I have a question that I wanted to toss out. I cut some signboards out of sheet plastic and they are ready for either decaling and paint… or…
Simple printed paper. It is very cold winter and as a rule I dont use paints or vapors inside the house for safety and was wondering if it was possible to use MS Word to come up with the prints, print em out on inkjet and glue em onto the sign boards.
I am wondering about durability and possible ways to alternative signing including dry transfers.
Thanks for any input you may add. It is appreciated.
I haven’t had a chance to try it yet but what I am going to try is printing sings on the clear Avery type address labels and then using them for window signs, billboards, and anything else that might need a sign.
Using Word will allow for great flexibility in font and size, allowing me to get very creative with signs.
Printing on plain paper first will allow for testing to make sure the size is right.
I haven’t tried this yet so I don’t know if it will work.
I have used my computer to print out ‘station’ signs. I have used both MS-Works and MS-Word with very good results. You can even ‘reverse’ the printing to get white on black signs. Use a good grade of slick inkjet paper or photo type paper and then cut out the signs with your X-Acto knife. I have done this both on a laser printer(Lexmark) and my HP Photosmart inkjet printer - Good Luck!
been there done that got the T-shirt, let me tell you one size does NOT fit all.
I used MS Paint ,MS Word for my signs printed them on plain copy paper with excellent results.
thats my 2 cents, now I’m broke
jeff
I use an ink jet printer. The ink tends to run if the printing gets wet from glue.
I design my signs and advertisments in Word, print them out then seal them with ‘invisible’ Sellotape - it gives a good flat (matt) finish, then glue the signs onto styrene and trim them.
Don Sutton
Try clear double stick tape instead of glue. It won’t make the ink run. Cover it with clear invisible tape for a dull finish or glossy tape for a shinny finish.
Hugo
I have had good luck with printed signs glued to plastic. I use a stick type glue and just apply the glue to the sign and stick it on. I have some signs that are a couple of years old and they are still stuck to their plastic backings so the results seem durable.
Just to fill in the ? for you: styrene. The only issue I can see is that some inkjet inks fade over time. (Some are better about it than others.) Hmmmm. Come to think of it, that would be realistic weathering over time, wouldn’t it?
The late Art Curren gave me a good suggestion about gluing paper signs to plastic which I have used a number of times. Before using his idea, I used rubber cement, which has a habit of drying out over the years and letting things come apart.
Art suggested using regular liquid styrene cement, preferably a slightly slower acting one like Testors. If you put enough on the styrene, so that the surface gets a little soft and tacky, you can then press a paper sign right down on it and it will stick. So far, the ones I made this way are still holding up after about six years. It doesn’t matter if it soaks into the paper either, since it will eventually evaporate. The only thing is that it will make the sign run is if it’s a toner based copy. Water based inks aren’t usually affected, but I’d experiment anyway.
I am using a Epson Sylus 740… I have considered the fade-over-time issue and have decided that I can always make more =) I am thinking that paper signs for depots, junctions etc etc may be the best application for this way of printing.
I am seriously considering using letters from Microscale to build the railcar signs one by one. I probably will spread it over time as the tedium has to be seen to believe =)