[John Hughes]

I believe it’s the print speed, much faster than the VS. We can print for example, 2.5m x 1.2m, with a good quality print, in 9 minutes.

We have had the Pro 1 through to the Pro 4 so may be biased towards this printer.

Don’t forget if you go for the 1600 width you need a laminator to match !

John

[John Hughes]

While on this subject…….saw a restaurant window last week where the vinyl was a metallic gold with a black print and applied to the inside. Any ideas on how that was done ?

I couldn’t get inside to have a closer look.

Cheers

John

[John Hughes]

If you haven’t made the purchase yet Warren have a look at Roland’s Pro4.

Good print and cut machine for speed & quality + takes 1600mm rolls.

Cheers

John

[John Hughes]

Metamark do one which is free.

John

[John Hughes]

Harry is probably right.

Go to:

Tools
Options
Page size
Resolution

Save settings as default.

John

[John Hughes]

What is your ‘view” setting ? Sounds like it’s set to draft where enhanced is our preferred setting.

When you import a jpeg what dpi does it say at the bottom of the page ?

John

[John Hughes]

Export cdr file as an EPS then add to your print queue and nest the job(s).

Cheers

John

[John Hughes]

Yes they Olly.

Don’t think I’m allowed to put my phone number on here but send a PM for details.

Thanks

John

[John Hughes]

Here you go.

http://www.eurostanddisplay.com/display-solutions/rollup-displays/dlplus.php

John

[John Hughes]

Good designs Cheryl – like all of them.

John

[John Hughes]

We looked at this Denise and decided against it.

We now have a close working relationship with a specialist label printer for printing labels on a roll and pushing this side of the business.

We still produce small quantities on our Roland but a lot of customers require the larger batches on a roll.

John

[John Hughes]

Hi Kev,

Just tried this and I think we can rule out the export settings.

Had a little play with the profiles and I think we are getting there!

Thanks for your help everyone!

🙂

[John Hughes]

Thanks for the replies.

Chris, we have talked to Roland but with no great answer so far.
Also, we have loaded the versaworks swatch in to corel and tried that and also printed the main swatch from vw and tried max impact.

Lee, on our previous printer we had profiles for each media but installation guy recommended to stick to the generic profiles. Glad yours is going well.

cheers

John

[John Hughes]

Hi Luke

07990 588 984

John

[John Hughes]

Hi Luke

Yes will buy. Are you based in Worcester ?

I can come across late Thursday.

Cheers

John

[John Hughes]

Hi Luke.

Have you still got the Keencut for sale ?

Thanks

John

[John Hughes]

Due to a new printer being install yesterday, we have approx. 6 cartridges for sale. All brand new and still in the packaging.

Let us know if your interested.

Thanks

John

[John Hughes]

Well done David. Exciting times filling that up with kit.

We recently applied to move in to a new unit on an Enterprise Park (Government funded) but were turned down on the basis that the Sign Industry was not a creative business sector !!!!

John

[John Hughes]

http://www.man-bodybuilder.co.uk/specs/

Might help a tad.

John

[John Hughes]

Any good ?

http://www.artleo.com/pic/201112/1366×768/artleo.com-15855.jpg

John

[John Hughes]

Macroart were suggested to us a few weeks ago.

They said they could supply in one section so we placed the order and sent the artwork. Then they came back saying they couldn’t do it !

We have now placed an order with JKN Digital.

Job similar size to yours Ian.

John

[John Hughes]

Sorted, And my axe is sharper 🙄

All the best.

John

[John Hughes]

quote :

I actually said that sticking a few bits of vinyl to a van doesn’t qualify you as a fitter, any monkey can do that.

Sorry, I read that as people who fit signs to vans are basically monkeys.
I took offence to that comment as I’m one (not a monkey!).
Apologise I miss read it,

quote :

If you have found a way round it, then credit to you. Please don’t take it so personally.

We have printed/fitted quite a few large images over the years with good results and whilst I admit there is a loss of quality, blurring is not a issue and the end result is good and customers happy.

Finally, I do take it personally, when someone disbelieves me plus it’s my business and I take pride in it !

John

[John Hughes]

quote :

Did I? care to point it out?

Yes you did, Am I going to search for it ? No!

But it was in relation to. that your there to run the business and that any monkey can fit signs.

John

[John Hughes]

quote :

maybe the image was a larger dpi

Ha….still don’t believe me then !

As per my previous post…..just because I’m a Monkey (sign fitter) doesn’t mean we can’t achieve good results.

Clive…PM me.

John

[John Hughes]

Hi Clive.

This is the only image I’ve got but cropped so I can bigger.

The white box at the bottom is an electrical socket so you can compare to the print. It looks great in real life with no blurring 😀

John

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Attachments:

[John Hughes]

quote :

john… sorry mate but you cannot enlarge a 10 inch image at 300 dpi to 9 meters wide without blurring…. any chance i can see it close up?

???? Well sorry if you don’t believe me and without taking you there so you can look your probably not going to !

There are ways to achieve a good finished result without blurring which I would share but………didn’t you, on one post some time ago, call sign fitters ‘Monkeys’ !!

John

[John Hughes]

quote :

i think u may have your sums wrong because its impossible

I personally saw the email come through with the image attached.
I printed it on Mac Tac Deco satin
I cut the iamage up and finally
I fitted it.

The customer very happy !

NO I haven’t got my sums wrong because it’s there in real life !

John

[John Hughes]

quote :

So your image of 10 inches at 300 dpi can be enlarged to approximately 4 times its original physical size without pixelating… so you could get it up to 40inches…… above that?… your in blur city.

Sorry but I totally disagree. As an example, the attached image started the same size as Clive’s original image and the finished print was 9.2m x 2.7m and was not blurred at all. If it was, the customer wouldn’t hesitate to tell us to do it again !

John

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Attachments:

[John Hughes]

Cheers Chris, just placed an order!

[John Hughes]

Why not have a image of a local scene.

This was taken in Hampshire and the original is good enough quality plus she has others. Though probably best to ask if ok to use but any photographer would love the idea seeing their image in print.

PM me for details.

John

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Attachments:

[John Hughes]

What type of image are you looking for Warren ?

Colours, theme etc

John

[John Hughes]

Thanks guys, will contact them tomorrow.

John

[John Hughes]

This may help.

John

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Attachments:

Genius-Tools-Logo-Download.eps

[John Hughes]

Impressive.

John

[John Hughes]

Really like the AVAR van.

John

[John Hughes]

quote :

I bought an apollo 210

It turned out to be the following.
Unreliable
Non repeatable
Non square.
not grippy enough

Oh ! we just brought one last week 🙁

John

[John Hughes]

Have a look at this setting in colour management. If it is set to LAB, change to CMYK.

John

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Attachments:

[John Hughes]

Yes, Hexis supply it. Sorry but don’t know the code number off hand.

John

[John Hughes]

Print directly on to etch.

Jihn

[John Hughes]

Tim, have a look at the Hexis range C4000 transparent.

http://www.hexis.co.uk/Hexis/Colour_Cards.html#12

John

[John Hughes]

Thanks Rob

Tried that route but looking for this particular method of Braille manufacture
which seems to be moulded and stuck to the aluminium extrusion.

Thanks
John

Moderator Edited to conform with Board Rules

[John Hughes]

Hi Alex

I think it’s probably the machine…..let me know where you are and I’ll take it off your hands and won’t charge you a penny….. 😀

John

[John Hughes]

Cheers Dave.

John

[John Hughes]

Thanks George – very helpful.

John

[John Hughes]

quote :

your correct on it that clear would have been best, but means yet another roll of digital you will need to stock. unless you customer wants loads of them doing.

Sorry Rob but I don’t follow that. Surely that panel doesn’t need wrap vinyl.
Just print on MD5 clear (other brands are available !) and laminate in the same. No need to stock other materials.

John

[John Hughes]

Try these guys http://www.vkf-renzel.co.uk/

You can buy component parts to build as per your pic or buy system already made.

John

[John Hughes]

Thanks Rob.

Just rang Applelec for a price on LED light panels which would be best if customer budget allows.

Still would like to know if anybody has achieved similar just with an LED strip though.

John

[John Hughes]

Fabrice, can you print/laminate a cast vinyl then cut small circles ie 2/3mm diameter from the whole sticker – similar to contravision.

This way you could reduce weight by 40% ish but not effect the design too much.
Probs need to experiment a bit tho and weeding the circles will take a while.

John

[John Hughes]

Soljet 4 ?

John

[John Hughes]

Apply your wrap over on to the next panel as well, approx 100mm. When you finished applying vinyl to the door, take your scalpel and insert between door and panel at a 45 degree angle (horizontly) and run the blade down using the door edge as a guide. Remove waste, rub down and heat.

Re slot in the panel – cut vinyl, rub down and heat.

That’s how i do it anyway

[John Hughes]

If you use flat cut letters, draw your own template and include a layout of the cladding. Then glue the locators to the letters so they align with the cladding.

If that makes sense 😕

John

[John Hughes]

Well David, good job.

Need to change your sign though 😀

John

[John Hughes]

We have a 4′ press guillotine and as Rob said, great piece of kit. Ours has a adjustable back stop for doing multiple cuts – though very rarely gets used as we cut to printed cross hairs.

Have been looking for guillotine for years that will cut foamex but with no joy.

John

[John Hughes]

quote :

That’s not ‘design’ surely? As bad as the London 2012 Olympics logo was, at least it was ‘designed’ & unlike anything else.

That Microsoft logo is just off the peg items shuffled together. By that definition, I could buy various items of clothing from different shops, put them together & claim I’ve ‘designed’ a new suit

Graphic / logo design is an art and is not easy to achieve a ‘catch all’ finished
result doesn’t matter how much money you throw at it.

John

[John Hughes]

We had a delivery of a trough light last week only to find the tube smashed.

Phoned supplier and response was:

"oh we get this all the time and sorry we can’t send new one out or reimburse you as it’s the couriers fault"

So I have to go and buy new one and clean out the mess at my own cost?

"Yes"

aaahh !

John

[John Hughes]

Create in PS – place smaller images on top of main image (using layers) and add transparency + feather. Also, re size / rotate until you achieve desired effect.

John

[John Hughes]

To confirm that the machine is just under 3 years old.

Thanks
John

oh… and on fleabay at mo

[John Hughes]

Cheers Rob

It’s on one of these,

May have to get some strips of foam and tape over the glue because lots of it 🙁

John

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Attachments:

[John Hughes]

Well done – not that easy to get right.

John

[John Hughes]

What about this as an option ?

http://www.spirit-displays.co.uk/uk_gallery.html

John

[John Hughes]

I would imagine that WS supply many thousands of metres of vinyl etc to their customers and yes things can go wrong from either party.
It doesn’t take much to mess up a metre of vinyl – who is to blame ? Perhaps both parties at some point or other.

When things go wrong, as they do for all of us at times, how to deal with can be different every time.
From reading this forum, WS have a good reputation but for what ever reason some thing as gone wrong in your situation.

Get on the phone Harpreet and arrange to meet up with somebody F2F and sort out. I’m sure that would benefit both of parties.

It’s only vinyl 🙂

John

[John Hughes]

Hi Savanna

We have one of these for sale http://www.suregrave.com/2516i.html

Details of which are in the ‘Buy/sell’ section here.

Not sure if you can PM me, if not email studio@signs-and-labels.co.uk

John

[John Hughes]

Here you go.

John

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Attachments:

finger trap.eps

[John Hughes]

We’ve had a few rolls of this and no problems….so far.

Using a XC540

John

[John Hughes]

We have a small ish piece in stock. What size are you after ?

John

[John Hughes]

Well done Ben – very good.

quote :

Looks like another fine job you have done there Ben, must be getting quite a reputation for this sort of work by now.

Martin, he’s definitely no ‘monkey’ 😳

John

[John Hughes]

Dave, have a read through this Coreldraw forum topic – which is still running and where I found the CM document.
All very confusing – well to me anyway!

John

[John Hughes]

Love the van – different from the usual.

Well done.

Are you still using Metamark for your wraps?

John

[John Hughes]

Harry – here you go. Hope it helps but it’s 66 pages of not very exciting stuff!

http://coreldraw.com/wikis/howto/designer-s-guide-to-color-management.aspx

John

[John Hughes]

Thanks for replies.

I was thinking more on the lines of which is best for colour output from the printer rather than what is best visually on the screen.

I have been printing for about 10 years and used CMYK but the Corel guys say RGB is best.

John

[John Hughes]

James, beware of dodgy suppliers in Hereford 😀

and welcome to the Sign World !

John H

[John Hughes]

I think coreldraw is great, so versatile and been using it for last 12 years.
Upgraded form 5 to 6 boxed version a few weeks ago but constantly crashing and loosing work !!
Reading thro coreldraw forums, I’m not the only one experiencing problems.

John

[John Hughes]

If using 5mm perspex, drill hole in back of letters and either glue or thread and insert 4mm threaded bar in to hole. Make template up as normal and use a spacer, same size as existing locators, between the letter and facia. Make sure threaded bar is long enough to go into facia.

John

[John Hughes]

Harry, just zoom out and back in – the pixelation will disappear. Not sure how or why tho !

John

[John Hughes]

David, what are your settings in Color Management ?

Just curious really as we are quite happy but good to know what others are using.

We mainly output for solvent printing.

John

[John Hughes]

We have the same problem. Spoke to suppliers of the laminate and they said colour change will occur with all light coloured print.

So not a lot that can be done -apart from make corrections at the printing stage which would be……. a lot of hassle !

John

[John Hughes]

Probs not opaque enough as it is an over laminate.

What about using 2 layers – one an etch film and the anti slip on top.

John

[John Hughes]

Hexis supply an anti slip laminate which is slightly opaque, textured and obviously anti slip and hard wearing.

Easy to apply in situ but would warm up the edges a little if possible.

John

[John Hughes]

Hang on there a minute…….we (England) won !!! 😀

John

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Attachments:

[John Hughes]

quote :

is it two years since the crappy x5 came out?

As a sign maker as opposed to a graphic designer – I think it’s brilliant ! Tho must admit we have had a few teething problems.

John

[John Hughes]

I understand X6 is soon to be launched – hence the discount.

John

[John Hughes]

Ok, one for the pot !!

Make up your trays complete then face with your digital print.
We buy trays in (not a huge amount) and do this way.

Wont go thro your laminator tho !

John

[John Hughes]

Don’t know but will show David what he’s missing and encourage him to invest.

John

[John Hughes]

Where from Jon ? I could do with some brushed blue.

John

[John Hughes]

Go to corel.com – also, while you’re there, download a trial – might be able to fix/solve your cut problem.

John

[John Hughes]

quote :

Maybe I sould get a slightly newer version of Corel?

Slightly newer !! Go on, spend some dosh and BUY the newest version – it’s worth it. Just charge your customers a tad more to pay for it.

John

[John Hughes]

quote :

Hi John, you are probably right. But would that resolve my problem?
David

You could try and change the compatibility settings in windows.

[John Hughes]

No idea what a CE3000 is but come on Dave… coreldraw 7 !! version 15 is out now. You really need to invest some monies!

John

[John Hughes]

quote :

John, Just had a proper look at that link you left

No probs and thanks for PM

John

[John Hughes]

Well done Phil, thanks.

John

[John Hughes]

Haven’t tried it George but wouldn’t think so because it’s more like a canvas material than vinyl.

Will try and give it go sometime tho and let you know.

John

[John Hughes]

We don’t do too of vinyl cut on to walls Dan but when we do, we use Hexis Suptac – matt black which is very good.

Re the MacTac – we printed today and applied to an emulsioned wall – easy to apply and initial adhesion seems very good.

John

[John Hughes]

quote :

I always post on here first before I go off and search for an answer. I can usually find an answer but posting here first usually saves me a shed load of time

Must make a mental note not to reply to your questions for a few days.

John

[John Hughes]

Hi Dan, we had a sample (had to pay for it !) of MacTac Deco Satin in today and the print quality is fantastic.
It’s sort of a mix between vinyl and wall paper – self adhesive, doesn’t tear, thick, great finish and has a texture feel.
Told the customer we were going to use laminated vinyl but going for this now.

Bought sample from Amari.

John

[John Hughes]

Cheers Phillip – my lad is in Sheffield this weekend and could have popped across 🙂

I think your right Denise – did get a quote from Suregrave late Friday – £500 ! for a day, which is ok ish if it’s your main line of business but still a lot of money.

John

[John Hughes]

Ok thanks Stephen.

John – we’ve got a good engraving machine with a 600 x 400 bed , which doesn’t get used as much as it should.
I wouldn’t have clue how to use it but my son is getting to grips with it slowly.
Could do with a Varga saw and beveller as well tho.

More of an add on to the main sign business.

john

[John Hughes]

Used to be a built in macro on X3 – not there in x5 tho

Try this link

http://www.embroideryi2.com/corel/product.htm

john

[John Hughes]

Try Greenham Trading – not sure they do blue tho and they tend to be a bit ‘rough’ but usually used for road works etc so do the job.

John

[John Hughes]

That’s ‘Engraving’ not ‘enraving’ which actually sounds more fun !!