Necessity is the motherhood of invention and we needed portable, self-standing station signs so this is my solution. These station signs are bright, two-sided, well labeled and have the ability to be placed wherever you need them most.
A DIY tutorial to build self standing station signs. Make this easy to build portable signage for your next event with my plans.
I’m neurotic about signage. Wherever I go if the signage is less than adequate I am the first one to notice. There is no excuse for poor or missing signage so I aim to provide proper signage whenever and wherever possible. These self standing station signs are just one solution if you’re looking for DIY signage.
Make this signage for your next event:
- school field day
- camp group designation
- corn maze markers
- portable signage for almost anything
Station Signs 2.0
Technically this is my second version of these station signs. If you’re curious about the first version you can see the details here. Of course I’m completely partial to this updated version 2.0, it’s cuter and much more sturdy.
Numbered Station Signs
These self standing signs stand tall at just over 8 feet high. And I ripped 2×4 studs in half to make my lumber go farther. So one stud can be used for two posts and then the base feet are also made from one stud. Be sure to scroll down below for some process photos and tips before you build your station signs.
Click here for printable PDF plans.
Sign Bases
Build all the post and bases first. You can see I ripped the 2×4 studs in half for the posts but you absolutely can leave them as full studs. They aren’t perfectly straight since some studs will waiver a bit 😉 but they work for our purposes.
Be sure to screw in the feet on from the front and then again through the adjoining foot or into the base post. The more screws the better, they also add weight so don’t worry about having too many screws.
Sign Backers
For the circular sign backers I used exterior grade 1/2″ plywood. This is overkill and I recommend just sticking with 1/4″ plywood. The 1/2″ adds extra weight up top and you don’t want that.
Painting Signage
I created a template for the station numbers and painted each station sign by hand.
Above you can see the sign post is sandwiched between the two sign backers. These station signs are being used on a field so it’s important to have two-sided viewing.
Thanks for joining me for this self standing station signs project. Please leave any questions in the comments below and be sure to follow me on social media for sneak peeks, tools and project inspiration:
good idea for a large crowd event
The signs look great, but you didn’t say anything or show how you made the numbers and wording templates. What did you use to do this with?
Thanks Jeff, this tutorial is how to build the station signs. There’s a lot of different options to painting them. I used PicMonkey to create the graphic design then resized in Rapid Resizer. You can see a video of the process including the painting on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/p/CiGfv2MpjlI/
I was thinking to make it a tad shorter in height, and a slightly bigger circle and put Merry Christmas on there and lights around it. If I get my act together I will send pictures. But there are so many options for these signs. Thanks
Hi Carrie, I love your idea – perfect for fun holiday decor. Thanks for sharing.