outdoor finish with paper involved

[scw]

I have a question for the experts.

I have been given an outdoor display to repair, much like one you would see in a National Park.
The problem: They want a printed papaer document laminated onto the wood with polyurethane.
Is this do-able? Does anyone have experiance with this and all the chemical reactions and UV that would come into play?
I was going to try it with Spar Urethane, but I have my doubts of wether the paper and ink could take being saturated and still be readable.

This display will be mounted horizontally with about a 30 degree tilt to shed water...but the sun is going to work on it hard!

any suggestions?

[swhitney]

Maybe have the paper laminated in plastic, then epoxy overcoat that to the board...

I still have my doubts as UV light can fade about anything over a relatively short period.

maybe by creating a recess which could hold the paper and the thickness of some UV resistant plexiglass...

just some random thoughts... good luck!!

[pine acres woodshop]

Carve the document onto the wood with centerline text if it isn't too much, or cover the paper with plexiglass that is screwed to the sign, so when the sun fades the paper unscrew the plexiglass and put in a new piece.

[HighTechOkie]

Is there something special about this piece of paper? Otherwise I think your client would be better served by having the design printed directly on the wood using a thermal transfer. Another option is to have a sign company print it on vinyl with UV stable inks. Then glue that to the wood.

You probably could get by with UV coated plexi, even then though I would only expect 3-4yrs. Now if this is just a short term sign, this is definitely the cheapest option.

Rob

[bowfingers]

SCW
There is a paper made for this application it is called ‘YUPO’ well actually it is not paper it is plastic that looks like paper. I would check with a local print shop they could probably help you out with what you need printed, Be sure to tell them it will be used outside there are UV resistant inks for this application be sure to tell them that you are going to put polyurethane on it so the use the proper ink. Or you could check online just Google ‘YUPO’ and you will find lots of information.