• Attn: If you were on the old forum, you may have to reset your password!

Sealing Police Box sign

J

jonsprin

New member
Hello, I am currently working on finishing up my Tardis and I'm having issues with condensation getting between my layers of acrylic on my police box signs. My vinyl is layed over white acrylic with a clear piece in front of that. They are slotted into a groove inside the box. I'm not sure how to resolve this problem and was hoping you guys would have some ideas.
I haven't started a build log yet but I plan to soon.
 
jonsprin said:
Hello, I am currently working on finishing up my Tardis and I'm having issues with condensation getting between my layers of acrylic on my police box signs. My vinyl is layed over white acrylic with a clear piece in front of that. They are slotted into a groove inside the box. I'm not sure how to resolve this problem and was hoping you guys would have some ideas.
I haven't started a build log yet but I plan to soon.
Click to expand...

Are they glued together at all?
 
jonsprin said:
They are not glued together. I'm thinking I will have to take them out and seal the edges somehow.
Click to expand...

I would suggest clamping them together and using superglue around the edges.

Hopefully clamping will stop the glue running inside and you can also use accelerator spray to make it harden quicker. Several layers of this should help.

Less on the bottom, of course.

And mask off the front and back.

Alternatively you could use caulk to seal it, but that will be thicker and bulkier .
 
Rassilons Rod said:
jonsprin said:
They are not glued together. I'm thinking I will have to take them out and seal the edges somehow.
Click to expand...

I would suggest clamping them together and using superglue around the edges.

Hopefully clamping will stop the glue running inside and you can also use accelerator spray to make it harden quicker. Several layers of this should help.

Less on the bottom, of course.

And mask off the front and back.

Alternatively you could use caulk to seal it, but that will be thicker and bulkier .
Click to expand...

That's not a bad idea. I also thought about using vinyl wrapped around the edges.
 
I'm not sure you will beat the condensation problem when you use two pieces of Acrylic butted together to make up your signs. Unless you mate them together in a vacuum you will always have air between the two pains of acrylic and it's the trapped air that's causing the problem.

I found this with mine, especially on the sides of the box that are in direct sunlight as the sun warms the acrylic, causing the gases in the air to condensate.

I got around this my making my signs  out of vinyl which was cut in reverse and applied to the inward facing side of the clear acrylic pane. I then put white vinyl over this.

There's a post in my boxes refurb thread about it: https://tardisbuilders.com/index.php?topic=2793.msg135559#msg135559





. 
 
fivefingeredstyre said:
I got around this my making my signs  out of vinyl which was cut in reverse and applied to the inward facing side of the clear acrylic pane. I then put white vinyl over this.

. 
Click to expand...

Thank you for your response. I have been thinking about it and I think eventually I will pull the signs out and do exactly that.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top