[John Childs]

I never gave much thought as to what I wanted to be.

Although there was never any pressure, I think it was always assumed that I would go into the family business in the motor trade. I wasn’t totally against that idea, but wasn’t having anything of only getting the job just because I was the boss’s son. I wanted to be able to show, but mainly to prove to myself, that I could get, and hold down a job on my own merits. I ended up as a trainee draughtsman for the York Trailer Company.

After a few years I did wind up in the family business and, although it was fun to start with, I became disillusioned and decided to get out. After a few months of looking for a new career I stumbled across this game and have been doing it ever since.

It was the same with my children, but probably for different reasons, that they didn’t want to come to work with me. I’d have been happy to have either, or both, of them in the business and to pass it down to the next generation, but I’m equally happy that they are doing want they want. Nowadays, one’s an accountant and the other is in the legal business.

I should add that I never was an artist. I was always cr@p at it at school and, if it wasn’t for computers, then I never would have got into signs. Which is funny because, with the way my business has developed, I don’t do any of that nowadays anyway. It’s been a long time since I put a sticky letter on a van.

[John Childs]

Well………………..

I’m not sure that they think we’re daft, in most cases I think that they genuinely don’t have a clue what’s involved. Then all they have to go on is what their mates tell them, or what they find on the internet.

I had a bloke tell me once that we were too dear for a batch of stickers because he had seen the same size ones available on the internet for a quarter of what I was quoting. When I checked, his internet ones were two colour single sided, when what he really wanted was four colour, double sided, with a block-out layer in between.

[John Childs]

Use longer screws and pack them out with something.

Maybe cut down another connector and use that.

[John Childs]

Well, above the windscreen is the most difficult place to apply vinyl, having to lean from one side or the other, and stretch towards the middle

Could it be that these decals just aren’t being applied with the same pressure that the rest of the graphics get?

:peek:

[John Childs]

quote Chris Wool:

only reason i remembered John as its the same as mine

A happy belated to you too then Chris. 😀

[John Childs]

Unless something more important crops up here, then I might well take a trip up.

[John Childs]

quote Peter Normington:

Happy Birthday Neil, and John.
you may just have hit the century between you!

:shutup:

😀 😀 😀

[John Childs]

quote Chris Wool:

and happy birthday to john childs think it was the 9th or was i thinking of something else.

Correct. Good memory Chris.

but I was trying to keep it quiet.

😀 😀 😀

[John Childs]

Hi Colin.

[John Childs]

Happy Birthday Neil. 😛

[John Childs]

quote Gwaredd Steele:

We get nothing down here compared to the Jocks, so I tend to listen to them regarding snow :lol1:

Maybe.

but I’d never admit it. 😀

[John Childs]

Staccato 222.

[John Childs]

quote Phill:

Whereas Rob is a rough and tough Jock

That’s where you blew it Phill.

I was believing you up until that point. 😀

[John Childs]

How about replacing the propellors with jet engines?

That will speed up the earth’s rotation and, with the CO2 they generat, will help warm it up as well.

Simples.

[John Childs]

Hiya Philip.

:welcome:

[John Childs]

quote Shane Drew:

sent your convicts to a land with warmer weather 🙂

And spiders.
And snakes.
And sharks.

😀 😀 😀

[John Childs]

quote Jason Xuereb:

43 degrees today.

Bog off Jason. 😀

Although, to be fair, I’d rather deal with our temperatures than yours.

[John Childs]

quote Shane Drew:

do you have heated fitting bays rob? I guess there is a running cost to that too.

We have heat in our fitting bay.

We have a row of infra-reds down both sides to heatup the sides of vans. That’s usually enough but, today, we’ve got the 17kW gas blower going as well.

As Rob says, it does slow things down a lot, and it’s come just as we start two weeks intensive van re-branding for a new customer. 🙁

And yes, there most certainly is a running cost!

[John Childs]

quote Shane Drew:

..and the fees they are charging makes me gasp.

I know what you mean Shane, but fair’s fair. They’re only charging what they can get away with, which is something that we are always saying we should do. If they can do it, then good luck to them.

In the first example I gave above, the client was charged £60,000 to design the livery and to provide drawings for three models of van. If the end user had asked me I could have knocked out the three drawings in a couple of hours and, because of the volume, I would have happily done it for free.

Which also reminds me of something else I learned a long time ago. Just because a person has a high position in a company, with commensurate large pay packet and big office, doesn’t automatically make them clever. When I was young I used to be daunted by those people in high places, until I’d seen enough of them to realise that they are no cleverer than myself.

A designer asking you for ideas is a bit cheeky though. 😀

[John Childs]

Hello Matt. 😀

If anyone does need a freelance vinyl fitter in the Northampton area then I can recommend Matt’s work. We had a rather large contract in 2008 and his help was invaluable.

[John Childs]

Can you mail me the map also please Dave.

[John Childs]

I don’t honestly know Andy. I’m no expert. I just set up our server according to the book that came with it.

In there various configuration options were shown and in every case, except one, it said that the router should issue DHCP IP addresses.

The exception was when you have the router connected to the server, and everything else fed from the server. I’m not sure that’s clear, but if you think of it as the server being between every computer and the router, instead of being off to one side, that might help.

Quite why they say that I’m not sure, but I think it’s something to do with security.

If you stick your server between the router and the first switch, then you’ll be fine.

[John Childs]

Then there was the designer who insisted that the angle of the stripe on a clients stationery and vans was two degrees to the horizontal.

He insisted that that two degrees was of paramount importance to the design philosophy and must not, under any circumstances, be allowed to vary. They even sent us very detailed drawings of a Transit to make sure that the angle was maintained.

Anyway, we did the prototype and all the big-wigs came to inspect it. This designer is pontificating about his wonderful design, and how important that two degrees was, until I asked what happened when the driver threw his tool box in the back. And then the rest of his kit? And what happened in a couple of years when the rear suspension was worn? By then his precious two degrees would be tilted the other way. 😀

There’s thousands of those vans running around today, and I still don’t like them. A two degree angle might look like a design statement to him but, to me, it is so small that it just looks like the fitter couldn’t put the stripe on straight. 😀

[John Childs]

That’s not like you Shane.

Picking on graphic designers. Cheap shot at an easy target. 😀

No pictures because it was a long time ago, before computer generated drawings, when they were still done by hand and posted to clients, but we had a case where the rear door handle on a Transit got in the way of the designers whizz bang layout. His answer? If the door handle is in the way, get an eraser, and rub it out.

That was fine until the end user sent us van for to prototype. I took one look and told them that it wouldn’t work because the wording there was quite small, and they would lose two complete letters over the handle, making the line unreadable.

The problem was that, in common with most large multi-nationals, the layout was the result of an expensive six month exercise and had been commissioned, approved by the UK board of directors, been sent to the US for the approval of the main board, then filtered it’s way back down to us.

Of course there was much wriggling by everyone in the lengthy chain of command because nobody wanted to take the responsibility and look silly. It took months to sort out.

That was my introduction to the world of design, and ever since, I have told any of my customers that are embarking down that route to send any proposals to us as early in the process as possible, just to check for practicality.

[John Childs]

Morning Andy.

I’ve recently put in a proper server, after some years of using a NAS drive to store files.

We are all Apple kit, but I don’t think that makes much difference with regard to network layout. Anyway, your proposed system looks pretty much like what we have, so I don’t see that you’ll have any problem.

From my understanding, the only thing you’ll need to do with that layout, if you are using DHCP rather than fixed IP addresses, is to have your ADSL router issue the numbers, and not your server.

I wish I’d done ours sooner because, although our network wiring hasn’t changed, file transfer speeds are so much better now than they were with the NAS drive.

[John Childs]

Hiya Ross. :welcome:

[John Childs]

Morning Peter.

Yes, I do find that most people know what they want, but they are easy and quick to deal with, and rarely fall into the "time-waster" category. It’s the ones that don’t know that can cause problems – if you let them.

My procedure for a sort of pro-forma (although I’d never thought of it in those terms) is by showing a prospective new client photos of previous work, along the lines of, "£150 will buy you something like this, or £300 will get you that, and so on". That is a quick and easy time-waster filter and immediately gets rid of the people who think they are going to get a wrap for £50 and, for the rest, gives them a realistic idea of what they can expect for their budget.

It’s a good system because it stops them from specifying a whizz-bang job, and then appearing stupid when they are told that their dreams are beyond their pocket and having to cut it back drastically. A lot of them, to avoid that embarrassment, will just thank me and tell me they’ll think about it, then immediately go to a competitor with a downwardly revised spec. That’s no good because I’ve lost them then.

You’re right though, this could be discussed ad infinitum, but the thing is that nobody will be right or wrong. As I intimated in my first reply on this thread, it will depend on how desperate we are for the business and indeed, the amount of time I am prepared to spend on someone who appears to be a time-waster may vary from day to day, and will depend on how busy we are, and therefore if we have the time to humour them.

[John Childs]

quote Peter Normington:

If you wanted a new kitchen, would you expect to pay for the layout plan before they designed it?

Peter, maybe not an exact comparison.

With a kitchen, I would expect to know what layout I wanted before I went anywhere near a kitchen shop.

And no, I wouldn’t expect to pay for the plan. But that’s something the kitchen industry have brought upon themselves by actively advertising that service. It’s like us advertising free artwork.

Having said that, I believe that they suffer from the same problems as ourselves in that they will do a plan and the customer, given half a chance, will then hawk it around.

[John Childs]

Edward Mathias.

[John Childs]

Consider infra-red heaters. Plenty of them, because they are not expensive.

They don’t heat the air, only what they hit. So………

1. No problem wasting heat in high buildings.
2. Individually switch them and you only need to heat the areas you are actually working in at the moment.
3. They are far and away the best thing for applying vinyl because they heat the actual van, rather than the air around it. Helps with stripping too.

Even if you go for some other method of heating, still use infra-reds in your van fitting bay.

[John Childs]

That first one looked a bit like an Audi. *rofl*

[John Childs]

quote Dave n Rob Lowery:

Ooooooohh!!! John got an i phone for xmas :lol1:

Nah.

Got one on release day. On my third one now.

I love my gadgets. 😀

[John Childs]

quote Dave n Rob Lowery:

but it starts on the 13th 😀

Not for me it doesn’t. 😀

I’m using "Days Until" on my iPhone.

[John Childs]

The first one is easy Soyeb.

You do sixteen jobs at once, don’t worry about the slow decider, and when he eventually does get back with an order then YOU tell HIM when you can do it. That will be straight away if you’re not busy, and sometime next week, or later, if you are. Vans are a bit different but, with signs, whoever places the order first gets their work done first.

Your second question is a bit more problematic. My inclination would be to wait for ten minutes, then say that you have other things to do and that they can come round to your premises when they have the time to spend with you. Anything more than that ten minutes will depend on how desperate you are for the job.

[John Childs]

quote Dave n Rob Lowery:

112 Days to Sign UK 😀

Are you sure?

I make it 99 days to April 14th. 😀

[John Childs]

quote Dave n Rob Lowery:

353 Days to Christmas 😕

Better get the sprouts on to simmer then. 😀

[John Childs]

We started back yesterday.

Straight into the old routine and it’s already like we never had the break. 🙁

[John Childs]

quote Phill:

See you and Peter are only half right. The braking ability of 4wd is no better than 2wd but the traction is undoubtably better.

Isn’t that what I said above?

quote Phill:

but 4wd vehicles have superior traction over 2wd, it follows that 4wd is superior in the snow.

Half right.

They are only better when they have some grip. No grip = no good.

Which is where tyre choice come into it. You’ll go further with a bit of grip with two wheel drive than no grip with four.

[John Childs]

No. It was because they could get off the line, and accelerate out of the corners, so much faster than anyone else.

Although having Hannu Mikkola, who was probably the best rally driver in the world at the time, couldn’t have hurt any. 😀

[John Childs]

quote -Colin-:

Heating up from the inside may be a good way of doing it

But not if it’s insulated. 😀

Inside heating helps in single skin vans, but I think it would take a lot of heat and a long time before it made much difference through a box van with walls of, what, three quarters of an inch thick?

[John Childs]

Just to clarify……

Four wheel drive does NOT improve grip.

Two or four, you only have the same amount of rubber in contact with the snow. When you are sliding sideways towards the hedge it makes no difference how many of them are driven, your car is at the mercy of Newton’s Laws regarding inertia and friction.

Braking is the same. If your wheels have no grip with the road then it doesn’t matter if you have ninety two of them, you are still destined to visit the scenery.

All four wheel drive does is to improve traction when taking off or accelerating, by doubling the amount of power you can put down on the road. Actually the effect is a bit more than double because both axles are driven, rather than one having to push the other through the snow.

Mr. Normington is absolutely correct with regard to tyres being a very important factor. Regardless of studs or chains, in snow or mud, the narrower the better, so that they bite down through the slippy stuff and hopefully find something they can grip on. A decent tread pattern helps as well.

I’ve tried explaining this to Jenny, who is still convinced that she can go round corners faster than anyone else because she has four wheel drive. I keep a tow rope in the back of my car and am awaiting the phone call.

All spoken as someone who had his Range Rover going sideways this morning and, other than steering into the skid, there was bugger all I could do about it. 😀

[John Childs]

Not ideal circumstances Colin.

The only advice I can give is to get as much heat on it as you can.

[John Childs]

quote Shane Drew:

The wife insists that I take her over for a show to meet you lot, which I’ve readily agreed to, so the savings are on as I type.

WooHoo. :cheer: Your room is always available. 😀

And thank you for your kind words.

[John Childs]

Glad your sorted Geraint.

I couldn’t help because I know nothing about Rabbits, PCs, or Artcut. 😀

[John Childs]

quote Jillbeans:

Nice backdrop there John and Jenny!

I wondered if you would recognise it. 😀

I would imagine that the road past your house could be a bit exciting with snow on the ground.

[John Childs]

quote Jillbeans:

And I am stuck at home because my 4WD decided to go on vacation.

Where’s the 4WD gone then Jill?

Somewhere warm? 😀

[John Childs]

quote Phill:

What’s the snow like where you are?

Wot snow? 😀

We had quite a bit before Christmas but, apart from a few light flurries, most recently this morning, nothing to worry about. The stuff we had on the ground disappeared very soon after Christmas, and there’s been nothing on the ground for a few days now.

Very cold, but dry here.

[John Childs]

Yup. A happy and prosperous new year to all my friends on UKSB. 😀

[John Childs]

Well, it’s 2010 here now, but a bit too early to tell if it’s going to be any better than 2009. Plus, I’m too p1ssed to be able to tell the difference.

As stated, a high point was meeting Shane for SignUK, plus getting to see Jill in her native habitat. That was a hell of a holiday, and one I’d like to repeat.

I hope that 2010 will be as good.

Regards and best wishes to all. 😀

[John Childs]

quote Shane Drew:

1:05am here in Brisbane

Ah! You’ll be able to tell us then.

Is 2010 any better than 2009 was?

😀

[John Childs]

quote John McPherson:

‘home cowboys’

I think you have two types mixed up there John.

Working from home is not in itself a problem, and very few object to that. Some fantastic stuff is turned out by people who do that, and because of that, and their professionalism and commitment to the industry, have earned the respect of many of their larger colleagues. It’s been a long time but I, for similar reasons to your own, started in my home garage.

On the other hand, none of us like cowboys. Those who are just in it to make a quick buck, and leave for something else as soon as they find that it isn’t as easy as they thought. That type normally leave desolation in their wake in customer expectations of ridiculously low prices, poor work which reflects badly on us all, etc etc.

Most of us will help the serious newcomers, whilst trying to ignore those who are only here to cause damage to our industry. Although the difference is sometimes immediately obvious, at others it can be difficult to pick the sheep from the goats and it takes a while to suss them out.

Anyways, I hope that you fall into the first category. 😀

Welcome.

[John Childs]

quote Robert Lambie:

You should all be working through the holidays anyway… like me!

Up yours Lambie. :tongue:

😀 😀 😀

[John Childs]

Did ours yesterday – no problem. 😀

Mind you, the JV33 seems to be much more tolerant of neglect than the JV3.

[John Childs]

Hiya Raj. 😀

[John Childs]

quote Robert Lambie:

not all of us are Mr Magoo though John…

No. But you will be if you stare at small screens for too long.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but wasn’t it you having a pop at Dave Rowland the other day for trying to do stuff on his phone? This isn’t much better. 😀

[John Childs]

Yeah but, no but……

The poor girl’s got to do her homework on it too.

On a 10" screen?

Better book her into Specsavers at the same time then. 😀

[John Childs]

quote Marcella:

purely homework and storing music and photos and surfing the net!

I appreciate that the budget may be a problem but, if you can run to it, a MacBook 13" would be ideal for those jobs.

:peek:

[John Childs]

quote Peter Normington:

perhaps mac is diferent?

Don’t think so Peter. Although perhaps Dave could make a comment on that.

Anyway, it’s not me and my Macs complaining. It’s Kevin with the speed problem. 😀

Although, on a practical level, I just wouldn’t want to scroll up and down a four yard list of fonts which I will never use every time I wanted to select one. All I have in mine are the standard system and application fonts, plus the ones I use every day. Probably two or three hundred in total, with the rest available with a couple of clicks. I just think that that is a more efficient way to operate. Works for me anyhow. 😀

[John Childs]

quote Peter Normington:

why should that be a problem?

For the reasons Dave mentioned above. They all take up memory, and time to open every time you open up an application. I don’t doubt your assertions, but I don’t understand why you don’t get speed problems. Certainly I would, even with my meagre stock of four thousand fonts.

Quite apart from all that, your application font menus must be about four yards long. 😀

[John Childs]

quote Peter Normington:

I have about 10,000 fonts installed. I dont think they slow my pc down, whats the advantage with a font manager?

Do you mean that you have 10,000 fonts on your hard drive, or 10,000 fonts active?

[John Childs]

Thanks for the clarification Dave. I understand now.

So PCs can’t do the automatic font opening trick likes Macs can. I didn’t know that. But surely, if you know what font you want (which we normally do), even on a PC it is still possible to activate that with a font manager before opening a document, or starting a new one?

Nowhere near as slick, but surely a lot better than nothing?

I never did like Suitcase, right back from the System 6 days, and much prefer FontAgent Pro. A good useable bit of software.

[John Childs]

quote Dave Rowland:

problem with macs the font management is much improved even with tools, in windows it has to have all fonts installed for it to behave correctly… we have about 2000 fonts installed and nothing much on the PC for the designers, XP has no problems

(?)

Sorry Dave. I’m not sure I understand what you are saying. 😕

[John Childs]

You need a font manager so that you can keep the fonts on your laptop, keep a basic set permanently installed, but only activate any others as they are required.

We use FontAgent Pro, and find it excellent. It does a good job without being overcomplicated.

They do a windows version too.

http://www.insidersoftware.com/FA_win.php

[John Childs]

Sorry John, don’t have Constructa.

I though it was Collegiate, which I do have. But on checking it is similar, but no cigar. 🙁

[John Childs]

Season’s greetings to you all. 😀

And a big thanks to all on UKSB that have helped me out over the last year. Life would have been much more difficult without you.

[John Childs]

quote Martin Oxenham:

I say its good…The guy across the street from me lets his engine run to warm it up on these cold mornings. This is at six in the morning, no consideration for anyone else the ignorant basta*d. Why can’t people just get in and drive away thats what I manage to do. It doe’s the engine no good at all to run it when its cold with no load. Also the noisy basta*ds that use ice scrapers. Just pour some water over the screen (just off of cold) and drive off. Why are some people so ignorant and oblivious to every one else.

I’m with you on that one Martin.

We occasionally get trucks park in the lay-by opposite our house and some of them do the ten minute start-up routine. In our case though, it’s usually 4.00am. 👿

[John Childs]

quote Andy Blackett:

Wish I had a webcam to catch the look on their faces when they get the “content blocked – contact your network administrator” error :rofl:

Priceless. *rofl*

[John Childs]

quote Cheryl Smith:

is there not a corel for mac? Thats what I use mainly for vector stuff.

There used to be Cheryl, but not for about the last eight yearsl.

Unless you run it under emulation.

[John Childs]

I wouldn’t knock Fastway because we’ve been using them almost since they started up in this country.

I was initially dubious about buying the tickets up front, but went ahead anyway, and was glad I did because we have had a good service at a cheap price for some years.

Sure, sometimes things went wrong, but probably less often than other carriers we had used in the past, and generally they gave me no reason to look elsewhere. Until recently.

Of late we have noticed some parcels taking too long to be delivered, mainly to Scotland, which is probably explained by this thread, and also to East Anglia, where I believe that the franchisee has had the same sort of problems.

As a result of that we are migrating to another carrier, and that’s a shame.

I have to say that I’ve always wondered how they did it for the money. It’s not a business I would want to be involved in.

[John Childs]

quote David_Evans:

Definately a joy to work with, just no uksb toolbar!

The toolbar did work Dave, it just stopped with the OS 10.6 Snow Leopard upgrade.

I hope that an updated toolbar will work, and am just waiting for one to appear.

It’s a small price to pay though, isn’t it? 😀

[John Childs]

quote Andrew Ritchie:

Thanks guys ended up going for a editable file bought from
http://digital-vector-maps.com

Thanks for the link Andrew.

I might need a purchase soon. 😀

[John Childs]

quote Lorraine Clinch:

That’s a big dog John. :lol1:

No bigger than Peter and Lynn’s hounds. 😀

[John Childs]

quote John Thomson:

This is the original……..I

http://www.bigsqueegee.com/

That’s better.

I still think I would only use one for applying app tape though, not lamination. (unless I was desperate and had no alternative)

Still, it looks useful and, like most other gear, if it’s used within it’s limits, it would probably be a handy tool to have around.

[John Childs]

quote John Thomson:

I saw these at Sign Ireland…….looked like 5mm Foamex with a felt edge…….so I used some scrap I had sitting around, cut various lengths to 120mm wide, chamfered the edge and glued some felt from a craft shop in place and they work really well for application tape and small lamination.

Like this John?

http://dorotape.co.uk/khxc/gbu0-prodshow/ASLANSQ.html

It doesn’t say on their website, but I’m sure that Doro do them in various lengths. Certainly we have a selection.

Something like this is fine for applying large areas of application tape, but I wouldn’t laminate with them. Can’t get the pressure.

[John Childs]

We use something like that for cleaning water off vans before applying vinyl. 😀

[John Childs]

My little boy is growing up. 😀

---

Attachments:

[John Childs]

My new MacBook Pro 15" was delivered today. 😀

[John Childs]

quote J. Makela:

I would certainly like to take a look at that article, but I don’t see a button or link to send you a PM.. How else could I contact you?

You need to be a UKSB member before you can send a pm.

No problem though. It’s on it’s way to you. Let me know if it doesn’t get there.

[John Childs]

Yup. Merry Christmas, and a happy and prosperous new year to you Dan, and to all other members of UKSB.

[John Childs]

quote J E Kempster:

You can now buy on the internet number plate recognition software, I wonder if a number fits the registered address its alright. I’m going to ask a policeman

That software will read and record registration numbers. It won’t give you access to the DVLA database to check anything.

Keep doing the research.. 😕

[John Childs]

And, as Adele has just reminded me, because it works on outlined type, it’s not limited to text.

The technique can be used on any vector outline. 😀

[John Childs]

quote Martin Grimmer:

PM safely received – that is excellent – appreciated.

That’s odd. I just received……

This is an automatically generated Delivery Status Notification.

Delivery to the following recipients failed.

Anyway, as long as you got it. 😀

[John Childs]

Lee, this screen grab from the article might explain my reply to your post a bit better. The image on the right is what you get if you just type text on a curve. The one on the left is what can be achieved using the magazine method..

The smaller the radius of the curve, and the fewer the number of letters, the more dramatic the effect.

[John Childs]

quote Martin Grimmer:

Any chance you can ping me the article as well

No problem Martin.

PM me your email addy.

[John Childs]

quote Lee Attewell:

If you place a path around where you want the text to go and then select the text tool, when you go near the path, the text tool cursor should automatically select the path. Then you get some options of how to place the text.

Yes, it does Lee. The problem is that, depending on the radius of the curve and the font, it usually looks like cr@p.

The technique I’ve just emailed to Adele actually slightly distorts the letters to the shape of the curve, and avoids the unsightly large gaps around the outside, or overlapping letters on the inside.

[John Childs]

Well, I was wrong. We’re getting quite a bit more snow this morning.

Cars are still moving though, so I’ll wait for a while before finding an excuse to go into town. 😀

[John Childs]

Morning Adele.

I have found the article. It was published in MacUser back in January 2001.

It was written for Illustrator 9, which was the current version at the time, but works with CS3. I know because I used it last week.

Anyways, I’ve scanned the pages, and an email is on it’s way to you.

[John Childs]

quote Robert Lambie:

can you seriously see you sitting in a cafe typing up quotes, a letter, or perhaps designing in photoshop or signlab?

mobile phones have many great uses, the main ones being contact. phone/emails/quick-internet referencing etc but not actually “working from”. at least not for me anyway…

You’re right in that respect Rob, you wouldn’t want to write a novel on a phone, but the iPhone keyboard is good, with it’s variable size keys. Lots less typing mistakes. In fact I can’t wait for the day when they bring out a full size version for use with a desk top machine.

And what’s wrong with an ashtray on a motorbike? Surely you don’t expect me to just flick the dog ends at other road users? Much though some of them deserve it. 😀

[John Childs]

quote Stuart Green:

I think i’m confusing my question here so to simplify I want a printable clear vinyl to go on to an unprintable vinyl such as mirror, chrome, reflective, and so on which isn’t directly printable, without leaving any residue marks. 🙄

Speak to suppliers.

Certainly you can get printable reflective. Metamark do one, and Avery have one on the way.
https://www.uksignboards.com/viewtopic.p … highlight=

You may well find that there’s printable version of the other stuff you want too.

As for "glue marks" I’m not quite sure what you mean, but can only go with Chris, in that it is down to the application. Certainly we don’t get anything like that.

[John Childs]

I’m not sure why you get glue marks Stuart.

We print onto reflective for rear safety markings, then laminate it, with no problem.

We have also printed onto laminate in the past, again with no adverse effects.

[John Childs]

quote Peter Normington:

I was referring to why you want to drive in deep snow, rather than to why we don’t get it anymore.

Oh, right. Sorry for the misunderstanding.

It’s just fun.

Top Gear style heroics at a safe low speed, if you like.

I just enjoy trying to control a vehicle, especially a big heavy one, in adverse circumstances. Snow is better than mud because the car doesn’t need so much cleaning afterwards. 😀

Phill, sorry mate, but we just didn’t know back then. Nobody told us.

My only mitigation is that my Landy had a petrol engine rather than the nasty polluting 2.2 BMC diesel that was the only option in those days. 😀

[John Childs]

You’re all mad. The iPhone is the tool. 😀

Although I would the the first to admit that it helps a lot if you are Apple based in the first place. However, I’ll say no more about it, other than to suggest that you speak to Mr. Mindham, a previously steadfast PC user who, having seen what I can do, is now so convinced that he is buying an Apple laptop to complement his new iPhone.

iPhones are fully compatible with PCs Hugh, but you will benefit greatly by downloading iTunes and iPhoto to your PC from the Apple website. Both are free.

The big difference between the 3g and 3gs is processor speed. There’s nothing wrong with 3g, but 3gs is so much better. It’s one those cases where you don’t notice the difference until you go backwards, and use a 3g after a 3gs.

[John Childs]

quote Adele Brennan:

Can anyone point me in the right direction with this?

Yes, I can. 😀

It involves the brush tool, but I don’t think I can explain it in words here.

I use a technique that was published in a magazine some years ago. If you can let me have your fax number, I’ll send a copy of the article over to you. It gives really good results.

[John Childs]

quote Peter Normington:

pourquoi?

I don’t knows Peter. Global warming maybe. Talk to Phill 😀

All I know is that, forty or more years ago, we used to get snowfall so that people couldn’t get up the hill in the next village. As a twelve year old in a Land Rover I made a fortune pulling them up at ten shillings each. The police weren’t so hot on under-age driving in the late sixties either. 😀

Nobody has been stuck on that same hill for years now. 🙁

We have had a very light dusting tonight (all gone now) and, I hope I’m wrong, but I don’t expect any more this year.

[John Childs]

quote Marcella:

I want to take the dog out in deep snow!!!!!

I want to take my Range Rover out in deep snow. 😀

Although we never seem to get much nowadays. 🙁

[John Childs]

quote Jillbeans:

It’s loosely based on an old 1950s motel sign I used to like.

Late 1950s is the first thing that crossed my mind when I saw it.

I seem to remember that some cinema adverts of that period used a similar style too.

[John Childs]

Morning Boxer, and welcome to the forum.

You might like to make a post in the "welcome" section. I’m sure that you appreciate that we get many different types of people, with different motives, on here, and it helps to elicit a response if we have an idea of whom we are helping.

Anyways, back to your problem. I can’t think offhand why a CG-60SR would print a letter totally out of position but, for the bouncing around corners, the first place I would look is to the blade holder. It sounds like the blade isn’t spinning freely.

[John Childs]

Great.

I won’t miss you and drive straight past next time. 😀

I like it.

[John Childs]

quote Chris Wool:

how many more sign people have shotguns

Don’t know Chris but, apart from mine, Jenny also has one of her own, as befits a good farmer’s daughter. 😀

quote Chris Wool:

am i missing out on something 😉 is there something about customer relations i have missed (!)

It’s not Customer Relations. It’s more the Complaints Department. 😀

Sorry Stephen, I don’t have a definitive answer to your question, but I would have thought that a FIESTA would be fine because there’s no attempt there to pass it off as a genuine registration mark.

Perhaps someone more involved can give a better answer.

[John Childs]

quote Peter Normington:

Have you tried to buy a shotgun recently?

Yes, back in March. Just walked into the shop, picked the one I wanted, haggled a bit, and walked out with it under my arm. 😀

Fair enough you need a shotgun certificate but, provided you have no criminal convictions or mental problems, they are easy enough to get.

And once you have the certificate, it takes less documentation to buy a gun than it does to tax a car. And the queues are shorter in the gun shop than they are in the Post Office. 😀