Can My Plastic Sign Be Fixed?

[Susan_in_SF]

Hi guys,
I am not sure if this post should be listed here, or under "Electrical." So, please forgive me if this is the wrong forum focus. Anyways, as a hot dog loving American woman, I thought it was time for me to have a sexist light up sign for my woman lair (I've visited so many elderly machinists' shops where the old machinists has naked calendar girls hung up in their workshops, lol). So, here it is:

I bought this sign off of Ebay for under $60, and with free shipping ;-)
When my sign arrived, I immediately noticed how one bottom corner had warped plastic on it.

My initial thought was to possibly try to straighten it out by heating it up with a heat gun and using my sheetmetal seamer.

However, I fear doing so might end up with the sign in worse condition than now since I would be just winging it, guessing/hoping it straightens out. I assume this damage was from someone installing a bulb hotter than recommended.

This sign was made in the greatest decade to be a teenager - the 1980's! I was a junior with a permed mullet:

I am digressing off my topic, sorry.
Anyways, is it possible to fix the warped plastic? If so, how hard to it be to fix my hot dog sign?
Thanks a lot,
Susan

 

[Latinrascalrg1]

If i attempted this repair i would start with a hair dryer first because a heat gun may be too much. I would also maybe use some parchment paper between my straightening tool of choice ( i would probably use a thin flat piece of wood on the back side and then maybe gently reform the piece with a cloth by gently rubbing over the bakers parchment while pressing gently against the wood backing) i recommend wood because metal tends to overheat quickly melting your plastic and wood is more forgiving.
With that said I Am Not Suggesting you repair the sign because im not sure if it would not ruin the sign and my advice is at your own risk.

 

[Dave Smith]

my suggestion would be to make a nice oak wood frame which would just hide the buckled part and dress it up---do some carving in the frame if you have carving talents---Dave

 

[uncle harry]

If i attempted this repair i would start with a hair dryer first because a heat gun may be too much. I would also maybe use some parchment paper between my straightening tool of choice ( i would probably use a thin flat piece of wood on the back side and then maybe gently reform the piece with a cloth by gently rubbing over the bakers parchment while pressing gently against the wood backing) i recommend wood because metal tends to overheat quickly melting your plastic and wood is more forgiving.
With that said I Am Not Suggesting you repair the sign because im not sure if it would not ruin the sign and my advice is at your own risk.

Wow, I worked at KCS Industries during the '70's as an artist/designer and again in the '80's in charge of engineering. The suggestions by others make good sense and I might add that it would be good to gently preheat the seamer so it does not sink the heat from the plastic when straightening. That variety of sign was called a neo-neon unit.

 

[4ssss]

Why not just send it back if the damage wasn't noted on the description.

 

[tq60]

Look up plastics distributors in the phone book as there must be many in your area.

Arrange to visit one so they can identify it and advise best approach.

Sign company also good bet.

We would make something from wood as it is cheap and easy to make a form that can be placed behind it then gentle pressure and heat to cause it to "plastisize " or become less solid where it can be reformed.

These were vacuum formed likely via a sheet placed over a male form then heat from above with vacuum below to form it to the die.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

 

[hman]

Whether or not you're able to fix the warp, you can take heart in the fact that LED bulbs are a LOT cooler than incandescents. So you can safely brighten the sign up!

 

[Aukai]

I think I remember the 80s .....

 

[NortonDommi]

If you have free access to the back make a wood former to the correct shape and gently heat the affected area to roughly form. Final smoothing can be done with an Iron,(clothes type), on Silk setting over a piece of baking paper. Heat did the damage so heat will be needed to undo it but tread gently.

 

[Boswell]

As it was most likely vacuum formed over a profile, I would agree with the above, that you can make a wood profile of the backside and VERY gently heat the front with a hair drier and use baking paper to press the plastic onto the wood profile. Lots of patience with the heat is key to not making it worse and make the wood profile to cover more area that is damaged so it will be supported as the surrounding area heats up and gets pliable.