Foam Sandblasted Sign

by peterman921

19K5930

Intro: Foam Sandblasted Sign

This instructable will show you how to make a small sandblasted looking sign from simple and easily obtainable materials.

STEP 1: The Materials and Tools

Styrofoam: any type will do, beaded white (thats what I'm using here), or the pink, blue or grey extruded type of polystyrene. urethane foam will not work for this project. The colored foam is usually sold under the name foamular and is found at most building supply yards as foundation insulation, they also carry the white beaded foam and you can find it in some craft stores also.

Stencil material: I'm using sign vinyl that I cut on my Summa plotter using Coreldraw, but, you can use contact shelf paper handcut with an exacto knife. or even cutout stencils using chipboard or other materials, be creative.

Sandblast: For this project you could use a sandblaster (very quickly) but because of the polystyrene we are going to use spray paint any brand will do as long as it's not water based, solvents in a spray can will also do, experiment.

STEP 2: Sandblasting With Paint

Once you have applied your stencil it's time to "blast". start lightly spaying the foam and be careful of under cutting (bold designs work better as you will see), the paint or solvents will start melting away the styrofoam. Be sure to evenly coat the panel and keep in mind the chemical reaction will keep working after you stop spraying

STEP 3: So Simple a Kid Can Do It

My son Ian wanted to do one so we cut a small block of foam and put a dragon stencil on it, taped off the edges with packing tape and he went at it.

STEP 4: Finishing Up

when the paint is dry, remove the stencil and tape and coat out with a water based coat of paint or primer then finish paint using the colors of your choice. You can safely use spray paint after priming at least two times with a water based paint to protect the foam, but any little pinhole in the primer coat will let solvents get to the foam so at least two coats need to be applied. I use acrylic latex house paints and/or artist acrylic colors to paint my foam signs.

STEP 5: Fixing Mistakes

The Fedosky sign had an issue with the stencil lines being too fine, so I cut the parts from chipboard (leftover from my bookmaking) with my scrollsaw and coated them a couple of times with krylon paint to make them more durable, if the sign were going out in the weather I would use acrylic, pvc, or wood. I will then glue them to the sign after painting. You could also add other decorative elements as appropriate the style of sign

STEP 6: Finished Signs

I'll add the signs later

Finally uploaded the finished pics (1-12-09)

30 Comments

Chirpy Chirp 8 years ago

I just found this yesterday and have had it up showing the family, this is an awesome idea for house number plates using lost foam casting, expecially lost foam casting with brass.

How deep does the foam get eaten in from the paint and what paint would you reccomend for getting fairly decent engravings?

peterman921 8 years ago

it wont go far without eating under the stencil so beefy graphics are best. as it goes down it spreads out, keep this in mind

dont get too heavy too fast let the solvents work

I use Krylon but most any aerosol should work. look for xylene and petroleum products in the list of chemicals

just lay out some paper or cardboard on some foam and experiment

in fact if your going to make many address plates make the numbers out of cardboard to keep from re-cutting each time you make a plate

Chirpy Chirp 8 years ago

thanks for replying and I understand about it eating under the stencil, the plates would be just one offs so just bury the foam and everything in the sand to cast it. Thanks again for the great instructable.

moustick 5 years ago

for the small detail you can keep the vinyl and just paint over it, that will covert the small detail eat under. in bonus it gave more deep effect.

moustick 5 years ago

thank you for the inspiration of this project, detailed explanation. here is my first try

reinlar 13 years ago

What reasonably cheap (and readily available) liquid type finish could you dip or spray onto your sign, to make it HARD and more durable and long-lasting than painted foam. I guess clear fiber glass resin & hardener would eat the foam wouldn't it???

I used to know a commercial sign maker who cut letters out of pink construction insulation type foam (from Home Depot) and he dipped them into something which hard-coated them for durability against the outdoor elements, but can't remember what it was. It would be perfect for making this sign technique durable enough to use outdoors. Anybody know what he used.????

peterman921 13 years ago

I doubt it was cheap. you can use epoxy resins without melting the foam, polyester resins are too hot. there are two part urethane coatings available, try set design websites, foam coatings, hardcoat, props, etc. http://www.sculpturalarts.com/ http://www.demandproducts.com/Signage-items/

reinlar 13 years ago

Thanks for the links, but I think the stuff I'm talking about was (1) component, non-toxic, 24 hr cure, and cleaned up with water. The guy didn't even wear gloves when he dipped his signage into it. I'll track him down in the next few weeks and post his links. He may have even had a formula for self-mixing the stuff. It looked like white latex paint but thicker, dry to touch in an hour and in 5 days it was pretty dogone hard. Felt like plastic, but flexed enough so it didn't crack if you hit it. I know it was only guaranteed to remain intact for 3 years. He got repeat business, because his signs were good, and cheap. I also remember he attached plain roofing nails to the back of his signs and pushed them into holes with blue anchor plugs for mounting. Very simple, cheap and quick. His signs never got damaged, except during hurricanes of course. He made a ton of money traveling around Florida in April-August.

peterman921 13 years ago

it occurred to me a few weeks ago it might be snow seal roof coating. it's white and I believe waterbased, I'll have to go get some for my roof anyway, I'll try it out

adel_sebaey1 13 years ago

v. good man; any other works pics.

peterman921 13 years ago

yeah, check out my website and my facebook http://home.budget.net/~signjon/Home.htm https://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=lf#!/pages/Grants-Pass-OR/JP-Graphics-Artistry-and-Design/230729986988

Mig Welder 14 years ago

cool! that's tiny drill press!

penumbra_ 14 years ago

So you can paint over the initial spray paint coat with acrylic paint? Not acrylic primer? I wasn't sure how well acrylic paint would adhere to the enamel, but if you could skip a primer coat that would be nice.

uguy 15 years ago

You could use some of the 2 part Faux Stone paint and make it really look like sand blasted stone. We did this at a vinyl sign shop I worked at. Looks Great, Great ible, thanks for sharing.

scavanger 15 years ago

Great idea I always knew paint did this to foam, but never thought to use it to my advantage!

Weissensteinburg 15 years ago

Cool! I've never thought that this property of Styrofoam could be anything but a nuisance.

PS118 15 years ago

I'm with the others. Very cool idea melting the foam on purpose to make designs. I bet you could use this to create molds for concrete or other materials. Also, wonder how far a person could take this. CNC / Reverse stereo lith machine, anybody?

peterman921 15 years ago

well there is also lost foam casting that I have done using my cnc mill to make the parts in foam bury them in dry sand with a foam runner coming up to the surface and pore in your molten aluminum, let cool and out comes your aluminum part ready for finishing. I'll make my web page into an instructable
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