how much trash

[Lynn Normington]

Chris are you talking about weeded bits or full original bits (?)

Lynn

[Chris Wool]

no stuff we trash through some thing going wrong like cant read a ruler sliped whilst fitting all that sort of stuff

chris

[Robert Lambie]

i think you are wrong chris, try doubling that at least on losses mate… i recon ours is much more but unless video surveilence we will never truely know how much staff bin, hide, waste etc backing taoe is a big one, unless you have various sized ones (like we do, still loss lots i would imagine) you will be out a fair bit there too.

[Chris Wool]

well my little guess is about 45 quids worth between 2 of us yes then there is the application tape issue.

so if i dont make any mistakes i can have a new van

chris

[Marekdlux]

I am usually pretty good with supplies, but this morning I did have to throw away 6+meters of high performance vinyl that was printed on the Gerber Edge. 😥 I’m surprised I don’t waste more than I do, I usually jump right into something before actually thinking.
-Marek

[Lynn Normington]

Chris is that a week or day ?
We do have abit of throw away when you look at it and think how did that happen !! but not massive amounts maybe it comes down to not employing any one else

Lynn

[Bill Dewison]

Sounds like we have the same problem Chris, I have a pile with all the mistakes I’ve made, just to remind me what a twonk I can be when I take my eye off what I’m doing 😳 My most recent mistake was 500 business cards that had to be pouch laminated for a landscape gardener. I’d almost done when he came in, so I showed him one proudly… only to learn I’d printed the wrong phone number 😮 😳

Other mistakes include cutting vinyl that should have been mirrored as it was going on the inside of a window and my personal favourite, the van graphics that I cut, layed up on the bench with a few colours, taped and discovered when I got to the van they were about half a metre too long! I’d written the measurements down wrong due to rushing 😳 😳

On the bright side, we all learn from our mistakes, but a certain amount of wastage has to be accounted for as you never know when you’ll run out of Red Bull and your mind starts to wander off… 🙄 *hair*

Cheers, Dewi

[Jayne Marsh]

Dewi,
Thats sounds exactly like me! My personal favourite way of wasting time and money is to go and measure up a job, come back to the office and then find myself doubting my own measurements. The only solution is to then go out and remeasure, I think Im suffering from a little bit of obsessive compulsive disorder! 😮

[Dave Bruce]

Dewi/Jem I had to laugh at that, one of my favourites too doubting my measurements, or is that 1 or 7 etc, very frustrating.

Don’t waste much probably because I do everything, no employees.

the last company I worked for had alot though, the cutter kept going mad every now and again and messing up 3/4m of vinyl

When I started with them I discovered mistakes hidden inside other rolls of vinyl, behind cupboards etc, and the owner thought the guy that left was brilliant!

Not looking forward to when I have to employ someone (which is now really)

Dave

[David Rowland]

hey, we are back on the employees thread. I wasted 6mtrs of digital print yesterday, typing too quicky and just proofed read it too quickly.
Never mind

[Simon Clayton]

Dewi, Jem, good tip afor when your doing surveys, is to measure lots, say you are doing only a fascia job, measure the fascia and the windows, maybe the brick columns if there are any… then when you get back to the shop, and you doubt your fascia measurement, check the window ones… that should give you a good idea if its correct or not. hope that makes sence 😮

Simon

[Shane Drew]

I have done ALL these mistakes plus some. Makes me a lot happier now, I thought it was just me.

My main area for mistakes is proof reading.

I did a sign the other day for a gaming room. After getting the client to check and approve the proof, I got started.

I did the sign first, but the laminator (my old one, not the new one!) ran amuck during the process and I lost the lot. Threw that 3m print away and reprinted it, re laminated it, laid it on pvc, took it to the job 50klm away, installed it in an archway that took forever as everything that could go wrong did.

The client, his staff, some hotel guests all stood back admiring the job. Everyone patted everyone on the back for a job well done. Everyone asked for my business card, shook my hand, all was sweet. Then some unemployed printer walked past, and in a loud voice said ‘who spells gaming like that?’ We all looked up and I’d spelt it ‘gamimg’

I was pretty embarassed, 😳 and the client went off his nut until I pointed out he had approved the sign in the first place.

Proofing is my biggest downfall because I am always in a rush.

I did a sign 5 years ago at a theme park here for Warner Bros, and no one has ever picked it. Only saw it myself last year. Mums the word tho.

Shane

[Jill Marie Welsh]

I think that the amount of vinyl that I waste
has a ratio such as the more expensive the more I trash it?
Love….Jill

[David Rowland]

we do a massive amount of signature proofing email/fax/visit etc. It clearly states “Please look over this proof for any errors and omissions and confirm this by signing here….. ” Normally is a photo with a drawn layout of the sign imposed on it.

Bad luck Shane, the N and M are just too cloose together on the keyboard.

[Lynn Normington]

Me and my big mouth!
Just turned my back on the plotter, and it chewed up a couple of metres!
Lynn

[Carrie Brown]

We dont waste that much … Our biggest mistake that we did not learn from and kept repeating for ages was not mirroring the text … for windows or t-shirts … and the garment film costs quite a few pennies so that used to turn me into a bit of an unhappy bunny 😕 Its only me and Steve that run the cutter so we dont have to worry about employees making errors yet 😀

[Simon Kay]

Hey Shane,

Is that the Weiner Bros sign on the Gold Coast that everyone talks about 😀

[Shane Drew]

quote scozzie:

Hey Shane,

Is that the Weiner Bros sign on the Gold Coast that everyone talks about 😀

😳 um… er…. maybe 😳

Rats, knew I shouldn’t have said anything! 👿

[Simon Kay]

😀

[Andrew Butler]

Just a little tip for measuring

Don’t Know how many of you do this but if i go on site to take measurements I talk to myself in my little tape recorder thingy so when I get back to the shop and can’t read my writing it’s all on tape.

Saves you so much time and hassle

Andy

[Nigel Fraser]

….anyone with a Gerber Edge must know about waste 😕 It’s so easy to mess up material with this machine ! Last week I just finished a 25m print run of 3000 labels and set up the plotter to cut, no probs so far. I thought I’d go out and leave it to finish to avoid the annoying noise – came back to discover I’d used the registration mark printed on the two sample rows I had run to start with and all the cuts were misaligned by about 25mm 😥
Plus I also mess up more vinyl by trying to use offcuts that are only just big enough – never seems to work out !
It really pains me to have to throw away what was perfectly good material…..which brings me to a pet gripe of mine about recycling of waste vinyl/backing paper. Wish someone could find a way to do that one day 😕

Nigel

[Marekdlux]

How about when you are doing the Cyan or Black foil on the Edge and you forgot to see if there was enough foil on the roll for the job. Forget the reverse your print on clear/cling….forget to overprint white on clear…the list is endless. Do you have the “Gerber Gauge” over there now on the foils?
-Marek

[Nigel Fraser]

…know what you mean mate 😀 .We have just started getting the gerber gauge I think but I rarely use their foils now so I’m not sure. It would be nice if the other manufacturers would follow suit 😕

Nigel

[Shane Drew]

quote creativesign:

…. Last week I just finished a 25m print run of 3000 labels and set up the plotter to cut, no probs so far. I thought I’d go out and leave it to finish to avoid the annoying noise – came back to discover I’d used the registration mark printed on the two sample rows I had run to start with and all the cuts were misaligned by about 25mm 😥

Nigel

😮 ouch Nigel that must have been upsetting 😥

I learnt my lesson on the roland print and cut never to leave the room until I have seen it cut about a metre of material first.

Only the other day I did a 2m x 1.3m run of labels and for reasons unknown, it printed but didn’t cut. I had the rego marks anyway, so had to set it up manually, but the registration is never as accurate as when the machine does it automatically.

I use my backing paper as wrapping material when I send out signs by courier, or as packing to fill a space. IAt least I feel I am doing something for the environment…

[Hugh Potter]

i tend not to have too much waste (not too much work as yet either !),

the forgetting to mirror is probably my biggest annoyance, or not thinking and slicing thru the end of the design because the cutter didnt finish at the end of the job, and i forgot to check !

i keep everything i mess up, just roll it up and stick it in a box, every couple of months i’ll sort through what are small useable sizes (never know when you’ll need to cut just one letter to replace a cock-up ! ), then i make my little girls school teacher real happy cos i’ll turn up with a box full of vinyl bits for their arty stuff, i even throw in the bodged work, they seem to like stuff with letters in !!

re: the appl’n tape, i’m pretty good with that too, generally, if i’m cutting lots, various shapes and sizes, i’ll trim the vinyl down before weeding, keep the offcuts (for afore mentioned reasons), and lay the work out on the masking table, then when i have enough weeded work to cover with minimum waste, i’ll tape it, saves alot with the small run stuff i tend to do alot of,

even us southerners can be tight fisted !!!