Building an 'A Board'

[Lee J]

I've been asked by my village pub to construct an 'A board' for them to advertise the special offers and guest beers on. This item will need to be tough enough to stand on the pavement all day long, rain wind or shine.

I have sourced some nice tanelized 2" x 2" for the frame at a good price but now I'm stuck.

He wants a chalkboard on both sides. What material should I use for the board? I am gonna use blackboard paint to create the chalking surface but what material would be best.

MDF - nice and smooth but no good as it's gonna stand outside.
Chipboard?
Plywood?

any input greatly recieved

 

[9fingers]

I'd go for marine ply.
Don't forget to make is as heavy as possible to help stop is blowing over in the wind. Maybe the horizontal part of the A can be designed to hold a sandbag as well as being self draining. Maybe the horizontal brace does not fully open 180 degrees but stops at say 160.
Lots of chamfers to shed water too.

Good luck

Bob

 

[jasonB]

I made one quite a while back for an art shop in the shape of a paint tube, made it from 12mm birch ply. Stood up well to the weather for over 10yrs until the shop closed down.

You could get away with exterior MDF for the panels

Jason

 

[9fingers]

I made one quite a while back for an art shop in the shape of a paint tube, made it from 12mm birch ply. Stood up well to the weather for over 10yrs until the shop closed down.

You could get away with exterior MDF for the panels

Jason

Jason, Is exterior MDF the same as moisture resistant MDF (the green stuff)?

Cheers

Bob

 

[jasonB]

No, its made for exterior use not just humid or damp like MR is.

Usually has a grey core or is grey all the way through, must be painted on both sides and a drop on the edges before assembly would not go amis.

http://www.medite-europe.com/en/products_exterior.php

Jason

 

[Lee J]

Birch ply seems to be the way. Should I PVA it first?

 

[jasonB]

No it will probably stop your primer soaking in properly.

Jason

 

[woodbloke]

Marine ply is without doubt the stuff to use...it's fully waterpoof. Birch ply is excellent stuff but is usually only WBP which I believe isn't quite as good being only weather resistant so over time it may delaminate. Make sure you ask for marine ply and be prepared to dig deep :shock: into the pocket - Rob

 

[joiner_sim]

Hi,
The following two pictures are of an A Frame that I have made for a couple of local companies, with no complaints. The plywood was only shuttering ply, however, this was then covered up with plastic with the graphics on.

 

[tom owens]

I made one for a wedding shop cut to the shape of a wedding dress :?

I made that out of marine ply then the lady who owns the shop painted it and its fine after nearly 3 years...

 

[MontyVeda]

I made one for a local cafe a few years back, it was lovely... art deco shape with the cafe name sign writted in art deco lettering and black board area beneath... then two weeks later the owner decided to change the name of the cafe so painted to whole thing in blackboard paint before i had chance to photgraph it! Gutted, but the cafe going bust soon after cheered me up a tad I then made a sign for another local shop, which went bust a month or two after I installed it, then i made another sign for another shop, which moved premises a couple of months later and ended up accidentally going into a skip before it got to their new premises!! 3 signs, two bankrupcies and 1 skip... I think I'll steer clear of signs in the future

 

[Lee J]

Started this A board this weekend. Got some nice timber for the frame, 75mm x 47mm treated stuff, should stand up to living outside for a few years.

Cut the timber to length 1100mm for the uprights and 550mm lengths for the cross pieces.

Using the router I put a 12mm slot around the inside face of the timber, for the plyboard to slot into.

I will assemble this using screws and then plug the screw holes. Did a dry fit and it all lines up good and is square.

Took the top pieces and marked out for hinges, then I cut the slots for the hinges so the hinge is flush to the top face...

The clamp is on the end because I got a bit eager with the chisel and had a breakout at the end. I managed to glue the piece back in though.

I found some 12mm birch ply at a mates house and helped myself to it while he was out ha ha. Flattened it down, sanded it smooth, filled a few divits and coated it in primer.

Then I painted the rear face with some exterior gloss black paint I had and I painted the front face with some chalkboard paint. I gave it four coats on the fronts.

Tonight I will assemble and finish this A board - finishing pictures tomorrow.

 

[Lee J]

finally got the frame screwed together and the chalkboard panels in place and it actually looks like an 'A Board' .

Got it on the bench and fitted a chain to each side to stop it over opening.

I then masked off the faces and painted a thin white line on the face.

Removed the masking tape...

The holes that the screws go through look a bit rubbish so I made some plugs and filled them up...

Sanded them flat and gave the whole thing a rub over and ...

TA-DAAAAAAAAA!!!! All Finished. Cue the final photos...

thanks for looking

 

[Acanthus]

Looks great Lee, and I just love the white line - gives it a real air of distinction.
If this were mine I would want to do something to seal the exposed end grain. This is treated soft wood, but as far as I know, the commercial treatment hardly soaks into the timber at all. Where you have cut it, leaving fresh end grain there is probably none at all. Would be a pity for your work to rot.
Personally I would give all the unpainted timber a few coats of an exterior grade matt uretahane, with a few extra coats on the end grain, and while I was at it give the wood under the hinges a good seeing to as well.

Hope your customer likes it.

Thanks for sharing
David

 

[Lee J]

David, customer loves it and he said he would sort out the varnishing etc. so I didn't argue lol

it's very heavy too which is good as it's gonna be stood outside my local pub so I'll get to see it whenever I go in (friday, saturday,sunday nights) and no doubt I'll trip over it on my way out lol

 

[Acanthus]

So what is wrong with Monday nights, Tuesday nights, Wednesday nights or Thursday nights?

David

 

[Lee J]

Workshop time!