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DIY ‘A’ board
A customer wants me to make him an ‘A’ board, bigger than the ready-made once available (they want it to be 900 x 1200). In the past I have made these out of high grade 3/4" plywood. This works fine, but customer is not keen on plywood and would prefer something more weatherproof.
I was thinking of using foamex. I am not familiar with the properties of this material and I was wondering if it is okay/possible to use it the same way as the plywood: use 19 mm and cut the shapes of the legs etc. out of it, or would it be better to make a timber frame (say out of 2"x"2") and fix 5 mm foamex onto/into it. I suppose the latter method would be cheaper in material, but a there is a bit more work involved in it…
I am just not sure about the properties of foamex: does it bend/shrink ect? Also: does it yellow in sunlight? Is it better to flood coat it?
With regards to the construction of the frame: it needs to be very sturdy and be able to deal with very windy conditions, so if it’s heavy… that will be a good thing….Thanks for any advice!!
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10 Replies
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Hi
I would recommend a pre-made metal system for this if you can get it in the right size. They come pre-finished and are typicall white. A LOT less work and not too expensive for what you get.
Foramex will be OK for a while if you use a thick enough material, but IMO it gets ‘brittle’ after a while when outdoors.
Try these guys for a metal sign –
TRIMWEL – 01 2940188
or Sign + Digital (Don’t have No. here)
Cheers
Martin
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This year i had to make an aboard for a customer who thought size was everything, the aboard measured 1500 x 2000mm.
2×2 Wooden frame, dibond panels, ridiculous monstrocity!!! -
I would get one of these
http://www.signmakersproducts.ltd.uk/
They have large sizes and are metal, very heavy 😮
Warren
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Thank you for replies.
The brochures I have here at home are from Robert Horne.
The biggest one on their list are 1060 x 805 mm.
Maybe I should convince the customer to alter the size as durability was very high on their list.
I know the requested size is quite big, but they also want it to function as an obstacle so cars can’t park right outside their shop (it is a dead end street more used as a car park……) -
Angelique, trust me when I say it, the ones I posted from SMP are very large and are solid steel and extremely heavy
The middle one in the picture is the one I have used before and is 790mm x 1230mm, so there are also bigger ones if you wanted, I battled to carry it myself and must have weighed about 50kg.
These will do the job you want and they are also stock items so available next day (well they used to be anyway)
Trust me, I’m a doctor :lol1:
Warren
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quote Warren Beard:Angelique, trust me when I say it, the ones I posted from SMP are very large and are solid steel and extremely heavy
The middle one in the picture is the one I have used before and is 790mm x 1230mm, so there are also bigger ones if you wanted, I battled to carry it myself and must have weighed about 50kg.
These will do the job you want and they are also stock items so available next day (well they used to be anyway)
Trust me, I’m a doctor :lol1:
Warren
I trust you Warren, no worries there.
I think I could sell that different dimension to the customer (although they are very very specific in what they want… down to the exact design and everything)….
But I am located in Ireland and getting one of them over here might cost me a fair bit….
I am just going through all the brochures I picked up at sign Ireland, but can’t really find anything yet that I think would be the best solution….The one you are suggestion does look the best!! (what price roughly is it…. just so I can compare with others….)
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£137.48 incl vat and delivery
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quote Warren Beard:£137.48 incl vat and delivery
Thanks for that. I will give them a ring in the morning and see if they charge me the same. :lol1:
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Why not go to a local metal fabricators and get a frame made…..its fairly basic welding and construction…..you will be suprised how cheap it will be. Anyone doing welding would knock it up in very little time….them insert your panels. Always good to develop a relationship with a talented metal fabricator 137 sterling plus delivery to Ireland sounds very expensive to me.
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I don’t know about metal workers in Monagan, but the local forge here certainly isn’t cheap. I had a simple table frame welded last year… nothing special and that was 200 euro’s (NOT galvanised so it is rusting like crazy)……
Do you buy ready made boards at all & where do you get them from?
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