time it turns out to be just as much time or more as building a new one
and they wind up with something that looks iffy.
Don't forget your overhead remains the same all the time.
I would charge the same for peeling and trying to concoct some way to make it look nice as I would for a new face.
I charge for time and effort and the "just change my sign" is usually more.
I walk away from the customer with this mentality.
When the signman agrees to change for cheap he loses and the the customer winds up with a questionable looking sign
Nobody wins
I agree with peeling it off and re-lettering it. It's not a museum piece, it's a sign.
If you are going to do it on site, I would cover the bottom portion with some backer paper and make sure you have a good seal of masking tape so no liquids or cleaners damage the bottom portion.
If you are going to do it on site, I would cover the bottom portion with some backer paper and make sure you have a good seal of masking tape so no liquids or cleaners damage the bottom portion.
Techman
New Member
right,, Spend 1.5 hours cleaning that mess at 85 bux an hour.
Then charge for the lettering at about 100 bux. Then charge for the install. another 25 bux. Then charge 20 bux for cleaning materials.
Then charge on site charge of about 30 for the work onsite instead of the shop where it is nice and comfortable. Then charge a 19 cleanup the trash disposal.
that's the ticket.
Then charge for the lettering at about 100 bux. Then charge for the install. another 25 bux. Then charge 20 bux for cleaning materials.
Then charge on site charge of about 30 for the work onsite instead of the shop where it is nice and comfortable. Then charge a 19 cleanup the trash disposal.
that's the ticket.
GAC05
Quit buggin' me
Scrape the old stuff off
Go fast- single edge scraper blade- keep it wet with soap & water - don't worry about scratches.
Lay down a white background with some vinyl (clear glue if it is still backlit)
Put the new text on top of that.
It will look brand new and you should be done with both sides in less than an hour.
wayne k
guam usa
I wonder if the guy who did the church sign misunderstood when they told him to use "Impact" on the church text........
Go fast- single edge scraper blade- keep it wet with soap & water - don't worry about scratches.
Lay down a white background with some vinyl (clear glue if it is still backlit)
Put the new text on top of that.
It will look brand new and you should be done with both sides in less than an hour.
wayne k
guam usa
I wonder if the guy who did the church sign misunderstood when they told him to use "Impact" on the church text........