Been making signs here and there for myself for the last couple of years, but they were just sitting on a shelf until recently. I had bought some mounting putty which worked better than I expected so I got to finally hanging my signs. I don’t make very many because my previous way of making them was really time consuming - it involved engraving where all the letters and border would go. Obviously this was eating away at the life of my laser tube and my own time, so I needed to fix this if I wanted to productively make signs.
Saw a post about a roll of 3M 467mp adhesive on AliExpress being relatively inexpensive, and my roll showed up today, figured I’d give it a go and made a sign I’d been meaning to make for a while.
Really simple to apply to a sheet and I was pretty jazzed at how well it all worked out. This is the only sign I’ve used the 3M on. Figured I’d show off all of my other signs that took much more effort to make, some of which I’ve shared before.
Yes, stick before the cut. The whole process is painting one side of some MDF, masking the painted side, applying the 3M to the other side, and cutting it all up. I did do a score outline for lining things up, I’m not confident enough in my ability to eyeball it haha
I especially like the way you laid out the “if not now” sign. Very clever. What size did you get and how much? The ones I just looked at are all very narrow and it looks like you got a wide sheet.
I got this one it’s 12 inch by 50 meters. Did the math and I can do around 100 sheets of material, which may happen eventually!
I saw a handful of people selling sheets of this stuff for a decent markup, and the rolls found in the US are twice as expensive as what I got. Someone else had mentioned this link and said they’d had good luck with it, so I bit the bullet and gave it a go. The roll was packaged well and everything looks good so far, so I’m happy with what I’ve got.
The Seuss and Ali signs were fun to make. I luckily found the image of Seuss with a texture so it needed very little editing, and the Ali one I threw a texture filter over it to get more details. I had done a different sign that I wasn’t very happy with the end result because it lacked details in the highlights. If you zoom in you can see the little shapes, but from a distance you can’t tell they’re there.
A customer bought a giant roll of it off facebook and I’ve been using it for her projects for a few months now. I also use it for applying to the back of veneer. It’s great, made all my Christmas present gift tags out of veneer scraps.
Thank you for the link though, I couldn’t find anywhere that sold it as a single roll, every place I looked at sold in it a 4 pack for 400+ dollars.
Yes, but that will change now that I have all of this 3M to use!
Recently had this issue with some of my masking I’ve had for a long while. Knew the day was coming when it started to split, then it all together just didn’t want to come off cleanly. Hoping I use this more quickly, or at least make enough projects to recoup the investment.
@CMadok no problem! Hopefully someone else can get use out of it, because it really is a good deal. Someone on the FB page was going on and on about the tolerances that the Chinese factories let slip compared to the US ones, and I could care less so long as it does what I need it to do, all while promoting a “friend”. Could be totally right on every point they made, but if this stuff gets me the result I’m looking for, I’m not interested in spending 4x the price
Officially, it has a 2-year shelf life. which is pretty standard for adhesive-roll-products.
Storage and Shelf Life
It is suggested that products are stored at room temperature conditions of 70°F (21°C) and 50% relative humidity.
If stored properly, product retains its performance and properties for 24 months from date of manufacture.
