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Making A 6' Signal Gas Sign

don long

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Mar 31, 2012
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southern california
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I started with a sheet of 18 gauge steel 6'x6'

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With my plasma cutter I cut the metal into a 6' circle

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I cut 2 sheets one for a later project

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I bought 2 20' 1"x1" angle iron and had it rolled into 6' circles for the frame of my sign.

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I placed the rings around the metal circle to get a good fit then I welded the ring to complete the circle

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don long

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southern california
I placed one ring face down on the work bench.
I placed the sheetmetal over the ring
I placed the other ring on the top of the sheetmetal and lined all 3 pieces together then drilled holes through the angle iron and sheet metal to bolt the frame together on the circle (as a sandwich)

This sign will be 2 sided. I needed a way to hang the sign and roll it around while I was working on it. I found a rolling partition frame. I cut it in half and added two pieces of pipe to make it wide enough to handle the sign

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Having solved that problem I sent the sign frames out to the powder coater. While I was waiting on the frame I hung and painted the sign with primer on both sides.
After the primer dried I sanded the entire sign with 400 grit paper.

The sign will have 4 different colors painted on it and the first color will be the white for the stop light. It will have 2 red rings painted on it along with yellow letters and a black background.

I started by figuring out how much area I needed in the first red ring and painted the white in that circle

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don long

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southern california
Next I needed to mark out where the edges of the red rings would be and I ran masking tape around the sign.
The rings came back from the powder coater so I located the drilled holes and bolted the ring to the sign then hung the sign back on the rack

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I had stencils made of the stop light and the letters S I G N A L G A S out of vinyl and after painting the white circle I laid the stop light in its place.

Next I masked off the white paint along with the black frame and painted the sign yellow for the letters

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The next step is to identify the locations for the 2 red rings and mark them on the sign so I will know where to place the letters. Then the letters were placed on the yellow paint

The red rings will be next to appear on the sign so I masked off all the sign except where the red paint will go.

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don long

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With the red rings painted on the sign, the sign was totally unmasked and sanded with 600 paper so the black background could be painted on the sign.

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The red rings and frame were masked off and the black paint applied to the sign.

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And before the black paint was fully cured (about 1 hour after spraying) the sign was pulled out into the sun and the stencils were peeled off the sign along with the tape covering the red rings.

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The challenge here is to keep your fingers from touching the black paint while trying to catch an edge of the stencil to pull it off the sign.
And the other thing to be careful of is using the tape to cut the black paint along the edges and not pull the paint off the sign leaving ugly chips and gouges in the black paint.

And the final result is a fine sign to add to the party garage.

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dlcwent

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Don, that came out great. As for having done multi-colored painting myself, I do know what a challenge it can be to not chip or flaw the paint while taping or stenciling other colors. As always, your work is nothing less than fantastic.:bowdown:
 

oldironfarmer

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Terlton, Oklahoma
Don, that came out great. As for having done multi-colored painting myself, I do know what a challenge it can be to not chip or flaw the paint while taping or stenciling other colors. As always, your work is nothing less than fantastic.:bowdown:

X2:thumbup::thumbup::thumbup: Been watching the sign progress on your Party thread. :thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:
 

TX63CONV

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Sep 14, 2010
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Dallas, TX
Amazing!

A few questions. Why did you powder coat the frame and not paint like you did the sign?

How did you get the stencils made? Just find a picture and have your local sign shop blow it up to size?

Did you use a specific type of vinyl for the stencil?

What an amazing job!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

iajonesy

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Feb 8, 2009
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Iowa
I love to see your stuff,Don. Everything you do and build is a joy to behold.

Mike
 
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royce

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Jun 22, 2014
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fairbanks ak
If that don't make you want to pull a cork or open a throttle, you just don't understand nothing.
Most excellent Don.

Royce
 

drivesitfar

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Oct 23, 2013
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Pacific Northwest
DON: as i mentioned i watched you cut that piece of steel and i just grabbed a chair and watched the show. VERY WELL DONE :bowdown:

just curious you mentioned you cut another piece of similar steel so are you going to do another Signal or maybe another brand on the next one?

you have a great eye and method so you should be proud and thanks again for sharing your methods and skills with us.

cheers
 

MarkG

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May 23, 2012
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Location
Elgin, IL
Very nice work! More of a 'production/bodyshop techniques' method of lettering rather than traditional signpainter's techniques, but very nice result!
 

akdiesel

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Aug 8, 2008
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Location
Wasilla, AK
don

Very impressive like all your other work.
I enjoy seeing your work in progress and finished. Hint hint. How's the vette?
Thanks for shareing with us.
 
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don long

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Mar 31, 2012
Messages
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Location
southern california
I am very greatful for all the intrest in my projects from you folks and appreciate all those encouraging words that have been shared here

Thank you
jhn 9840, dlcwent, oldironfarmer, Bill Bowman, Bears Fan, 1969, iajonesy,

JC23, Royce, nine4gmc, LXCam, and Bronson.


I'll try to answer these questions

Amazing!

A few questions. Why did you powder coat the frame and not paint like you did the sign?

The angle iron had been sitting out in the weather for a couple of years and was pretty rusty so I let the powder coater handle it and clean it up for me

How did you get the stencils made? Just find a picture and have your local sign shop blow it up to size?

I have an old beat up Signal sign hanging on the outside of my workshop.
I traced the sign onto some onion skin paper and took it to a good friend to have the sign transfered to the vinyl and cut out. I gave him 4 separate sheets to work from so as not to make handling the copy difficult.
1. SIG 2. NAL 3. GAS and 4. the stop light

Did you use a specific type of vinyl for the stencil?

I don't know what he uses but he also did the united motors sign for me a few years ago

What an amazing job!

Thank you

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

DON: as i mentioned i watched you cut that piece of steel and i just grabbed a chair and watched the show. VERY WELL DONE :bowdown:

just curious you mentioned you cut another piece of similar steel so are you going to do another Signal or maybe another brand on the next one?

The next one I'm planning is a Hancock gas sign some day

you have a great eye and method so you should be proud and thanks again for sharing your methods and skills with us.

cheers

Thanks Drives
I can always count on you to ask for more lol

How was the masking tape made to a perfect circle? Was it applied then cut to shape?

No, I used a piece of welding wire with 90 degree bends on the ends. I located center of the sign and drilled a small hole there put one end of the rod in the hole and scribed the sign where I wanted the circles to be.
Then with fine line tape I followed the scribe marks then covered the marked area with regular masking tape


Very nice work! More of a 'production/bodyshop techniques' method of lettering rather than traditional signpainter's techniques, but very nice result!

Thanks Mark
You are correct I only know production body work methods

don

Very impressive like all your other work.
I enjoy seeing your work in progress and finished. Hint hint. How's the vette?
Thanks for shareing with us.

Thank you AK
The vette is almost ready for the test drive prior to painting


Don
Nice work and great addition to your shop.

Hi Warren Thank you
I believe that the garage needs a little more color and the sign will help out in that department
 
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