Raised letters/emblems

What is the best way to make raised letters or emblems for a fiberglass box? Just use ply and cut them out how you want them?

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Duke Duke

Yeah im pretty sure if you go to the craft section in wal mart they sell wooden letters. They are kind of thick but I know you could just sand down the back side of them. Then I'd just put a little resin down stick them to the glass the way you want them and fiberglass over them.   I know that for raised letter in tweed and fabrics and stuff, they just use styrofoam. So you may be able to do that too.

You can use 1/8 inch foam as well.

I think that using the foam will do mush better job then the wood letters due to them being so large it just would not look right.

But just remember to use tape or foil to cover the foam because the resin will melt the foam makeing a huse mess! Just A thought that i should tell you

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If You Can Imagine It Glass It!

Yeah but can you not get the wood in different sizes at like a craft store like Michaels or something.

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Learning the trade one fiberglass creation at a time!

I'm not very sure i was also thinking that you could go to a decal shop and have them cut out some letters and/or some graphics so the letters can be the type that you want instead of the regular style. then put the vinal on 1/4'' wood or foam and cut it out then fibberglass over it.

Just another thought for you to be thinking about.

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If You Can Imagine It Glass It!

Most guys I've talked to use foam.  The first decal I did was for my cousin whose last name is Miller, so I traced out the Miller beer logo on some quarter inch MDF and then used my rotozip to cut it out.  A little bit of glue on the back and then a lot of time tucking the carpet into all the groves and the box was ready to go.  Too bad that was before I realized that I should take pictures.

Awesome, my girlfriends name is Sarah, and I was thinking about custom fiberglassing a box painted pink(her favorite color) with the letters Sarah lifted up off the box, and cut out smaller Sarah behind it, with a pink neon back lighting it, does it sound like a good idea? Or does it even sound possble?

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Duke Duke

Sounds like a good idea.  It's definately possible, you'll just have to take your time and be very tidious about it.  If you go to https://www.1001freefonts.com/ you can download different fonts to try and then just pic one that looks good.  Or you might even surf the net to see if some actress or singer has a cool design for that name.  There are two ways I can think of to do it.  1.  Use plexi and cut the decal larger than you want.  Then mask of the smaller decal right on that piece and paint the outer edges with the box.  Remove the masking tape and you've got raised letter's with a clear window for back lighting. (by the way I would try to use clear LED's behind a pink lens rather than neon.  You won't run into any noise and the LED's are much brighter and last longer.)  2. Your other opption is to cut out a window in the box using the outline of the letters and then behind that make a small box with smaller letters raised on it.  Light it from behind the edges of the window and then when you look down on it it will have a 3D effect.  It all depends on how much time you want to put into your project. 

another good way to do it is to tape off the area where the logo is gonna go, then glass that area (bigger than needed) let it dry.
cut out the logo with an air saw or dremel or what ever, then attach it in place. then using a high build primer spray the entire box and then sand and finish as normal, it will look like it is pressed out.i will see if i can post some pics to show what it looks like.

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Yeah please do I would like to see that for future reference.

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Learning the trade one fiberglass creation at a time!

ever hear of using dynamat? just standard dynamat take a photocopy of what you want use a little spray adhesive to stick it to the dynamat, now just use a utility knife to cut it out, stick it where you want it. this method works best when it will be covered with some kind of fabric or vinyl, what ever floats your boat.

the dynamat thing works really good if it will be covered in vinyl......another thing that can be used is the same vinyl that you are covering it in.....put some glue on bothe pieces, lay a patch of vinyl big enough to get the logo, then cut it out of the vinyl, then cover it again.....it will be more subtle and works better if the vinyl is a lighter color......blacks and darker colors are hard to see the details of the letters or logo.

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DukeDuke.........you have mail

i sent a PM to ya
lemme know if that is what you are looking for

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Crap I wanted to see the pics too.

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Learning the trade one fiberglass creation at a time!

this is a rough run through on how do do it the way i was talking about in the above post.....

https://community.webshots.com/user/installguy


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thats pretty sweet...came out really well.

That is an awesome idea man, and that looks sweet. So let me see if I got this right because I may try and do that sometime. Tell me if I get this right,  ok you cut the letters out, cut the gear out.  You then glassed the gear onto the box. Then you took it off, and glassed the letters cut them out, and then placed them on top of the gear piece.  And resined it to the box, correct? Or did I miss something?

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Learning the trade one fiberglass creation at a time!

i glassed a flat surface for the letters, then glassed the contour of the the box big enough for the gear, then i cut both of them out, i put resin on the box and set the gear in place, then i duraglassed up to it. then i resined the gear part and put the letters in place. then i did a little bit of sanding
then i poly primed it all and sanded it, then primed it the sanded, then color then clear.

that is the basic idea of what was done

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Awesome man, I see what youre saying now. thanks

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Learning the trade one fiberglass creation at a time!

yea it does look awesome. still a little lost on what your talking about when you say "gear"? thats the flat piece? just never heard the term before... but it looks great.

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Lathan Hites
"I'm sorry, without a credit card I'll be requiring a stool sample"

the "gear" is just part of the shops logo. the letters TOL are over a gear shape.    here is a link to the site form that shop, you can see the logo on the top left of the home page.......   https://www.tolmotoring.com/

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oh! duh. lol. thanks

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Lathan Hites
"I'm sorry, without a credit card I'll be requiring a stool sample"