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OT: specialized paint roller

I am in need of a way to apply paint to a sign I make so as to resemble a screen grill on an old tractor or car. I have tried with some success a paint pen, a paint brush, a fiberglass window screen mask and lastly a roller I made from a piece of 3/4" plastic rod with 1/16" X 11/16" ID O rings stacked on it. The roller worked to some degree but the durometer rating of the O rings is too great to conform to the ever so slightly irregular surface of the sign. My next thought was to cut the same grooves as between the O rings in a piece of urethane or if possible mold such an item. Idealy this roller would have a 3" wide surface. Any thoughts?

Reply to
Steve Peterson
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Maybe screen print it; your fibre glass insect screen will probably be too course for this but worth a try. Proper screen printing cloth tensioned in a frame and masked with strips of tape will get you going. Use a squeegee to push the paint through on to the substrate.

Reply to
Roger_Nickel

Replace the o-rings with a stack of alternating large and small OD rubber donuts. You can control the conformability by changing durometer and/or varying the difference in diameter between the large (working) and small (spacer) discs. If you're using solvents for cleanup urethane and Buna-N (nitrile) will stand up well - nitrile is much cheaper. Neoprene is cheaper still, but may not tolerate solvent cleanup.

Ned Simmons

Reply to
Ned Simmons

I didn't think of rubber washers. I will have to see if I can scare some up. Thanks Steve

Reply to
Steve Peterson

You'd probably have to cut them yourself, but that'd be easier than molding or cutting the grooves in soft urethane. If the discs aren't too large, a couple arch punches would do the trick.

If you have access to a lathe it'd be easy to turn up a couple punches. The punches don't need to be hard for limited use. With a little care you may even be able to use tubing or pipe and sharpen the cutting edge by hand.

Ned Simmons

Reply to
Ned Simmons

I found this guy on the mighty EBay. All kinds of rubber washers. I think I will cut some 16 ga. spacers to go with them. Thanks Ned, I will keep you guys posted. The Washer House Item number: 7578743260

I am also going to check out the screen printing process. A friend used to do some screen printing and might have some materials left over. Has any one tried using urethane basecoat paint for screen-printing. I topcoat these signs with urethane clear so other types of paint might not work. Steve

Reply to
Steve Peterson

Yuo could screen them with epoxy screen ink. Screens are cheap and you can order them with your design already burned in. If the design is simple enough you can create it as a positive on the back side of the mesh with tape and spread a product called blockout over the surface. Let dry, peel off tape, ready to print from other side. Blockout rinses out with water is unaffected by ink. There are many ways to create stencils just depends on what level of quality you need. I've been in the sign and screen trade for 20 years and have seen tt all. If you have questions email me

Reply to
daniel peterman

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