# First Sign made with HDU



## The Hobbyist (Apr 25, 2015)

The father of a friend is going to open a used car lot in town. I offered to make him a sign for his lot. This is HDU (High Density Urethane) foam, at 18 lb./cu.ft. density. The sign is 4'x8'x1" thick, and bonded to a sheet of 1/2" plywood for rigidity. Two-sided, on a steel tube frame, all my construction. This will be lit externally via an L.E.D. light bar.

I have a Samson 510 CNC plasma table with a router mounted instead of a plasma cutter. This is my first attempt at something of this scale.

My firstHDU sign (4x8) by Joe Jones, on Flickr


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

Looks good Joe.


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## Northerner26 (Jan 2, 2010)

forget ever cutting metal again, you have a career in sign making using that material.
my God that looks fantastic for your first attempt! very nice work.


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## hawkeye10 (Jul 28, 2015)

Great sign Joe. I assume you will paint it. I sure would like to see a picture when it's painted. Also what bit did you use and what paint will you use?


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## Hutzul (Oct 4, 2012)

Great sign Joe, very impressive !!


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## The Hobbyist (Apr 25, 2015)

I sprayed it with *Kilz Adhesion* primer. That stuff STICKS.

I will touch it up and paint it tomorrow. Black letters on white field for the name. White letters on a royal blue field for the oval. Black rings and rectangle stripes.

The frame is made. It should be over the car lot on the 20th if all goes well. Maybe the 22nd at the latest.

I bought 76 cans of enamel lettering paint, pints and quarts, of every color offered. 1-Shot and Ronan brands. I like to have OPTIONS!

Man, I'm glad my CAR doesn't run on lettering paint. It is about $375.00/gallon :surprise:



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## The Hobbyist (Apr 25, 2015)

Northerner said:


> forget ever cutting metal again, you have a career in sign making using that material.
> my God that looks fantastic for your first attempt! very nice work.


I cut my first plasma sign the other day. This will be the name of my business. :wink:













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## old55 (Aug 11, 2013)

Nice work Joe.


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## honesttjohn (Feb 17, 2015)

Joe,

If that stuff is anything like Corafoam then all you got to do is paint it with 100% acrylic paint and it should last for years without any clearcoat. 

Is your bed that big or did you have to tile it?

Looks pretty darn good to me.

HJ


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## The Hobbyist (Apr 25, 2015)

The faces are primed and painted now!


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## The Hobbyist (Apr 25, 2015)

honesttjohn said:


> Joe,
> 
> Is your bed that big or did you have to tile it?


My Samson 510 CNC plasma table with a router mounted to the carriage is 5'x10'



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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

well done Joe...


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## Scottart (Jan 8, 2015)

that turned out great, nice, simple, clean..


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## honesttjohn (Feb 17, 2015)

Scottart said:


> that turned out great, nice, simple, clean..


Yup!!!

What kind of paint you end up using Joe?

HJ


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## The Hobbyist (Apr 25, 2015)

Mounted on the pole, and ready for business!


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

looking good...


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## The Hobbyist (Apr 25, 2015)

honesttjohn said:


> Yup!!!
> 
> What kind of paint you end up using Joe?
> 
> HJ


I used KILZ Adhesion primer, and RONAN white sign enamel for the base. Then 1-shot lettering enamels painted by hand with a teeny, tiny brush. It took 17 hours to paint the black and blue and white letters by hand on both faces. :surprise:


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## salce (Feb 29, 2016)

Nice job, after painted, it looks great. Eye-catching !


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## honesttjohn (Feb 17, 2015)

You did good!!

HJ


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