Best paint for Foamex

[Warren Beard]

Sorry forgot to mention it needs to be a matte finish

cheers

Warren

[Martin Gray]

Hi Warren Ive not had the chance to paint Foamex as of yet. but we have a lot of old 2 pack paints lying about that am going to try when a get a spare minute! that should do the job. Mite be a bit expensive tho! Also with some products you can get matting agents to add to the paint.

Hope that helps

Martin

[Warren Beard]

I presume a can of spray paint from the local DIY store won’t be good enough? besides the colour limitations off the shelf are these no good?

[Martin Pearson]

Warren, you will need to apply a coat of primer to the foamex before applying any top coat, sorry but I can’t for the life of me remember what it is called but when I did this a few years ago I was told that without using this type of primer the paint wouldn’t adhere properly.

[Robert Lambie]

im sure there will be paint alternatives but for at least 10 years ive never needed to change the colour of the likes of foamex. anytime i have, and i remember one big temporary job i did in particular for "Glasgow on Ice" was a colour matched 10mm foam board. to do it i used "Ink" from Appolo Inks
this stuff was the most competive priced. particularly against the likes of Sericol inks.
all you need is a small tin of this and a can of thinner. mix it by hand and roller, brush or spray it on. dries in about a minute. seconds if sprayed…
the ink doesnt flake or peal like other paints. this is important because as you know, foamex will expand and contract greatly ink heat/cold. the paint on the surface does not.
you will use VERY LITTLE of this once thinning so dont buy much of you go this route.

when i used it in the past, it was mainly for the likes of Inking curtain sided lorries after stencilling them. but it came in very handy for the likes of the Glasgow on Ice job as i set the ink up in our spray room and sprayed all the foamex sheets, banners and also "vinyl, pruior to cutting" in the end i had an array of different media all the exact same colour i needed.

anyway… i do babble on…. 😳

[Mike D]

deleted

[Hugh Potter]

i’m guessing this is internal?

i used bog standard grey undercoat, topped off with some matt emulsion that the customer had left over from their shop refit! worked a treat.

[Robert Lambie]

if its internal, then as long as you give it a good couple of coat all should be fine. from memory i did this with an undercoat and then emulsion to colour match the walls. been up for a few years… its flat cut 18" thick foamex double sided taped to the wall. just took this picture a sec ago. 😀

---

Attachments:

[Mike Grant]

Warren, use these people. They make a paint that is fantastic for foamex. How do I know…Well they came to me about 10 years ago for me to test out their paint. They are just up the road from me. No flaking, no undercoat needed, bonds INTO the PVC and does not sit on top of it like normal paint. They can make in Gloss, Matt or Satin. Aerosol or tin.

http://www.karnavalcoatings.co.uk/index1.htm

[Warren Beard]

Thanks for the reply guys, forgot to say it’s for external fascia letters.

Mike I will give them a call as it seems the easiest for me, I don’t have a lot of space etc so buying in spray tins would be ideal for me I think and simple.

Thanks for the replies.

cheers

Warren

[Steve Morgan]

Warren,
You could try a car body repair shop. Any decent shop will be able to colour match and finish with 2 pack oven baked paint.

Steve

[John Gregson]

Hi Warren,
Rob’s right, Sericol’s Polyplast ink would key as I screen print onto foamex with it no problem – it melts the top surface to form the bond. The Polyplast is gloss, Mattplast is for a matt finish. I’ve never used Apollo’s inks but they’ll have a similar one to the ones above and it will be cheaper. 😀

Cheers John

[Warren Beard]

where do we get these from and how do we colour match

[John Gregson]

If its inks Warren you would ask the ink supplier for a colour chart and see if your required Pantone is close. If not you would ask them to mix to the required Pantone number. Mixes might need to be 5L through Sericol, not sure about Apollo’s minimum mix size!

Cheers John

[Warren Beard]

right I have a customer who has a spray booth as he does vehicle repairs etc, would I be able to mix up this ink and use it in one of his spray guns?

or should I just roll it with a small sponge roller, there are about 50 letters to do?

cheers

warren

[John Gregson]

Hi Warren,
I’ve never tried spraying with it but it is feasible. Not sure whether it would effect how it keys on though as you’d have to thin it down quite a lot so it goes through the spray gun.!

I’d use a roller myself!
Cheers John

[Mark Latchford]

Kromex do a good ink for Foamex and will mix 1 litre tins for you. As others have said all the other screen ink suppliers will only mix 5 litres and charge you a premium . Kromex do 1 litre and if I remember rightly it was an extra 15% on top of the normal cost. The telephone number is 01359 250032

[Dan Osterbery]

Hi Warren,
i dont know if this helps but this is what we do! i have taken colour match chip to local paint store and they colour mix an exterior satin colour paint, and then we use a roller and give the foamex a couple of coats! We have done loads like this and never have had any complaints! We do advise the clients that in maybe 2/3 years the letters might need another coat. i guess it depends on what finish you are looking for and how close the client is to the letters!

cheers
Dan

[Warren Beard]

quote Robert Lambie:

im sure there will be paint alternatives but for at least 10 years ive never needed to change the colour of the likes of foamex. anytime i have, and i remember one big temporary job i did in particular for “Glasgow on Ice” was a colour matched 10mm foam board. to do it i used “Ink” from Appolo Inks
this stuff was the most competive priced. particularly against the likes of Sericol inks.
all you need is a small tin of this and a can of thinner. mix it by hand and roller, brush or spray it on. dries in about a minute. seconds if sprayed…
the ink doesnt flake or peal like other paints. this is important because as you know, foamex will expand and contract greatly ink heat/cold. the paint on the surface does not.
you will use VERY LITTLE of this once thinning so dont buy much of you go this route.

when i used it in the past, it was mainly for the likes of Inking curtain sided lorries after stencilling them. but it came in very handy for the likes of the Glasgow on Ice job as i set the ink up in our spray room and sprayed all the foamex sheets, banners and also “vinyl, pruior to cutting” in the end i had an array of different media all the exact same colour i needed.

anyway… i do babble on…. 😳

Thanks all, Apollo inks have been good and helpful so have ordered a colour matched vinyl ink from them (minimum of only 1L for colour matched colours)

How thinned down must I thin it? do I need to thin it or is it trial and error?

How many coats will it need for a good finish with a sponge roller?

Thanks guys

Warren

[John Gregson]

Hi Warren,
You’ll need the thinners from Apollo too! – trial and error I think as I’ve never rollered with it. Do a test pot to about the consistency of gloss paint and see how it goes – should be fun! :lol1:

[Warren Beard]

Hi John

When I mentioned thinning it to them they were a bit shocked I wanted to thin it, they said it is used for screen printing (I have no idea about screen printing) and not thinned so they are leaving it up to me to decide which is fine, i will ask them to send some thinners too.

I hope this doesn’t back fire on me as I don’t have much time to waste on this one any more 🙄

cheers

Warren

[John Gregson]

Hi Warren,
I’ve never dealt with Apollo so don’t know their inks but if it was a Sericol ink it would need to be thinned with the right thinner or retarder. You could try it straight out of the tin first but I think it would take longer to dry and cause problems with the roller. If the roller has plastic parts it might melt them, especially the handle – have fun :lol1:

[Mike Grant]

Warren, I hope you have made the right decision, to roll vinyl printing ink is courting disaster. If it doesn’t cover with the first coat you will probably lift the first coat with the second coat as the inks are very aggressive. The paint I recommended has a 10 year guarantee (if they spray it themselves) and is made for painting UPVc window frames. They can match any RAL colour. I actually think you have made a grave mistake in using vinyl ink if you aren’t spraying it.

Just my 2 cents worth! 😕

[John Gregson]

Where’s the grave mistake 👿 – any poly ink will key onto foamex and one coat should do. Even if it doesn’t – a further coat won’t rip the 1st coat off aslong as its dry. Give it a go – it will work.

[Mike Grant]

John, Warren has never used vinyl ink before and cutting his teeth on an urgent job is not the safest way to go. If the job for sake of argument needed a second coat there is a high probability that he will go wrong somewhere. He will have to paint the edges, very tedious if they are small lettering, won’t be able to roller them. So that to me is courting trouble. If he uses my recommendation, not only can he spray the edges with ease but there will be no direct surface contact to cause any problem. It would probably work out cheaper as well in the long run.

Only trying to help.

Each to their own. 🙄

[John Gregson]

Hi Mike, I never tried it myself but yes there is a possibility that if a second coat is needed then problems could arise. I’ve sometimes had to do a second screen print onto blocks of solid colour and if it isn’t bone dry it will lift – dry and its no problem.

Maybe your way is better – but there’s more than one way to skin a cat.

Cheers John

[Peter Mindham]

Hi Warren looking forward to see how this works. I have a local body shop paint mt foamex in his spray booth with automotive paint. ( I think probably water based now) I have never had a failure with some exterior signs being up over 5 years now.

Easy to match to RAL colours also this way.

Peter

[Warren Beard]

Just an update…

The ink from Apollo is great stuff, they matched the colour perfectly and had it in 2 days and very helpful and informative on the phone so well done to them.

I had to thin it down with the thinners I got from them (although didn’t even try without thinning it as it seemed quiet thick) Used a foam roller and rolled the face and edges with ease.

2 issues I had regarding painting the letters were 1) roller won’t get inside or into sharp corners of all letters (and depends on size) so used a brush as well but still worked great, and 2) the thinners in the ink slowly destroyed the foam roller so went through about 6 of them (did about 100 letters though)

All in all a great finish and no different than to using paint really (except it dries nice and quick)

I will be painting all my foam letters this way in future me thinks.

Thanks for all the feedback so far and hope this helps others.

cheers

Warren

[Robert Lambie]

great stuff, thanks for the feedback on the product warren. always good to read a complete thread. i.e. from problem, advice to solution.

good to hear Apollo were helpful too. i found them very efficient also.

i never used the "foam" rollers. i used the 4 or 5 inch wide rollers with hair. sorry, completely forgot the name of them.

i found the foam destroyed easily and also soaked up "allot" of ink.

your ink & thinner consistency can be very runny. but found the best all rounder mix was to have it thinned down to look almost like completely melted ice cream? sounds a silly description but paint thickness is too much, water is too runny. 😀

in days before digital printing i used to spray colour blends onto vinyl also.
i would spray the vinyl half way up blending out from the bottom. allow it to dry 24hrs… laminate and plotter cut my letters from it. worked perfect!

when you ink the vinyl with a roller. 20 minutes later it will bubble up and almost look destroyed if your thinner is a bit over done. ignore this. leave it completely flat and allow it to dry out over night, 24hrs if possible. next morning you will find the vinyl completely flat and tight again.

[John Gregson]

Glad it all worked out for you Warren 😀

[Nick Eccles]

Just looking for options to flood coat some Correx Boards and found this thread which has been really useful. (I need one side White and the other a colour.)

A quick question, does anyone know of /recommend a supplier that will do inks suitable for Correx in a Fluorescent/neon/hiz-viz Orange ?

Thanks in advance

[Denise Goodfellow]

contact for local screen printing ink suppliers, failing that screen tec in stoke on trent or sericol

[Warren Beard]

I now use CJ Aerosols and spray all my letters and even small signs and trays.

[Nick Eccles]

thanks, where do you get them from, any particular reason foe the change ?