[Andrew Martin]

I agree Alan.. importing is always better than opening, but i try all options until i get a result.

I have also had eps files that seem to only open in photoshop

[Andrew Martin]

Will all this equipment fit into this "single shop room" ?

Good luck with your new business Zed

[Andrew Martin]

If you have Acrobat pro try importing the eps file than save the file again as eps or pdf… this sometimes works for me.

Also in Corel try the opening command instead of importing the file.

[Andrew Martin]

Import your file into illustrator then save your file as in a lower version of eps and with a different file name so not to overwrite the original.

[Andrew Martin]

The use of Digital textile printers is not new… my last job at a printing firm i was using a digital textile printer, its was ok for one offs or very small print runs, but i’m not sure if its a huge growth area.

[Andrew Martin]

I used to do these at my last job, As Dave says..the same way flags would be done, either silk screened using texiscreen water based ink or done digitally on a textile printer.

[Andrew Martin]

You need a more powerful laser, A local engineering firm near me had one of these installed last year…

And yes it’s a C02 laser!

Not sure if they would bother cutting di-bond though, but they do undertake cutting small quantity aluminium or steel shapes for signs etc

[Andrew Martin]

It depends on what glue your trying to remove and what surface its on..

[Andrew Martin]

Colin… heres the link to the topic on double sided banners that was discussed a few weeks back that may help…

https://www.uksignboards.com/viewtopic.p … ded#394131

[Andrew Martin]

If its consistently 15mm out then the easiest way is to offset it by 15mm to compensate.
The usual way is to print the first side then make a registration mark on the other side of the banner where you want to start printing

[Andrew Martin]

Its still all good exposure to get your name about.

But i’m not sure if the number on the car "666" is a good omen for business though.. 😕

[Andrew Martin]

This will have likely done damage.. what happens is the ribbon cable gets moved with the action of the print carriage during printing causing a repeated intermittent connection and resulting in failure of the electronics to either the head or control board or even worse.. both.

If you have swapped the heads and the same happens it more likely the control board and maybe your head is ok, also remember to isolate machine from power before disconnecting any cables and heads.

[Andrew Martin]

I have seen this problem before on a DX4 head machine… it turned out to be the ribbon cable not located properly.

[Andrew Martin]

when the mimaki textile printer was out of action, i had to try to print flags using the solvent printer.. it printed but the colours looked washed out and looked terrible like a faded flag, we used a polyester nylon flag material.

If your customer knows what these flags are susposed to look like then they wont be pleased if you print with solvent and they may demand a reprint… it happened at the print firm i was working… a lot of time and money lost.

I have not heard of this K20 material, maybe it does sort of work, but its still a risk.

Gert du Preez.. do you not have problems with your ink soaking through the material using double pass ?

[Andrew Martin]

If your PC has more than one usb port try that. i have a usb pen drive that will work only on two of the usb ports out of the four i have on my PC

[Andrew Martin]

I used to print these at my last job, we did them on a textile printer " a mimaki tx2 " using dyes, I’m not sure if you can print these on a versacamm.. maybe someone else will know this.

[Andrew Martin]

I thought copyright extends to not being able to reproduce any logos etc electronically, which means any supplier selling libraries of logos are also breaking any copyright that exists, unless of course they have been given permission.. So if they have, then suppliers are misleading people by selling something that they not really allowed to use without permission from the original owners of such artwork.

As Jason says..what would be interesting to know is.. do the suppliers of these have the permission of the copyright owners to distribute these for profit ?

I doubt if many have.. but who has actually sought any permission to use these copyright logos purchased on a CD ?

[Andrew Martin]

quote Peter Normington:

quote Andy_M:

Peter… I’m not sure how people who just copy and sell decals actually devalue the sign trade ??

Simply because it gives the impression that we all do stuff on the cheap, the ebay seller, or someone who has a website selling knocked off designs, encourages people to think that is the way it is.
Peter

You maybe right Peter… But prehaps its ebay to blame for the devalue the sign trade, along side the decals there is the cheep banners too 🙁

I’m not into the sticky stuff myself, but if ebay was not around i wonder where people would get there copied decals from..

[Andrew Martin]

In my last job some customers wanted vinyl date panels on there banners, PVC is ok to put vinyl on and it stays put for a very long time in my experience.

[Andrew Martin]

I think it’s a Grey area, how about this… private teams in rallying… they can cover their cars with the manufacturers logo and nothing gets said… why would they? after all its free advertising.
But if your copying car bonnet stripes etc to sell which are available from a dealership then that’s different.

Union Jack flag can be used in any shape or format even the colour can be changed… the laws of how a union flag is displayed have long been abolished and there is no copyright on it.

Peter… I’m not sure how people who just copy and sell decals actually devalue the sign trade ??

[Andrew Martin]

I agree, scanning is the way to go, but if your artwork is very large you would have to get it scanned on a drum scanner, but if its framed artwork then a digital camera shot maybe your only option.

[Andrew Martin]

I have poster print v10 connected to a Epson 10600 so there maybe some differences between v10 and v12

In the print environment setting you can add a new print environment based on your printer by clicking the add button.

In my case the usable width of the media is governed by the printer and not the profile… just a thought.. did your profiles come with poster print ? if not are your profiles you obtained compatible with poster print ?

[Andrew Martin]

Does your version of poster print rip support a mutoh valuejet 1304 ? if so have you selected the correct printer in the print environment setting.

[Andrew Martin]

If your looking to transfer the complete disk with all software including the operating system then you need a good disk cloning software like Norton ghost.
I’m not sure if the disk to be transferred to has to be the same size including the heads and sectors.

[Andrew Martin]

quote Kev Mayger:

Macs are far superior for graphic applications & the operating system is more stable than any windows based PC i’ve ever had. Have fun with it!!!

There is nothing wrong with Macs, But i would not say they are far superior for graphics applications or any other application.

As for the windows operating system i find it stable enough.. you just have to remove or disable a few things that Microsoft thinks you should have on your system.

Good luck Cheryl with your new Mac

[Andrew Martin]

Those stickers are just that… cheap and not up to the job and may only last five minutes under heavy braking when the caliper get very hot.

The caliper manufacturers dont put stickers on for the high temp reason, they use special resin based paint.

[Andrew Martin]

Im no expert on vinyl, but i think no vinyl would be suitable for this application due to the very high temp on a break caliper… i could be wrong though.

[Andrew Martin]

As Dave says.. decent monitors are a must.

Digital photographers will profile there monitors when they want their own print which is printed on their own printer to look the same as the image on their own monitor.

The problem is if you do an artwork and send a file to a customer to be approved, then his/her monitor will not display the same colour contrast as yours does, then they complain when your print is not the same as what is on their monitor, it will also happen if you dont profile your monitor so i have to question is it worth it for a sign maker.

[Andrew Martin]

I have had experience in printing correx at my last job
If the print is just one colour then screen printing maybe the way to go.

The outlay need not be expensive, you can self build most of the main equipment like the print bench, i would recommend using an aluminum pre stretched screen with a fairly tight mesh count… these can be obtained from R.A Smart, as for ink Sericol does one for correx called "corripol".

Stencils are easily made using autotype amber film and can be cut on your plotter/printer machine and this is applied to the screen using nothing more than a damp rag then dried using a normal heater.

you could also make the screen with a photographic emulsion but this is an expensive option and mostly used in long print runs.

You would of course need a drying rack to store the prints to dry or if you have the room prop them up against the wall or something… just make sure its a dust fee area though

[Andrew Martin]

quote Nigel Hindley:

Are Venture good? im sure they are actually just an agent because they don’t allow us to collect so we have never used them.

Nigel

I believe Venture Banners are an agent, they are also known as clearview banners which was located at a private address.
venture banners has a unit which i have been past but i dont think any printing goes on there.

[Andrew Martin]

Nice job !

I wonder if Bruce Dickinson will be the pilot… or is this his plane

[Andrew Martin]

Try http://www.greymatter.com/

They only sell genuine softwarare, and been going since the early days of PC’s

[Andrew Martin]

I have no experience in either software systems, but as far as i know xero is an on line based accounting package, not sure about Clarity, But if its a stand alone program then i would consider using that.
My view is i’m not keen on having a PC connected to the Internet that has sensitive and important data on.

[Andrew Martin]

Danish oil is good stuff, you could also use teak oil that is used for wooden garden furniture.

[Andrew Martin]

Maybe VersaWorks 4.1.1 has some bugs in it… i guess you have tried it but is there any new updates/ fixes for it ?

[Andrew Martin]

This link has info specific for printing double-sided banners on a Roland printer…

imagerssupply.com

[Andrew Martin]

I print double sided banners, obviously some designs do not lend themselves to be double sided eg: a background that has a patten in that bleeds of the edge.

But the technique i use on my mimaki jv3 for white or solid background colour is to print first side with crop/registration marks in each corner, when dry turn over locate the crop/registration marks with a pin from the underside and mark the unprinted side with a pencil, do this for all 4 marks.

Then feed the banner in and use the first pair of marks at one end of your banner as your datum point where to start printing.
You have to know where the exact point your printer will start printing in the x and y axis, and you have to make sure you start to print at the right end for the reverse of the banner otherwise you will end up with the print upside down to the other.
Also make sure you feed in straight, i can achieve a 1.5mm accuracy with this technique.

For me this easier to do than to explain the process, so apologies if this does not make much sense.

[Andrew Martin]

quote Vincent Paul Brown:

I’ve been in the industry for a while now (13yrs) and just wondered of others opinion on logo & sign design vs. ‘official’ graphic designers.

It seems that customers never value a Sign makers design work but will happily pay through the nose to go to a graphic designer and get much the same thing!

Any thoughts?

Look at it from a customers point of view.. If you advertise yourself as a sign maker or printer, then that’s what you do.. produce or manufacture signs from designs put in front of you unless you offer a full design service, But.. graphic design is a strange thing, you may see your effort as a great design, but there will also be a customer who has a different opinion and wants endless changes and the project spirals upwards then questions your price or even refuses to pay….
let the customer come up with the design from a graphic designer and save yourself the grief.

Of course there will be different opinions on this..

[Andrew Martin]

Try a sail maker, they may be able to get some in for you or have some in stock , theirs a few local sail makers to me… search for Lonton and Gray.

[Andrew Martin]

Thats intresting, i had an enquiry recently about magnetic signs.. Does anyone know if any other process is needed if printed with a solvent printer ?

[Andrew Martin]

Thats a DIL 12 way header plug you need.. you also need to know what pitch the pins are, i’m guessing its 0.1 inch.

Try RS components or Farnell

[Andrew Martin]

quote Peter Normington:

Are you wearing your glasses
😀
I didnt know you could print direct from corel to the jv3, dont you have to go through a rip?
Peter

Peter..
If you download the appropriate self installing JV3 driver on the mimaki site you can then print from almost any application if needed.

[Andrew Martin]

I have just tried that free online vector magic, and I’m very impressed 😀

[Andrew Martin]

I still use Adobe streamline, its old and not perfect but it works well for me.

[Andrew Martin]

Head strikes don’t always ruin heads… maybe knock them out of alignment, but you mention the other heads have come back 100% so i don’t think the head strike was responsible, it was probably just a coincidence, its more like a case of dirty heads from using dusty media, if you cant clean by any means its then maybe as Peter says.. replace the head.

What did it strike on when you was closed for annual leave ?

[Andrew Martin]

Try right clicking the file and save to your computer then open it, that sometimes works better.

[Andrew Martin]

Its also a variety of grape

[Andrew Martin]

quote Stafford Cox:

Yep, you need a newer version 😀

The problem you’ve got is going to be something along the lines of you have the profile set to a resolution that doesn’t correspond with the printers setup. Check all print options in the Process screen and make sure they are all set to the same as the profile you’re trying to use.

How are you finding modern day PDF’s with that version of Shiraz? Don’t tell me, faultless!!?? 🙄

Stafford

Thanks for the advice Stafford, i will check that again when i have more time for messing with profiles.

The only problem i sometimes have with newer PDF’s is on cropping a section then sending to print when shiraz decides to shut down, there are one or two strange print issues sometimes But my workaround in all cases is to open up the PDF in Acrobat pro and resave the file backward compatible to v7

[Andrew Martin]

quote David-Foster-:

You know it is breaking copyright, customer supplied artwork or not. Would you do a job if someone brought in a design / artwork from another sign company?

He is an example of using a copyrighted design with no problems…last year i had done a banner for a non official Volkswagen car club using the VW logo, the banner is displayed in various car shows around the country with official Volkswagen presence and as far as i know there has never been a problem.. of course this cannot be guaranteed for other designs of car clubs etc.
Personally i would print any design / artwork the paying customer supplies as long as its not offensive etc.

How i see it is i would not be breaking copyright as I’m not displaying or using the design.

[Andrew Martin]

quote Mo Gillis-Coates:

Hi Guys, I know I can’t advertise anything for sale that I don’t have a licence for the copyright for, I have been asked by a customer to wrap a trade vehicle using a comic book hero image which he is supplying (obviously he doesn’t have a licence from Marvel to use it)

He wants to put it on his van along with his prone number etc, but he’s not selling anything to do with marvel comics..

Can anyone advise whether this is legal or not?

Cheers

I very much doubt if you could be held liable for doing this job especially as the customer is supplying the artwork, its not your responsibility but the customers for checking copyright, nor can you be held responsible what he does with the finished vehicle.
Just make sure your invoice states artwork supplied by customer.

[Andrew Martin]

quote Peter Mindham:

if you expect to deal with larger companies they will expect you to be registered. They look for this as a demonstration of company size and viability.

Peter

I have never come across not being registered for vat a problem, my core business is printing small run pvc banners, i sell to a few large companies who are vat registered and have never asked me for a vat number, even though they could get their banners cheaper with vat included.. they still deal with me because of the service and quality i provide them, this is worth more to them than claiming back the cost of vat.

[Andrew Martin]

I’m not vat registered myself and don’t advertise this fact, all my invoices and quotes state vat at 0% and have no problems with the increase of vat but will add the extra 2.5% in my pricing.

As for attracting the wrong type of "customer" when they discover your not vat registered is not a problem for me as long as they pay up.. after all their money is just as good as anyone Else’s

[Andrew Martin]

Maybe if the price guide was still free as i understand it once was, the cheapo cut price boys would be educated in a proper pricing structure if they cant work it out themselves which obviously they cant.

Anyway I doubt if they could offer quality service in what ever they produce… it would eat away all their pocket money.

[Andrew Martin]

I agree with Dave Rowland about the AIT cleaning fluid… it appears to be quite aggresive.

Just another thought… could it be a worn feed motor or its encoder ?

[Andrew Martin]

Maybe a bit late but… i have now done it to.

Just a thought, was this ment for only paid members of UKSG ? if so apologies

[Andrew Martin]

I have had no problems with printing or stretching the 330gsm and 380gsm cotton canvas from artbloc even in this cold weather, There are no doubt plenty of other places to buy something similar, but as it works well for me i have never had to look elsewhere.

[Andrew Martin]

It could be ink starvation when printing in bi directional mode, try replacing the dampers as the internal filters may be slighty clogged.

[Andrew Martin]

quote Michael Hartley:

Do ya think those PS plug-ins would work with PS Elements? If I make any more of these (of course after I get these printed), which I’m thinking about, I’d like to have a more automated way to set them up. I could possibly swing the Elements, but can’t do the master program right now. I’ve got this old Epson printer sitting here, and it doesn’t need to be sitting. It prints about once a week. Needs to be printing something everyday. Thanks again. Mike

Yes i believe they do, but you would need the V6 plugin for gallery wrap, its called genuine fractals pro which works from PS elements 4 onward.

[Andrew Martin]

quote James Breeze:

At the risk of being spotted for a PC geek, I’d recommend Windows XP users download & use a program called BartPE (stands for ‘Preinstalled Environment’). here:

http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/

It’s absolutely free & will allow you back into a completely crashed computer where you can either take copies of all your files before wiping, restore missing .dll files, clean viruses etc. etc. It also allows you to run disk copy software to more easily make a mirror of your operating system partition.

It basically builds a mini version of your operating system & will fit onto a CD or USB stick.

Hope this helps some people. Not sure if there is anything for Windows 7 that does the same as not tried this with that OS yet.

That’s a very handy utility… thanks

[Andrew Martin]

Ok i could not remember to spell it correctly 😳

Also diptych refers to 2 images

[Andrew Martin]

Maybe i have under estimated its usefulness to a raw beginner 😳

Im fortunate to have picked up part of my previous employers business when they went in to voluntary liquidation, but im still not convinced the guide would be much use to me.
What other products does this guide cover ? as it seems most people who use it are into vehicle wraps.

[Andrew Martin]

quote Michael Hartley:

I don’t even know if that’s the correct terminology for them. It’s when you take a large photo, and make three or so canvas prints out of it, and hang on the wall making a large picture, split into three sections.

They are called tryptic when you split a photo into three sections.
There is a photoshop plugin that can automate this, but i cant remember what its called.
There is also another plugin that can do gallery wraps made by onone software.

[Andrew Martin]

I would like to know what else makes this guide worth the money, apart from suggesting you should be selling your products for about "x" amount, Something i would have thought most people could work out for themselves… maybe I’m just a sceptic but paying 20 odd pounds for basically market research information in a ring bound folder does not sound good value to me.

No offense ment to the publishers or to anybody who has bought the guide.

[Andrew Martin]

I find that a liquid laminate/varnish does enhance the canvas print, but if you use a Matt finish you wont see much or any difference
as it only serves to protect the ink from so called fading, but a gloss or satin finish offers a finish that is pleasing to the eye as well as
offering protection of the print.
For normal photo to canvas prints i would not bother, but for certain customers who want that fine art look on real canvas then yes its necessary.

Another thing to note is that not all liquid laminates/varnishes are compatible with certain polyester/cotton mix canvases as it can scratch easily or peel off.

[Andrew Martin]

Those folders i think are are whats left of a windows update, ..as Martin said turn off windows update

[Andrew Martin]

Hugh
If you go into the fonts folder right click for the properties of the offending font and see if it has a ttf file name extention which is needed for windows to recognize it as a valid font.

If they dont have ttf file name extention you may have to move any of the suspect fonts out of the fonts folder to rename them with a ttf extention

[Andrew Martin]

See if the offending fonts have the correct file name extension, if not rename them.

[Andrew Martin]

I use a shuttle x pc which is dedicated for the rip which has win2000 for the operating system and running shiraz rip v5.6… the processor is 2.80Ghz with only 512mb of ram… this setup is very stable and runs fairly fast in my opinion, although i plan to double up on the ram soon as i feel there is room for some improvement on ripping larger files.

[Andrew Martin]

quote Peter Normington:

hi andy
I just registered on the shiraz site http://www.shiraz-software.com/ and got an emal link to the download within minutes

peter

Yes i registered and have got the email link, but the thing is all the links i keep getting from them are dead.

[Andrew Martin]

Yes indeed you will need to use printing ink if painting on PVC.
There are various manufacturers i have used like Sericol but thats quite expensive or you can use Apollo inks cheaper and just as good.
both these inks can be thinned with cellulose thinners if your painting or spaying.

[Andrew Martin]

The last time i saw this was when i was running win2000, it was caused by a damaged system file, i just rebooted from the cd with the original win2000 cd and selected to repair operating system… none of my files were lost.

You maybe able to the same with other operating systems.

[Andrew Martin]

Glamour II veneer by breathing color.
Can be applied by roller or spray

[Andrew Martin]

The last company i worked for used GA6.2 with win98SE, the only other operating system we could get it to work with was win2000, with XP we found it caused problems with reliability with GA freezing or sometimes the menu bar disappearing.

[Andrew Martin]

Some very good valid points on this topic and some food for thought too and it looks like the general opinion here to putting prices on the web is no.

Although I’m not trying to compete with the budget one off print boys, I would not mind a small piece of that market in between the more profitable jobs just to keep some money rolling in like RayRosher’s comment, so maybe a second website with prices is in order or possibly better still just a link on my site to a pdf brochure with prices including the budget ones.

[Andrew Martin]

Thanks Jill
One of my concerns was my local competition seeing what i charge and then lowering their prices, getting into a price war is something i cant afford to do.

[Andrew Martin]

I use a program called Quick View Plus, i think there is a demo, it views most corel .CDR files, .PDF, .EPS, and .AI and others, but it does have a couple of unexplained issues when reading some EPS and CDR files even when saved in the same application for some reason.

[Andrew Martin]

I have experience with poster print v10 by ergosoft that was used to drive a mimaki TX2.
OK v10 is an old version by now but it was very stable, and easy to set up and easy to use, i had no problems with it.

[Andrew Martin]

I use Colorsolve classic2 inks with no problems on my printer which has been using them for a few years now.

[Andrew Martin]

The head was changed because i had the spare with the machine, the exsisting yellow head could not be recovered even with multiple 99 min cleans.

The cables went back in the same way they came out, when i was at my last employer i watched and picked up a few tips from the engineer who changed the heads a few times on a Mimaki tx2 textile printer and the procedure is more or less the same for a JV3, the only thing i could not understand was the entering of the head ID.

I quite understand that you dont want to turn this place into a instruction booklet so i will ask no more.

[Andrew Martin]

Yes i have tried doing a test print Peter, no output what so ever on the new head 😥