painting those raised letter valve covers !

The roller technique I think was the OEM way to do it, probably by placing part on a conveyor belt and having a stationary roller set at the right height to pass under it and lay down the paint.

For the roller technique, I assume you use a smooth rubber roller that has some "give" in it, i.e. not rock-hard, roll it in some paint and then roll it over the raised letters? Do you mask adjacent areas to keep from getting excess paint on the rest of the part? Do you use the rollers that art stores have for lithography?

 

Imho, these are way cooler than polished T-bird ones...

 

Anywhere that sells paint will have small, closed cell foam rollers. If you're gentle and don't overload, it should work fine.

 

It depends on the size of the letters , you can go bigger like the letters on a tail gate just go easy with the paint . I have done it at 90 degrees, foam works best

 

I also have a set of those valve covers. I've been think of getting them chromed and then somehow doing the same thing for the letters. Be nice to be able to apply a decal over the raised part insted of painting. I did that with my Unibody tailgate letters.

Michael

 

unibody guy , i used to run a sign shop you could cut the letters out of the tape as shown in the first few steps , carefully peel them off and place them on a contrasting piece of colored paper, find a good sign shop in your area and take it to them they can scan in , dont worry if u dont get them cut exactly perfect they should be able so go into their program ang node edit the letters to clean up the edges and curves. to apply them spray a little water alchohol solution on the covers so u can slide the letters around when you have em where u want press them down and work the water out , a little heat from a hairdryer will help. not sure how the adhesive will hold up with the heat though ?

 

thanks for the compliment mopar mama !

 

Thanks for posting the tips. Definitely gonna try that on my SBC covers. Have three sets so at least one should turn out!

 

For the guys that know you... What part of this quote doesn't look right???

 

bttt cant figure out how to link this info to chopperman !

 

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=300930&page=2


cut and paste this to him.

 

GREAT job - they really look good!!

another way to do this is get the covers painted the color you want them. once the paint is good & dry run masking tape across the WHOLE top of the cover get the letters covered nice & tight.
then take your DA sander & sand the tape off the letters. there you go all the letters are masked off ready to spray. spray the letters unmask & you are DONE!

i read an article years ago on this sanding method then i tried it on a 6 cyl chev cover & it worked REALLY good! those letters were so even.
i think i used 240 then 320 grit.

 

The raised lettering on a red ram cover is not very tall at all ( just barely raised ) I think i'll go the razorblade route.... I have two sets of covers so, I will try both and report out..

 

I have seen that before but thought that everyone knew it already, my bad. Thanks for posting it, I like the pen part, didn't think of that to seal it down, always just used my fingers. Didn't always work as well!

 

That's a new one I have not heard of yet. I have my Caddy covers to do this spring yet, that might be a better way to go for me!

 

There is a great little eXacto knife available at hobby shops which has a swivel tip which makes curves and turns and corners really easy to handle. Just keep a sharp blade in it and you're in business.

 

Nice tech post and nice results.A couple of hints:when using an EXacto knife to cut around the letters,make sure you don't press down too hard as this causes the blade to wander on the curved surface.Also change the blade frequently as the points dull quickly when cutting on metal and that creates the ragged lines.
Another is after the tape is layed down,take a piece of artist's charcoal and using the side of it rub across the letters.This will help define the line you are going to cut along.Using the ballpoint pen for a burnishing tool is a great idea.

 

A good way of painting raised letters is to.... think in reverse.....

1. spray the final colour you want on the letters first ( dont worry about overspray on surrounding areas)

2. coat your letters with clear and let bake hard.

3. sand areas outside the letters and paint final top coat of paint on rockers.

4. soon as you can, wipe off the paint on lettering to reveal the colour under the clear protection. I use 'Q' tips dipped in thinners and replace the tips often ( the're cheap)

5. after curing , coat entire rocker in clear.

 

pics of a recent set i did !

 

This is good info, thanks for the heads up, will do my merc valve covers this way sometime

Brad

 

i do these cadillac covers for a friend of mine. they are allready painted blue,so i do it with white HOK pinstriping enamel and an brush..

 

VERY nice job.

 

Being a lettering guy ,it's been a hoot reading some of the techniques that people come up with to do a simple job . All you have to do is go to your local sign person and have him do it . Won't take that long or cost to much. One thing you might remember is that it always costs more to fix someone elses' mistakes !

 

if you don't have a steady hand, some of us need EXTRA HELP....

 

Go see Mike Clines in Citrus Heights, he'll do you a great job !

 

back up for tech week

 

cool simple easy thanks

 

Those valve covers are beautiful !
Thanks for the great tip too ! I always tried to do it the other way . Paint the valve cover then very carefully paint the letters . your way is way better , plus my hands are not steady at all .
BTW I also have a Y block that I am building but a Ford .

 

I have used hand lotion to mask the letters with very good results......

CB

 

old thread, good info. have a pair of black California license plates to redo. looked for other lic plate threads but, nothing yet. search online recommends using RBL tracing/Masking Film # 272 since it will hold up using solvents, etc. Friskit will not.