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Newbie Questions – Quite long
Hi,
I run a business that manufactures scoreboards, both electronic and manual versions.
We currently outsource our vinyl lettering, but we are looking to invest in our own equipment.
Basically we pay for and then apply vinyl logos and lettering to all our scoreboards. The scoreboards are used mainly outdoors.
The scoreboards come in two versions:
Electronic scoreboards use Black vinyl to mask off the lexan facia, so that all that can be seen are the electronic digits. Then white lettering is applied over the black vinyl, this shows the company name, web address etc.
Manual scoreboards, we pay for and then apply white vinyl for the lettering. The manual scoreboards are made from marine plywood, treated, sanded and painted with non reflective jet black paint.
We also sell a number of electronic advertising systems and we are looking to move into the lightbox area of advertising solutions.
So the questions are: what cutter\plotter equipment and vinyls would you recommend for our outdoor scoreboards, both the lexan and plywood versions. Also bearing in mind we may be moving into the lightbox area of advertising in the future.
I hope their is enough info here.
Thanks
Daz..
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6 Replies
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Hi and welcome Daz 😀
What is the maximum width of vinyl/scoreboards you currently use? If you can get away with a 24″ (610mm) plotter, you can buy one for around £1500.
Vinyl-wise, you can’t go far wrong with Oracal 751 sold by Europoint. I think your local office would be Manchester (tel 0161 848 5500). Andy, Simon or Dave are the chaps there, although I mostly deal with Andy. There are other vinyl suppliers of course, but this is Oracal is a good vinyl, I use it the 751 series for virtually all my signmaking, vehicles and anywhere else I care to stick it 😉
If you’re already applying the vinyl yourself, you’re half way there anyway. The only other bit of kit you’ll need is software of which you’ve got the cheap end of the market, SignGo, which retails at around £250 or the other end is SignLab, around the £1500-£2000 mark. Both are good packages, but SignLab is the industry standard. There are packages inbetween such as FlexiSign and Vinyl Master Pro, which again are great packages. Just depends which you can get used to/afford.
Hope this helps a little. Worth mentioning though, Graphtec plotters & Oracal vinyl are both available through the UKSignGroup, might be worth emailing Robert to find out a bit more about this. 😀
Cheers, Dewi
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Dewi,
Thanks for the feedback!
I take it the vinyls you mention are hardy enough to withstand the great British weather 😀
I have seen mentioned on the forum, that certain vinyls have a “life span” period from 3 – 7 years, where does Oracal 751 situate itself on this?
Thanks
Daz..
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I think 751 is a 5-7 year polymeric. Its used for all sorts of applications and is definately suitable for our lovely climate 😀
There is also 651, a thicker vinyl (monomeric I think) which is 3-5 year. Thats slightly cheaper than the 751 but a bit harder to weed. 851 is a cast, thats the top of the line, but I doubt you’ll want to go that far. Its mainly used for conforming to difficult shapes, ie when wrapping a car.
If you’re stocking vinyl though its worth noting that the shelf-life can be shorter than the lifespan of the vinyl. This shouldn’t be a problem for you as you would mainly stock black & white, am I correct? The black and the white is cheaper than the colours also, another bonus in your favour 😀
Cheers, Dewi
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Dewi,
What do you mean by weeding? Is it the separation of the lettering on the vinyl, after being through the cutter?
Also when I pick up the vinyl, the signwriter appears to have fitted the vinyl with a tacky paper covering, thats as a label “Hexis”. I then have to remove this and the backing paper during application. Whats this paper called please?
Thanks
Darrell…
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Hi Darrell,
Weeding is the process of removing the waste vinyl material from around your cut design including the centres of letters like “e”, “o” etc. The better the vinyl, the easier it tends to be to weed in general.
The adhesive paper is called “application tape” or “transfer tape” normally and this too comes in different versions – low, med & hi tack and some are better than others if you want the paper to lay flat on your graphics rather than curl up at the edges.
Hexis is just one manufacturer/distributor of sign making materials see http://www.hexis.co.uk/ for details. There are lots to choose from and if you join the UKSG you can get preferential pricing on your materials and equipment – ask Rob for details.Nigel
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Hi Darrell welcome to the site mate..
dewi and nigels covered your question.. there are lots of vinyls and application tapes on the go like they have said.
Avery, Mactac, Oracal, spandex, Metamark, Hexis, LG, duramark to name a few..
different makes from different suppliers.. most vinyls feel and act differently when being applied. what you have to suss is what ones best for you and at the right price. next comes the service you get, if you by day to day.. again, we all have mixed veiws on who we use.
ide advise you to go with a 5-7 year vinyl. it will perform well, shrink alot less & doesnt cost much more than the 3-5 year life range & has a lot less headaches.
my preferences are Oracal & MACtac for both vinyl & app tape.. but thats just me..
call round ask for some samples and have a mess around with them.
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