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layout of foamex boardsa for sign
Hi all,
I have to do a big sign measuring 5×20 foot. i have a 30 inch machine but am thinking of doing cut vinyl and applying to the boards.
whats is the best way for the layout of the boards??
I have attached an image.
i can either get 5 boards cut down and but joined together or the layout below which is 2 full boards and a bit on the side with 2 small boards at the bottom.
is there a right or wrong about it?
thanx a million! 🙂
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9 Replies
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first thing, don’t use foam-ex… if the budget is not on your side, use 8×4 lightweight composite board. often called hoarding panel/board.
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Personally ide use two sheets of composite, 3m x 1.5m landscape, side by side. then hang your prints like wallpaper vertically all the way along. less joins running the prints horizontal though.
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Hi Robert,
what would be wrong with using 5mm foamex? also can you get composite in sheets that big??
thanx
phil -
Foamex is only good for short term signs…..preferably indoors. Too high an expansion/contraction rate. It will go wavey in 48 hours and look like the dogs breakfast. It also goes brittle in 6 month of UV exposure.
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quote Mike Grant:Foamex is only good for short term signs…..preferably indoors. Too high an expansion/contraction rate. It will go wavey in 48 hours and look like the dogs breakfast. It also goes brittle in 6 month of UV exposure.In days of yore when your choice was acrylic or PVC…floodcoating PVC with vinyl worked a treat. Done RIGHT (framed to allow for expansion) PVC signs did last many, many years. (Some of mine are still perfect 10 years on)
However – now that we have composite…I won’t even touch PVC for anything outdoors!
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I see! composite it is then. my supplier only sell 8×4 sheets of hoarding so any ideas where i can get bigger (as Rob mentioned) ??
cheers!!
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Most suppliers will do 10×5’s…VERY surprised you can only get 8x4s.
Amari, Robert Horne, Stockline, Righton and loads of other ones.
And – leave off the hoarding board – it’s better than PVC…but only just. And is for use when it’s all about cost not quality.
Spend £5 extra and get something half decent…spend £10 more and get something GOOD. If you split that small cost over the entire job – it’s really costing buttons.
Also – any good supplier will pre-cut all of the panels for you.
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I hundred % agree with the others, if you doing a job of this scale, they your price to the client should be of hundred % scale
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Totally agree, 5′ panels in 5mm would twist so much, bit of direct sunlight and it’d be almost unreadable. I figure if foam is needed or requested, then up to 2′ in 6mm really is the limit, making you about five time over.
With regard to how brittle it goes in a short time, I have never experienced that. Agree not all foams are the same, but amari foam generally lasts at least as long as the vinyl will. I have loads of stuff over 10yrs and some as long as 20yrs on 10mm. Colours were a pretty short term thing, they faded and went brittle very quickly, other than the green which tended to last well. But when there was basically either foam or plywood, the foam was a good choice. The fitting of foams to consider expansion is critical.
I’ve done a fair bit of NHS work, and they use vinyl coated aluminium, I know it has a name, but either way that’s what it actually is…
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