[David Rowland]

ah very good and HP always likes to be involved with new ideas. I haven’t seen this Sprout before but had seen the concept.

With regards to Lidar, I was well impressed with it but couldn’t see the transition to 2D, however we do have measuring tape apps but I am still using vintage iPhone !

Another idea I have thought about is those projector boards you get in class rooms, which allows you to write on them, I would love to know if anyone has adapted them for countouring.

[David Rowland]

this is a topic that i am keen to learn more on, I am also considering some experimenting..

I been looking at the market for Large Format Scanners but most are roll fed (which can be a problem) and my items that I want to scan can be 1 inch thick.

There is two scanners I really want to see, WideTek and Cruse which will take ‘paintings’ are repro them. Something I am very interested in or sub-out to.

There is a way of using a HP Flatbed Scanner, HP 4670, its a portable flat object scanner thats A4, you actually scan the item and stitch them together in photoshop, possibly the best scanner I have ever seen but demand is high for it.

Now, for Flatbed there a way using a massive tablet. made by the Logic Group dot com. That will allow you to trace shapes

I love to do more with 3D scanning, but the iPhones Pro’s have Lidar scanner, the newer phones are more accurate. I love to play with these as I am sure there is an app that is more point and click now, but who’s got a grand for a phone!?

If anyone got a Massive Scanner, I love to meet you and work with you

[David Rowland]

Printer still available, reduced price to 3K +VAT. Needs home, also Seymore Signs just had a review here, which is basically the same machine.

We need it gone

[David Rowland]

Price dropped to £3,225 inc vat. We are registered. New printer being installed right now and this needs to find a home.

[David Rowland]

This is now being broken up, if anyone wants a part I could do a quote .. thanks

[David Rowland]

i must have miss-read Rob’s reply saying hes alright… I have the Thrive 11.something installer on our server with all the files… i did reinstall recently so i know it works

I always keep installers as u never know when u need them

[David Rowland]

oh i see….

[David Rowland]

Ours has now been replaced. Maybe tempted with offers for the parts but currently doesn’t work

[David Rowland]

I have some older versions as we are on XP, message me or I will..

Thrive is actually wonderful but will take on your notes about Go. Interesting as we just changing thnigs about now.

We also hit a wall with installing Old Thrive on new O/S hence why we not got too much further.

A software developer normally keeps their last 2-3 versions live allowing a customer to Roll back, Adobe is one as u can isntall the old kit.

[David Rowland]

we still looking at it… now the laminator gone bad

[David Rowland]

David, i did message back along… we need heads.. let me know if u still got them

[David Rowland]

Hey ! Well we used to be the dominate sign maker in town, however the other company ended up becoming the no1 and we changed plan, staff changed and most of them ended up at the other company. The other company went bust but had a established sales base. Now we got many sign makers in town.

I walked past the pub the other day and the franchise pizza place had all their staff under a sign as they had it down for some reason, think they were getting wires in but I decided to stay clear, just made me laugh that anyone these days will give it a go.

[David Rowland]

its incredible – with the arcade business, a few have actually called it a day as each machine is 2-2.5amps and that can add up. With Latex printers this will be a bit costly to run now. Sadly energy is what we need to work with.

[David Rowland]

I tihnk 6 colour latex is wonderful machine, as I returned to sign makers i was at before, they are still using it without major breakfown.

8 colour pantone sounds great, 4 colour I would not be too interested in if u dont mind a reduction of colour gamut… i am happy with 6.

[David Rowland]

Im not that old at 47 ! shesh… boards has been responsible for my sign making knowledge after working with a big outfit in the SW..

[David Rowland]

i know i am old

[David Rowland]

OK thanks for that Peter

[David Rowland]

This is all very interesting – my head still with old pricing from say 2010 era but now I see what people are calculating today with everything going up.

[David Rowland]

It’s that time again where I blow the dust of the cobwebs and wish you all a happy summer. I am back a little, I been doing a little corel draw with vectors for t-shirts mostly, i been getting my friends businss on the go with signage , did a little frosting on my shop windows (yes i have a shop which is more of a workshop). I have big plans for it. I am also back on/off with the old sign makers and trying to fix up our Oce. Still doing a little bit with Royal Mail, also do a lot more then that but this is a kinda hellio once again.

So hope you are all good and keeping out of the sun

[David Rowland]

It’s been a while and MR Fenton guessed exactly what sparked me to come back here. Look for trade solutions lol but I don’t even remember the rules here lol

So many faces , bringing a smile to me !!!

What’s a Mimaki now? no idea

[David Rowland]

Hello once again, I am back ! for a few minutes at least.

Hope all is well, since the last few years I been involved with fixing Arcade Machines and we run a arcade bar that been shut-down right now, some of you will know will know what I am talking about.

I am at the verge of starting back up doing vinyl for machines, so I need to ‘learn’ what’s changed in the last 5 years, I also need to find out how I can go about printing when I have no equipment what-so-ever.

So, yes … hope all is good..
Dave

[David Rowland]

quote Chris Windebank:

and just when you think you got it right you laminate it and it goes a green again.

Yeah thats right – because you haven’t accounted for the non-perfect clear laminate

When I used to profile you needed it to be spot on and do it with the final laminate on top and call it Vinyl+Lam

[David Rowland]

Thank you…

Networking eh…. I am very good at networking but the protocol is rather dodgy

[David Rowland]

grey / pink is an issue with perception of grey the our mind decodes… yeah profiling is art form.

[David Rowland]

Well done Phill – your still at it then !

[David Rowland]

Well well well… it’s now 2019 and UKSignboards is speedie on my screen, was a while ago that this place was very slow and also with so many changes over the years. I haven’t been here for a while, I no longer connect myself as a sign maker, I am now a postman and still self-employed and doing non-sign making work however recently got back into the T-Shirt printing game but no equipment here.

How things have changed since 2005 / 14 years ago since I became part of this group and sure enough became a regular back then, many of you became my friends but hardly speak now, birmingham NEC became a focal point of the calendar, many times we would end up until the early hours in some dodgy venue wasting all of our money !

So, what happened to me? I moved on from the Sign Makers I was part of but at the time many things happened that some of you know, I lost my Dad and I had many issues in my personal life, made some very difficult decisions and lost a another person in my life as well as helping my mother fight a cancer scare.

After some very difficult times over the last five years I was free of a burden but ended up with without much money to even live on, I joined Royal Mail 4 years ago and only working part time, still part time and I also work with eBay / Amazon and now some online work, I have over the last four years attempted to rebuild my life after the difficulties I have had.

So, I am currently watching StarTrek Discoveries at this moment, playing around online and I thought I would see how my old friends are doing. Hope all is well

Dave Rowland aka Mimaki Green Giant !

[David Rowland]

I was stunned to learn about your business and what had happened to yourself, I know we had our problems but you seem to be going places. It’s been a long time since I logged in here, but best regards to you and Gabby and hope you recover once again.

[David Rowland]

Thank you Little boy Robbie and the others – hope you all think of me on Xmas Eve when I am delivering your Amazon Tat that you start ordering tomorrow as when do fella’s buy Xmas stuff, Tomorrow! :thumbsup:

[David Rowland]

For those who remember me, Merry Christmas from someone who’s now a Postman! Just thought I check-in, not ruling out a return to the industry but for now it’s on hold lol

I hope you all have an enjoyable time over the next few days, I will be working Saturday Xmas Eve!

[David Rowland]

well its got to have a base RIP? Rip Server if I recall is a product name of Onyx or is it EFI product

[David Rowland]

RIP PC or RIP ? what RIP specifically? depends on your paperwork i guess… Onyx / Caldera is Art Systems distributed.
Is the PC Dell or HP or branded? you might have a warranty on the PC (see invoice)

[David Rowland]

My bristol rep replied via linkdin

But yes, all redundant with immediate effect on Wednesday. PaperlinX Europe ceased trading, into admin. Our division dragged down through Paper!

[David Rowland]

well they not answering the phone

no idea if we are getting a delivery

big upset for us… wonder if they get another buyer

[David Rowland]

was a good to catch up after an absence of a few years. john thomson and pauline, nigel, joe mcmanara, paul goodwin/mort, ink tech guy, james/harpz , Lorraine and Geoff, john harding and suppliers galore!

I know alan d was about as we parked next to his van lol

[David Rowland]

they said on the stand that Sage has a strict policy for integrations, so it is their plans but have to wait for them.

However working with SignVox to get UK English customisations sorted.

[David Rowland]

Digging up this thread, with James, we been impressed so far with what ShopVox has to offer, we are currently testing it out. Derek/Cheryl/John and anyone else, how has you experiences so far with the program.

[David Rowland]

have a chat with the people who sharpen the blade, you be surprised how blunt they get if in daily use.

I remember the book printers and Silk screen Sticker company I worked, might be fortnight sharpening… something to take into consideration.

[David Rowland]

Machine must GO! Offers please!

[David Rowland]

From what we seen, I am keen to get my hands on one… get rid of old for new

[David Rowland]

I agree with John, macmedia have said similar to me.

Firewire is funny thing on JV3 can be damaged

[David Rowland]

If this was an AXYZ, i would check all bed sensors, on the AXYZ is a plastic cap and this sometimes comes in contact and breaks causing the sensor to stay on, this on startup of the AXYZ causes the head to plunge into the bed!

[David Rowland]

yep it is, but hours of practice pays off in the end.

[David Rowland]

Other people have told me Roland have great service and support and as they close, then easy to see you.

[David Rowland]

Congratulations, but I got a suggestion… knock may one of the walls down to get better access to the front (or back) of it, u gonna hate that cramped space before long as loading will be an problem.

Its important to keep good environment (like temperature/airflow/humidity) but u do need to be able to use it.

[David Rowland]

Lucky for you, Roland just up the road from you.

[David Rowland]

grey is the worst

we got the l25500, found our colours were not consistant after a few months. its a pain it the arse!

[David Rowland]

Rofesionals? where is Roffey these days?

[David Rowland]

very interesting

I really want Thrive in our flow, as i think it will sort our final problem out but as I found with all RIPs I have tested, there just is not a perfect one!

[David Rowland]

All I am going to say is we changed our AXYZ to the Multicam 1000 with optical eye, we also got the quieter pump and we absolutely love it. AXYZ new machines were reviewed as we already knew the kit, but we settled with Multicam, few issues but overall simple to use once you mastered the handset. The suction is king of CNCs!

[David Rowland]

Just seen this long thread.. ok, how is the smell? I mean Solvent is bad at time and some of the solvent ink smells disguising. The UV we have smells like nappies (as someone described it once)

With regards my comment about Solid Ink and tearing, well if you print say a solid white or solid black square on a vinyl, we found that UV Ink weakens the vinyl allowing you to tear it, so it weakens the structure of the vinyl. That’s what my comment above was about.

Cracking of UV ink is normally a sign of things like over exposure on the ink or the chemical formula is just not mixed correctly as we had issues with this in the past.

[David Rowland]

Our lines are back with BT, was held ransom with a local company over our lines when other issues arose.

If phone numbers could be like internet providers where u can buy and control ur domain then i would love it

[David Rowland]

its not the end of the world lol…

waiting for the articles to point out sunlight and headlights but it didn’t

also the issue with body colour and wraps was in one of the sign mags recently

[David Rowland]

does the light bar need new bulbs every xxx hours ? look into the costs
the UV ink is less likely to block, then dampers, wipers and any pipework, well I just thinking if the outlay is actually worth it as solvent is the one that used to block

[David Rowland]

my team where happy with it

[David Rowland]

I got an AGFA UV and we did run all vinyls with vehicles and white vinyls on it for several months, however found that it wasn’t working for us and had to purchase the latex printer to get us out of a mess. The ink is on the surface and locked to the surface with UV light, so the light have to be the right frequency and power to get though and set of the ink. The ink has to have some stretchly like feel to it for vinyl. Sadly the AGFA Ink just didn’t cope at all, we found the ink weakens the structure of vinyl and u could tear it.

If the Lightbar results with the ink, will it tear on solids?
Will it crack if folded in half?
is there much ‘bump’ effect on the ink?

I know all these questions have been on your mind for a few years robert when we have talked about UV so be interesting if Lightbar has cracked it as my experience with Vinyl and UV so far has been to give it a miss, cost us a lot of money to correct all the jobs we put out there.

[David Rowland]

we have done wraps for race weekends and its best just to design the artwork around the panels… basically they get replaced between races after smashes and simple as possible is best.

[David Rowland]

we coat once with water and then use a window-scraper to dry/clean the surface (like what a window cleaner uses)
we then soak again to apply the graphic

[David Rowland]

I had the same machine once…. head strike is correct… one thing tho.. keep an eye on Thick and Thin settings, have u moved them recently? It’s a bit Micky-mouse that control.

There is hidden engineer menus… need i say more… these help align the print heads…
but u better of ringing someone who can help

[David Rowland]

Buy a CNC, make a CNC, Return the CNC

[David Rowland]

its a cheaper alternative to glass printing, but u do really need white ink for business plaques

[David Rowland]

we all go back to the tools that we learnt on the most.. I am now illustrator user but I use Corel to design with as it is natural.

SignLab, some here use it as it is geared towards sign making design but I never try and learn it, my skills are with the software you know.

[David Rowland]

best of luck with the roof as well!

[David Rowland]

just a note… Blue Back paper and UV ink doesnt work well if i recall.. i could be wrong… something to do with ink not obsorb so fixing it into place trickier.

Litho or non solvent route i think

[David Rowland]

if you are on fibre optic then consider using things like http://www.teamviewer.com

put that on the cutter pc and go anywhere

[David Rowland]

if you can print a massive box measure it on very low heat… then i think u need to ring HP who will put u thru to art systems.

[David Rowland]

would be in the RIP at printers

[David Rowland]

any old printer can do banners, resolution not needed really…

detail on the HP is awesome tho

We print banners on the UV

Roland just brought a new machine out, I have no info

[David Rowland]

just entering the 3rd year on the HP L25500, what a machine for wraps and vinyl. User replaceable Heads £100 a time? Well I just changed mine for the first time.

The whole HP machine is a fantastic, replaceable caps/cleaning system too.

Banners, is questionable, but L26500 is better at them as it can do double sided easily.

Would I order another HP, without a doubt

[David Rowland]

who actually makes these movements anyway?

[David Rowland]

as the head moves a light passes thru a strip, goes from blocked to unblocked and that gives the mainboard information of where the head is and what speed it is travelling at. More importantly helps keeps the dots in alignment as the printer doesn’t really know where the head is if it didnt use the alignment strip as a position marker.

[David Rowland]

popups … not rollups.

unless u use the same material, we don’t we use anticurl banner soflat

[David Rowland]

i had similar time after time…. better then some UK suppliers!

[David Rowland]

snap… we have used the same material for pop up systems.. both latex and uv print well.

dont know any others… anyone else?

[David Rowland]

from who?

[David Rowland]

I heard that a NEW big change has happened… new CEO… he’s been reshaping contracts etc. big things changing

They are good with prices with us, however we finding we are putting more and more with them… never really let us down

[David Rowland]

get her a mobile

[David Rowland]

Word press is good as any mate.

[David Rowland]

Our job sheet is a modified proof sheet, to reduce repeat typing.
looks similar to James Phillips one, i am at home so cant upload.

[David Rowland]

I have the white L25500

Firstly you need two large 240volt power sockets installed.. think they are 15ampers.

You need a support package from HP, well worth it. I had two call outs so far.

Onyx RIP has the most media profiles.

If you mainly printing banners, look at Roland printers, if your mainly printing vinyl then HP, if your mainly printing fabrics the newer HP.

[David Rowland]

yes you are correct and can order the manifold, when u do take it apart u will find a rubber seal, make sure u get this or try and use the one that u have.

[David Rowland]

Subnet mask should be 255.255.255.0
ok read ur message now

The printer will have a fixed IP… u need to find it in the menus of the printer, not the PC. Write it down.

When you plug ur Laptop into the router (or wireless) your machine will be ASSIGNed a number. You find this out in Status .. it will look like 192.168.1.2 or something like that

You got to change the printers number to something similar…

192.168.1.x to maybe 192.168.1.100
or
192.168.0.x to maybe 192.168.0.100
or
10.0.0.x to maybe 10.0.0.100

Depends really where your numbers are…. your router will be in charge of your laptops number… so u just set the printer to a fixed one

[David Rowland]

how much?

absolutely

[David Rowland]

90% Averys coloured and digital

[David Rowland]

dont bother… uv ink holds up well against sunshine

[David Rowland]

i also read on their FAQ stuff that CS6 will be sold in box version ‘indefinitely’ … right

[David Rowland]

No overtaking?

[David Rowland]

we used to have a small 1K file which just had a block of ink in it. As the printer was using a print queue, we scheduled the print driver to print this file at certain times during the night, so it kept it moving. Bit of a hack really

[David Rowland]

watch out for the date problem… mimaki decided to release firmware that allows u to only move the date forward and not backwards to stop using old carts.. .the idiots.

As I said early, leave the JV3 off for a bit, you run into nozzle problems. Has to be always on so it can do it’s sleep clean.

When we got rid of our JV3, we replaced it with a different printer so the cart dates would be out of date.

[David Rowland]

it is best to print swatches from your design software, although printing the swatches from your rips demo files is sorta ok (as it works by name matching), the input/output profiles with PDF/Print/Eps also needs to be taken into account.

As I said the Capsule is a nice toy, but we found it a bit of a tease. Do you get that feeling of "it might have got it wrong" when using a device like that?!
Best with the naked eye and looking in the right light

[David Rowland]

yes it does, it scans the media and makes the profile (with Onyx) and does most of the work. Amazing bit of kit…

This is now SOLD Pending pickup

[David Rowland]

hi its in million bits now lol ..

not sure about brush , was a static bar

all heads not so good although but we do have a new head that i know is worth a good amount as rare now.

[David Rowland]

Nice, did try and message u about heads not long ago… no reply.. never mind.. things have moved on and we just purchased a new printer… if the site lets me, i am gonna post the old printers and other equipment for sale

edit: is pink white on the chess board? presume so… a chess board can rotate 180 but not 90 (so black square bottom left). Love a game of chess

[David Rowland]

in our case… yes.. ours just died

[David Rowland]

discussing it on Thurs, Bruce thinks no white but I don’t beleive that for one minute. White underbase pops images and i been catching up on things as I been out of the loop for a while.

[David Rowland]

Thats a lot of long words for a Scotsman…

Its Hybernating since it was turned off (I suspect done properly but… who knows).

Bruce thinks it will need a lot of work to get back on

It’s been a while since it was turned off, the expired ink is still in the machine.

The problem is, if you get it going, you got to buy new ink and the take a chance that the heads are working or give up. The White is likely to be well too difficult

[David Rowland]

no danger of that Robbie, I haven’t found the for sale secton yet for my old vinyl

[David Rowland]

see a lot of people look up to you rob… see ur skills in sign materials, see ur knowledge in wrapping…. most of them are dwarfs

[David Rowland]

who are you again?

[David Rowland]

looks an interesting site too

[David Rowland]

Wow what a machine – reminds me of the Durst that was around back when I was active sign maker here… Looks like u expanded a lot