# sign foam?



## reikimaster (Sep 29, 2005)

Anyone used this stuff? High Density Urethane for outdoor signs that can look like wood signs.... but they don't weather like wood.

http://www.signfoam.com

I'm trying to find someone who's not 2 hours drive away to see if I can get a piece of it to play with.


----------



## harrysin (Jan 15, 2007)

Whilst I've personally never used it, I'm pretty sure that it is widely used by sign-makers and is cut with a hot wire machine.
A friend of mine, a prolific inventor has prototype air-foils laser cut using this material.


----------



## reikimaster (Sep 29, 2005)

oh I KNOW it ain't like pink styrofoam. The density is way too high to be like styrofoam. Te 15 pound density machines like redwood and the 18 pound machines like cherry. It's far more structural than styrofoam. And it specifically states on their web site NOT to heat-cut it.

Harry - I fly radio controlled airplanes and have some made from the foam I think your inventor friend uses. Nothing more satisfying than out-flying some guy who spent hours gluing little sticks together and aking this awesome airplane.... and I show up with a plane made out of styrofoam, packing tape, and a brushless electric motor and fly rings around him.  .... not the same foam as that though. I'm going to try and get a sample.


----------



## AxlMyk (Jun 13, 2006)

I would imagine that you need a good DC to get all the foam that would otherwise be flying around your shop.


----------



## MysticCNC (Jan 23, 2008)

sign foam is awesome! machine's beautifully at a fast speed on a CNC router. nothing like pink foam at all. cuts great with all cutters. I did a big sign for a restaurant, called the Intermission Tavern. it's the big black and gold sign mounted up on the top of the building, if you go to their website. It's fully carved in 3D using a 1/2" ball end mill. I've also done a few signs for another shop out of sign foam, doing a 3D engrave with a V-Groove. it's pricy, but absolutely what you want to use for outdoor signs.


----------



## reikimaster (Sep 29, 2005)

yeah it's kinda hard to find pricing on the stuff. I've got some samples coming from Zimmernsignssupply.com in MA. There's another one out there called Precision board that should be sending me samples as well. 

What's it cost for a 4x8 sheet of 1" ? Any idea? 75 bucks or so? I've got no pricing information at all at this point.

***edit - just heard back from a distributor ***
holy crap! hahaha... I'd have to like it a lot. a 4x8 sheet of 1" sign foam is like... $200 plus tax.


----------



## Rolf Maxa (Feb 8, 2005)

That's a really nice sign on the front of the restaurant. Did you do both, sign on the top and the sign with the restaurant name?


----------



## reikimaster (Sep 29, 2005)

Wow! I got my free samples of sign foam 3. This stuff is awesome. It's a carver's dream. Very easy on the tools and carves really smooth. The pieces I got are about 8" x 8" and 3/4" thick. I got 2 pieces. I'm going to be hacking away on one piece just to try different stuff and I'm going to try and make something simple out of the second piece. My shop is awfully cold right now so this will all probably wait a while, but it looks like it could be very fun.


----------



## karateed (Feb 7, 2006)

Oh oh.....sounds like someone's wallet is going to get a lot lighter.....

Ed......


----------



## reikimaster (Sep 29, 2005)

karateed said:


> Oh oh.....sounds like someone's wallet is going to get a lot lighter.....
> 
> Ed......


possibly 

The one inch thick 4' x 8' sheets are $200. I can make a couple of house number signs with artwork that would use up about a 9" x 15" rectangle each. I can sell them for $49.99 pretty easily. 4 of them would pay for a sheet and the rest of the sheet would be mine!  Or if I have enough interest (not real interested in generating this much interest but what the heck..... just for the sake of discussion...) I can get about 30 of those address number signs out of a 4x8 sheet.
30 x $49.95 = $1,498.50
Now, granted, if I ever got to making that many signs, I'd need to buy some finishing supplies... primer.... maybe some paint (I already have LOTS of paint that is perfectly usable for making the signs on this stuff), but ... *shrug*.

Word of mouth and small signs might be in my future. heheheh. And I can use teh "extra" to do sculptural stuff that will stand up to the weather.


----------



## MysticCNC (Jan 23, 2008)

rmaxa said:


> That's a really nice sign on the front of the restaurant. Did you do both, sign on the top and the sign with the restaurant name?



Yeah, we did both signs, but the one with the name is actually painted plexiglass letters stud mounted to MDO plywood.


----------



## TERRIER (Jun 5, 2008)

Aloha from Canada,
I understand that this sign foam is very very good for routing work. I would like to get some for architectural detail on a house as it is light, takes all kinds of paint well and is weatherproof. Does anybody out there know where to get the 1" thick 4x8 sheets in Canada, British Columbia specifically?


----------

