I’m trying to make some signs that really need to have a frame around the sign itself - usually a decal mounted on a flat piece of styrene. I’ve tried to cut both balsa and styrene at 45 degree angles to make a nice corner joints but they don’t turn out very well. Is this just a matter of trial and error or does someone know a technique for how to do this? Thanks.
You just want the mitered joint look (but flat) or a shadow box effect?
It would be great to have the choice of the flat or shadow box. I’ll take advice on either.
What about the results didn’t turn out so great? Did you have trouble mitering the joints (e.g. gaps, rough cuts, seams)?
If the sign is flat, and you are having trouble w/ styrene or wood, how about strips of opaque tape (or bare metal foil, but that’s pricy) - these you should be able to cut to size (nice, thin strips) on a flat surface (a pane of glass!), prime and paint the surface, place on the sign, perhaps overlapping a bit over the sign edge to cover it, and smooth down - overlap the vertical pieces on top of the horizontal, or visa-versa, but be consistant (or lay the horizontal pieces first, then try for a ‘mitre’ using the vertical snipped at an angle).
I’m tempted to suggest plastic tape, but that can be a bit stretchy (and needs a primer before painting).
Edit - I just realized you may not want a sign to lay flat (hung) on a wall, but to be free-standing (on a pole, or mounted edge-wise to a wall) - while the tape edge I mentioned above would work, I can’t see why you cannot make a sign with a square of styrene (cut to the shape of the sign, hopefully rectangular for ease of working), then add styrene strip (maybe 2x the sign square thickness - center the edge strip with the edge of the sign square) along the edge of the sign (hint - white glue in the middle of the sign square some spacers twice the size of the edge strip, so when cementing the edge doesn’t get pushed out of location if you lay the sign on it’s side - when done, hot water the glue on the spacers loose and remove). Forget mitering for now - just trim the edging with a chisel blade to be even with the sign square edge, and continue around the sign w/ the next edge strip. When done, paint as needed (you’ll need gloss for the sign decals, then maybe semi-gloss or flat to seal).
In all cases, sand the sign square edges smooth and straight (ah-ha, that will be were you can spend a lot of time, or the edge strip WILL look wobbly and uneven).
<
I hadn’t thot of some kind of tape - that would be good for the flat signs - and I could make good clean cuts to join the corners. To answer your question, I was unhappy with my mitering efforts. When cutting the wood with an xacto knife it would compress to some extent and it didn’t cut cleanly; I’d get small fibers sticking out. It looked like something my son would have made when he was in grade school. The styrene cut a bit better but it I still had problems producing two flat angled edges to make nice sqaure corners.
You know, looking at my glorious ASCII diagram, it looks as if I wanted end-caps on the end-caps - actually I meant those horizontal lines to be like architectural drawing edge lines…Oh, never mind - besides, I doubt that sign edges in the US in real life were more than 1-2", and besides, on in my area in the modern era very few signs are mounted edgewise from buildings - indeed, most are either mounted on the business’s walls, or mounted on a post or equvialent (usually as a box - sign on both broad sides, thin edges between them to provide space for internal lighting, or as a flat sign between two uprights, thin one piece signboard externally lit, but usually no edging).
I was looking for a flat-against-the-wall installation but you’re right, if I could get a sufficiently thick mounting, it would be nice to have the option of putting it on a post. I’m not sure I get your instructions totally but it looks like I’ll be stopping by the hobby shop for some more styrene. One idea I got while reading was to cut a flat piece of styrene (or cardboard?) in the same way you would a mat for a framed photo. You cut out the center portion with the rectangle left over acting as the frame. I could try that with a thinner piece of styrene and then add layers to give it some depth. Then there are no corners to worry about joining since its all one piece.
Here are some tools that might help!
The Chopper
http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/53-494
The Chopper II
http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/53-694
The Chopper III
You can get bags of little wood rectangles. shapes, dolls & wood sticks at Michaels, Hobby Lobby ect.
I glue the wood, then paint, print the signs on card stock & use double-sided tape to stick the sign to the wood.
Here is a link to my sign collection you can copy.
That could work, but is it easier to cut out the middle of a styrene sheet, getting nice straight cuts both on the inner piece and on the outer (‘donut’) piece - if you can, you’re a better cutter than I am.
Sorry for the confusing explanation on my sign edges, all I meant to say was glue a piece of edging styrene strip to the edge of the (piece of styrene to hold the actual sign - square or rectangle or whatever), then chop off the excess styrene strip using a chisel blade using the edge of the sign piece as a guide - next, cement another piece of styrene strip to the adjacent sign square piece edge, and chop that off, until you have done all the edges of the sign square - if the sign is two sided, the styrene strip edges will need to project to give the illusion of edging on both sides of the side. Simple enough, but alas I have no images of this.
Walthers also makes signs (some double sided, w/ edges) for mounting on buildings, but the likelihood of finding a sign of the right size for your decal is…probably low.
Thanks everyone for the help. My signs are going to take a step up in quality.