Gavin MacMillan
Forum Replies Created
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Managed to get enough info to feel confident that 90 degrees will be fine for this. Still not happy that this isn’t info that is very easy to find – it’s the first thing to be questioned if there is a failure so why not make the details readily available??
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You can get this from Signgeer – http://www.signgeer.com/product/alumini … g-2-5m-592
Suitable for alu comp and post mounting – not sure how you are planning on fixing though?
G
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Just found this, we’re wrapping a master just now as well. Removed the handles but for some reason struggling with the drivers door?
Also, I left the barrels in place , after seeing the mechanism on the rear door I figured it may be hard to put back together if I take it right out, trouble is I can’t get the handle back together without removing this completely, any tips on reassembly?
Thanks for any help
G
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Not seeing wrap cut Rob? Signgeer do sell knifeless tape though
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Had both PRS and PPL on this week!
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this may be too late but one thing we have found (and you may already know!) is that ink makes a difference. If you test cut on just vinyl and lam with no ink you will get a different result from the actual job (if the job has bleed that you are cutting through)
G
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Even the cross country riders now often have unpainted frames to save weight (according to Chris Boardman)
Phill your reasoning may be sound on a flat course but it doesn’t work on normal racing terrain. It wont take much of a hill to use up your stored energy and then you are straight back to manually peddling that extra weight up the next 2km of the hill. -
Bannerbox as well
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I fully support it as well, I think the truck is a great idea. The difficulty is this forum is a fantastic way to advertise the service and care needs to be taken to not make other courses look bad when they are not. General statements about training providers I don’t think are a great idea as some are out there doing a good job. ‘by signmakers for signmakers’ doesn’t really work when the signmaker becomes the supplier does it?
Let’s not think UKSG is offering this out the goodness of there hearts, money is being made. Yes I still think it’s a good idea and more than likely good value but you need to keep a certain level of class when promoting a product or service and I think Rob’s previous comments fell below that level – unintentionally I would imagine, but it’s all to easy for everyone to look silly in this situation.
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quote :Please do not think I am trying to belittle any other course, but the fact is,
Sticking a car into a dim lit cold workshop and asking a local vehicle wrapper to show a load of naive students how to wrap, does not constitute as a credible staff training setup. Sad to say, that is actually what is being offered by most as way of training throughout our industry.I think writing ‘most’ is the issue here, I’ve not been about in a while but this reads like ‘our course rocks, all the others suck’
I did the Roland course with James and it was brilliant, well lit, warm room, possibly naive students, very professional tutor. I’m not sure what ‘most’ of the wrap courses means but Rolands was run to a very high standard and I wouldn’t expect anything less from other big name suppliers.
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We struggled for years too, changed media away from Avery and had much better results. I mentioned this to an engineer who reckoned the backing paper on Avery is slightly waxy and this is enough to let the material wander a bit. This seemed a bit odd, but when I compared the two backing papers I could kind of see his point, that and the fact that our results are now much better!
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Bisbell are brilliant, they are manufacturers of all things magnetic and not just sign suppliers selling other peoples material, give them a call and have a chat, they know their stuff and are very helpful
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No issues with the floppy bits going through the easy taper, we do them like this if printed or colour coated – done loads like this and all have been fine, wrapping round the edges afterwards is ok if you have to, but basically an unnecessary step for you
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can you go right through the slate to whatever is behind? Would be the best way if it’s possible.
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Nice one Alan, It’s the Mitsi I have, best around I reckon (well it was at the time I researched them!)
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cheers Warren, roughly what size of space are you heating?
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With the weather we have forecast today I wouldn’t be surprised if we have an issue or two, thing is, if the weather is so bad buildings are getting damaged, trees are coming down and there is general chaos people accept that signs are going to be damaged. Unfortunately ‘to let’ signs often come down when the weather is not this bad.
If you fit them to a high standard and take care in your work, it sounds like you do, then yours should stay up in all but the worst weather. Doesn’t stop the worry but at least you know you have done what you can.
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We were just talking about this style of sign today, we often get asked to fit them and often refuse because of the low cost firms are willing to pay. That coupled with badly spec’d signs (massive sizes with few fixings) is a recipe for disaster.
Not saying this is what you do, but we’ve seen 3 or 4 come down locally, just glad we had nothing to do with the fitting!
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did you get this fitted Warren, if so any feedback now that it’s brass monkeys outside?!
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haha, what Glenn said! Wish someone had told me that before I did my first one, luckily it’s a mistake you only make once!
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Ahh right, the article I read wasn’t very clear – that probably explains why!
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there are also many that don’t advertise on here that are good suppliers
Not directed at you Hugh but seems to be more and more of a push towards certain suppliers on here these days
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86 too, dragged down by a couple of pigs but generally happy with that!
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I’ve not really looked at the spec differences to be honest, just read the post saying a new version was out. At the current price it’s not something I’m planning but I do like the idea
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new chromebook coming out I think, just been released in the states, may be worth holding on
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/11/ … books.html
I’m planning on the new kindle fire when it’s released here, first real android tablet that is going to stick around I reckon. Getting released in the US @ $199 so that would make it £130 – can’t be bad!
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Hi Kev, were up in the back of beyond with a nasty post code that doesn’t easily allow sending stuff out for powder coating! We’ve got good local fabricators but the powder coating hassle means we don’t use them as often as we could.
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Nice one, do you do the powder coating aswell? Would love to be able to do that or even have somewhere nearby to do it!
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Plenty suppliers will cut, polish edges and drill holes in acrylic – you would not need to by the whole sheet. Don’t know about cost comparison with glass but some of the info above is not correct.
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Suppliers say that the material is suitable for chalk and chalk pens, so I would expect it to perform well either way. The material is sold as a blackboard replacement, so I would expect messages to wipe of will little fuss. No supplier has stipulated a time frame that it stays removable so I don’t stipulate one to my customer, how long they runs specials is up to them. I do however mention that you get ghosting on standard blackboards and they should not expect vinyl to out perform the standard blackboard.
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Yeah I’ll try that next time! I did find a matter of 2 weeks made a big difference over a few hours though.
Cheers, G
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Hi Stuart, it was after your post that I tried Mr Muscle as I had some here. My only worry is that some places may leave these messages for months at a time. I may need to look at another cleaner or try the metamark vinyl
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I’ve tried various brands and I think zero ghosting is ambitious. If it could come back and bite you on the bum then do tests first, the length of time a message is left on makes a big difference to removal. Also I recently discovered that Mr Muscle cleans these very well but only if you wear a vest and marigolds!
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Karl is right, can not even remember the amount of times we have been promised work of the back of a another job, it very rarely works out! I now offer the first part at normal price and offer the discount of the remainder. That way if nothing comes of it your not out of pocket.
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Easytaper here too, wouldn’t be without it for it’s versatility though will probably add a dedicated laminater in the not too distant future
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yes, interesting, cheers Stafford
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We run a roland so use Versaworks, never even thought to look into another rip as it’s something I have no experience with.
Could you elaborate on the differences Stafford. I’d like to know what it is others do better, I’m always open to ideas to improve our workflow / production / quality.
Cheers,
Gavin
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Ouch! Never had to swap one but from memory it certainly looks easy as the end furthest from the capping station – not looked at the other side closely.
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Roland may have, not sure how easy they are to change so you may need an engineer, someone else may be better to advise. Can I ask why you sent a print if you didn’t have it sitting back in correctly?
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It’s the thin plastic strip that runs the length of the printer when you lift the cover. Give it a light clean with a lint free cloth both front (and back if needed, you may need to take extra covers of). I never use any cleaning products just the cloth.
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It looks like a dirty encoder strip, search on here for lots of instructions for cleaning.
Edit: you beat me too it Dan!
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Mo I can see no purpose to what you are saying to do. From various posts you have made I’m really unsure about your wrapping experience as your posts seem to range from wrapping a connect in a day and a bonnet in 30minutes to this kind of post that to me would go against the experience I felt you had from previous posts
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Definitely supporting Wales, early alarm call for tomorrow!
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Cheers Derek, I’ll give them a try, realised I need much more info from the customer before I can even get a price.
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I wish I didn’t either Martin! Going by the last 2 winters I went out last week and bought a new winter jacket and a new pair of trainers, I’m not freezing my ass off again walking the dog 2 or 3 times a day and my feet were getting freezing sitting in the office even though this was the warmest place in the building, not easy to feel warm when you have a whole day at your desk!
-14 here for about 3 nights in a row last year, that’s the coldest I can ever remember. Worse than that though was that it didn’t get above freezing for weeks. I remember we had a really mild day of about +5 and I was out walking in a t-shirt it felt so warm!
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What to remember is we have 2-3 weeks when it’s really cold, we have months of needing the heating on and last year my system saved money. Not a huge amount but that’s mainly due to having the house warmer than I had ever been able to afford to do before. The storage heaters I had were beyond useless. If it was warm in the house in winter I was worried about the bill!
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with mine at home it works to -15. It becomes less efficient at this temp as it needs to use heat to defrost itself, it will stop sometimes to only use the heat for itself. This is more of a problem with air to air as you notice when no more warm air is getting blown in – if you were going for air to water for example the water would not cool enough in that time to make any difference. All in all I would say it becomes less efficient from about -7. My system at home has it’s good points and bad points, all in though I’m likely to be moving soon and will put the same system in the new house with a slightly different configuration
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Right, basically I tried a few things and Mr Muscle Window and Glass cleaner has done the job. Cleaned my tests easily and cleaned the top level of my customers graphics of no problem. There is still some pretty heavy ghosting from the 2 versions of info they had on previous but I guess this will fade over time and I also don’t know if they have used something that has made this stay on more.
Thanks for all the options and for your suggestion Stuart as that was what made me try every cleaning product in the building!
Cheers,
G
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That is an option Jill but the stuff isn’t cheap! I’m happy to do that if I do test and know the same thing wont happen again.
4:45 on a Friday… no long now!
G
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Wm Smith don’t always seem to be a trade supplier, they are mentioned here a lot and we use them sometimes but you can download a pricelist from their website. I’ve had customers come in and show me and I’ve had to tell them just to order direct and we will fit. I’m not selling material for 0% markup
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Thanks guys I’ll have a play. I realised after a bit of thought that the laminate idea wont work on this occasion as they are outdoors so washing of with water isn’t a good thing!
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Thanks Lorraine, I’ll give this a try with laminated black. I did say to the customer that it was unlikely they get them 100% clean, but when I seen them I understood the complaint!
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Plex do a 2 part base that you can put any board into, might be descent look for this company
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We looked into this and there is no requirement, we did choose to get any heavy equipment certified though – chop saw / circular saw / bench sander / 3kw heaters. Didn’t bother with computers and smaller items though.
G
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cheap washing liquid or johnsons baby shampoo. Just water will not help at all and you would be better doing it dry than attempting this.
G
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It was the flex cable when we had this issue – simple but are the parts of the roller that sensor reads clean?
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Misti air to air units will also run as air con – also as it’s classed as a renewable help is available (interest free loans in Scotland) though it will not qualify for the incentive scheme.
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I have the mitsi heavy industries version at home, I would highly recommend it, also looking at installing in work.
G
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you can print onto the standard white apa truck vinyl – it’s not recommended as such but if you ask them they will tell you that people do buy it for this use. I’ve done it in the past and still see the trailer every week or so. It was acutally supposed to be a temp job so was laminated at all but it’s still going strong after about 2 years (I would not advise this though!)
A lot of liquid lams in the past were not for use on flexible surface – the flaking issue is one I seen years ago when laminating an old pc-60 print to go on a banner. This flaked and when I checked the laminate was for flat surfaces only. I’m sure some are perfect for curtains but if you go this route then check first!
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you could use a glitter effect over laminate – available from apa and probably others, I think grafytip as well. You could then request a small sample to show her the effect
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Too long! Not that experienced with nice cars like this, done quite a few commercials but this took 2 of us 2 days to wrap. Pretty much done on the time I had budgeted (but not charged for). It was a bit of a test to see if we could manage it and we got it in on a quiet week so worked out pretty good really.
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Hi Jon,
customer has not actually see it yet as they are on holiday, I think they will be happy, I really liked the finish and don’t think the air release channels will be an issue.
Only removed the door handles – everything else is trimmed around – we found black to white is a forgiving colour change, as long as you have nice clean lines, would be a different matter if it was the other way round!
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Hi James all good with me ta, putting your teaching into practice more and more often, think I might be getting the hang of it!
Cheers for all the tips on this guys – I did some tests and as it was black to white we didn’t do inside at all, it ended up giving really nice crisp lines around the doors. Customer was on holiday and wont see it till Monday but I’m confident he will be happy.
Was an 11 plate seat ibiza, had some fun with the bumpers but sides / bonnett / roof were a total breeze for applicaton.
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thanks for the info Rob – interesting about leaving the door open to wrap further in, might have a blast at that.
Jon – I wasn’t planning to do them completely just wondering what the standard is. When you say you don’t do them, do you wrap over the gap trim and then just put the few mm excess in?
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These are brilliant, is there anyone in the UK doing similar?
G
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Mo – do you have a link for the R360 @ around £50, pretty interested in getting this setup
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That’s the bad boy, though there is a much shorter one that some prefer.
G
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Undervaluing the work is criminal
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we always have a roll of avery500 in for this, use it for radius corners and any kind of shapes
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I do it exactly as you suggest, then use a sureform to finish of.
G
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Dropbox – used via the website you can take pics for a survey, go to share via dropbox and by the time your back at the office they are on your pc – use it all the time.
I use on android but I’m sure it will be just as good on iphone
G
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stack the sheets and cut with a circular saw, would probably look at doing around 10 at a time but more if you can get away with it. Tape the sheets up with masking tape first if you think they might slip slightly.
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Standard stuff here, permit to work on the high street required for every job – cheaper at £60. Don’t think you really have an option to say ‘not paying it’ we just quote the job to the customer and add on any permit fees. We don’t go through this for really small jobs but anything of any significance and it has to be done.
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Cheers for the help with this, we are going to test a few things out. We can save as an older version of pdf and export as eps but don’t use illy here.
I’m on holiday next week but hopefuly get something sorted when I get back
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Hi David, if you go through those processes your customer had plenty warning and should have not even asked for you to do any work, can’t really see why he had a problem.
Not sure about the charges, it’s a flat rate for under £500 and a % for over, we hardly ever get to that stage though.
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File was created in either indesign or illustrater, dropped straight into versaworks.
If I try and import to corel, it loses the fill in those letters altogether. A local printer has run a bunch of flyers and posters with no issue, it seems a failing the rip or something set wrong at this end?
Edit: yes, printet onto banner Dave
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I’ve found the easiest way it make everything an official policy. Give credit customers £x credit, over that they need to pay up. This would avoid it sounding personal in any way. We do the same now with bills 6 months late, they are handed to debt collection agency, we used to feel bad about it as we picked out who to get serious with and who to keep phoning and asking, now they get a letter saying 7 days and it’s handed on. Out of my hands, nothing I can do type thing!
G
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Robert Horne used to supply this, though if I remember there was 2 sheet minimum order as it came from Italy. We used it for a job and had the remainder in stock for years until RH phoned and asked if we still had any and if we would sell it to one of there customers who didn’t want to place a full order – result!
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I’ve seen the back of vinyl flooring recommended on here and want to give that a bash, we use poly sheets also but never really been that happy with them.
G
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That really sucks Lorraine, not a great ending.
quote :-never even turn on your computer without a depositbut seriously does anyone actually do this? We would not be in business if we operated like that, yeah sure we lose a bit every year, yes it’s a nightmare and drives me mad but as a business you build it in.
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We have come across this problem in the past, good to have a clear understanding of what the limitation are.
We also work in full size and send files at final size wherever possible.
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for vehicles all you need is a straight on photo and measure the wheelbase, simples!
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I would move ‘reflecta’ so that the arrow can bleed of the van and not be as dominant, you can then use another arrow as a large watermark and work your other info around this.
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Sorry, didn’t read the post properly! I think we have only done internal ones. I think the hydrosol idea is good or if you can get away with .75mm or .5mm pvc (limited size sheets) with vinyl laminated and applied to face
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Poster paper, we keep quite a heavy poster paper in stock and that does the job just fine.
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I agree Glenn but if they have supplied us with the correct info to start with then we also need to accept we got it wrong. I just feel it’s not black and white even with a signed proof.
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Exactly the same as us, I’m amazed sometimes how many people can see something without picking up on a spelling issue then as soon as it’s fitted, the first person to look notices!
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use spell check and buy a dictionary!
I know we get customers to check drawings but really we have to take some responsibility for spelling mistakes, it’s us that make them after all!
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I would say it’s not a good machine to test the water. It is a great machine at what it does but that’s it. It’s not a full colour printer that will pump stuff out all day… well it might but you wont get anyone to pay for it. It’s a totally different beast to wide format printers so you would not be testing the same market as a versacamm would suit, you would be able to do SMALL badges and small labels and stuff with metalics, it’s great for all that.
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haha, yeah it was the mine name that stood out! We have done many that don’t meet the guidlines!
‘I want such and such a sign, just make sure it fits our brand guidlines’
‘here’s your proof’
‘I like it, just make it A4 size’
‘err, you can either have it 2′ or 4′ wide’
‘can I not have it A4?’
‘yup but it wont meet you brand guidlines’
‘ok, make it A4 then’
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Now now Gert, I’m pretty sure that sign does not conform with RT’s epic brand guidlines – not enough R’s space at the top 😀
Edit: to not be found by google
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I would guess it takes the same carts as I doubt they will bother to make new ones with the same ink in. You will have the choice of 220 or 440. It will be 220 that is shown in the image so you would need the extra space for bigget carts sticking out
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Ashby will sort that out for you
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Hi Ruairi,
haven’t read the previous post but we have been with sign elite for years now. We find that the policy is ideal as it is taylor made to sign makers, no daft questions about the plastics and things. We also have a couple of bolt ons like driving any customer vehicle in the confines of our car park.
G
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3M have been made aware of the situation and Spandex have logged it on our account. This was all I wanted for the moment, they offered to send out additional material but unless we actually have a failure there is no point. Ideally we would have stopped and waited for an answer but as always we had tight deadlines to meet.
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Hi Gill, the material came from Spandex. They are contacting 3M so we are just waiting on a response. A bit worrying but not much we can do!
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Hi shane, yeah its the standard colour change material here, meant for cars but after a post by Andy gamble I’m using it on a van. All dry, only happening in sections, really hope its not going to fail, in almost finished it!
G -
Never heard of it unless it’s on the high street or similar where the council want you to get a permit if you are using any access equipment?
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When you take your car to the garage do they put the hourly rate up for jobs they don’t like doing?
I hate this form of pricing and would never band about figures like £75 an hour to a customer. A fair price for a fair job, it’s what I expect when I go to other businesses and what we always try to deliver here.
If you don’t want the work turn it away, my own feeling is that will be less harmful to your reputation.
G
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use a jigsaw or buy from ashby complete with rails on the rear to fix to posts.
Not entirely sure what you mean by ‘legs’ but ashby do all sorts of sign systems.