[Neil Kelly]

Thanks Mike for your kind words and supportive comments
Dead on Phill it was a digitaly printed Flexiface the depth of colour was better than i thought it would be
Rob the windows were coverd with oracal translucent and the spots were part of the existing window display and it was not untill after we had finished we realised how effective they would be we did three shops with the same design unfortunatly they only had it on the windows for 6 weeks and then it was striped plain.

Regards neil………

[Neil Kelly]

I remember my 40 meg hard drive 236 and 4 meg of ram
if I remember right Brian you installed it for me back in 89

A maths co processor luxury took me a year to save up for that one
I still have the mother board somewhere I took it out and threatened to frame it for old times sake

while were reminiscing who remembers black and white electric studio
the original Signlab and fonts that cost £200 each
them wer te days eebygum times wer ard we used to aft lick vinyl clean wiv us tungs. and pay for permision to come to work.

old sign git Neil………

[Neil Kelly]

thanks Phill i thought i was going mad looking for it

[Neil Kelly]

I was contacted by The UK Trades Confederation they are offering a no set up fee deal with a monthly terminal rental of £13.00 a month and less than 2% commision its a deal they have arranged as a buying group with Nat West streamline also some great deals on couriers under a fiver on packages upto 11Kgs with Omega and discount on Insurance also a free Legal /Tax Advise Line and legal document service
there is an anual membership fee but the potential savings/benefits could easly cover it im meeting with a rep on Friday.

Has anyone heard of them before it all sounds to good to be true
Il let you know how I get on

http://www.uktc.org/trade/membership-benefits.htm
020 8842 4442

[Neil Kelly]

got fed up of looking like jasper carrott il find another in the next few days
neil………

[Neil Kelly]

Im A 4.95 text addict never got to grips with 5. Let me know how you get on Rob and you may convince me to try again, it just seems dificult to grab hold of text and change it and if its not all in view you end up altering half the line, and scrolling down all fonts takes forever can you set up a favourite fonts folder any tips would be appreciated. A good topic for Sign School maybe ?
Neil………

[Neil Kelly]

Like the second design with the grey detail but I think you should zoom out a little as its not that clear and had to stare at the graphic for a moment to work out what it was.

the ladder reminded me of a van I did back in 98
look’s a bit naff by today’s standards scanned the man of a Thompson local add and blew it up. corrected the spelling a week later.
oops 😳 😳 😳

---

Attachments:

[Neil Kelly]

Hi Terry
I have just had an inquiry for some tournament table boards 5 off the size is about 1220 mm x 600 mm similar content to your sample maybee a few more lines. can you give me a price guide i was thinking about £150.00 each
Regards Neil

also does the dry marker pens stain the acrylic over time..

[Neil Kelly]

Thank Phill for that LOL til it hurts………

neil………..

[Neil Kelly]

Thought I would try the 451 Banner Vinyl on a job we needed for the weekend But Paper Co messed up.

The order was placed Thursday at 11.00 am with 100 M of 1260mm 751 and requested a guaranteed am delivery for today ( Friday ) Today at 10.00 am the 751 arrived 10 minutes later we got a call from Paper Co and were told that the Banner Vinyl hadn’t been sent as they didn’t stock 1260 mm but had 1000 mm wide in stock and if I wanted I could have it Monday they said …… well if ASLEF don’t mind marching with plain white banners this weekend im sure it will be just fine.
You would think that they might have used there initiative and at least called to see if we would accept the 1000mm which would have got us out of trouble we were obviously in a rush to have insisted an am delivery.

Well A local stockist of Ritrama Riflex ( Greenworld in Greenford ) came to the rescue and we collected the vinyl within an hour, not as cheap but at least ill complete and get paid on the job. Sometimes price isn’t everything Service is just as important. I hope the Ritrama does the job as I see it only rated a 3 in Kevin’s very helpful naffometer

Thanks all for the info supplied its great to get such positive feed back so quickly from a Qualified database of professionals

Regards Neil……………. enjoy your weekend’s

[Neil Kelly]

Personslly I hate Mondays
actually Sunday nights not to good just thinking about Mondays
but hey fly the flag if you dont like Tuesdays than put a banner on your roof and tell the world.

Nice Job Joe
are the brackets your own work or did you get them fabricated.

[Neil Kelly]

blagged some tickets to the premier last week
verry extreame stuff not everyones taste
look out for the “Rental Car Demolition Derby” 😆 and the “Toy car in the a$$ sketch” 🙁
I didnt know if i should laugh or cry.

Hey Joe quick on the draw with the logo
where do you get your clips from you seem to have an endless resource for up to date clipart font’s and logo’s, is there nothing you cant find?
you should publish your own CD, or maybe get everyone on the site to contribute 10 pieces of original clip each and then sell disks for a good cause like the after school ale fund.

just an idea!! 😉

neil……….

[Neil Kelly]

Well said Phill

[Neil Kelly]

Hi Colin I use signlab 5 colourmaster and have a gradient fills tool

last icon down the left 2 nd one in after the pen nib it looks like a chemistry vesel with red liquid that turns to yellow when poored out.
sounds bizare but thats what it looks like. maybe its not in e6 if not im sticking with 5 as it is a valuble tool since we went into print and cut
let me know if you find it

Regards Neil……

[Neil Kelly]

Thanks Ruth
very good advise I think the concept of a reciprocal agreement with another sign co would be an excellent idea.
Do you have a template document as a guide to writing such a plan

Regards Neil……..

[Neil Kelly]

Hi Phill
Sorry to hear of the attempted break in the potential devestation to the business would be unthinkable.
Re backing up data I think the lap top is a great idea I my self have a DAT tape system installed on my server it is programed to back up all my customer/accounts data at 3.00 am every day I use 5 tapes one for every day of the week and take the previous days tape home each day or when i remember, so if the worst was to happen fire/burglry I would hpefully only be 24 hours away from a compleate backup. The problem is the tapes capacityis 24 Gig but im filling up the hard drive fast it has about three years work on it, so im thinking of a better system for the future if any one has any ideas id like to here them.

Best of luck with the repairs.

Neil………

[Neil Kelly]

Like it Phil

it should of read I got the dell signlab/ xp / dongle / ATI blues!!

after they messed up my order in fit of complete desperation after half a dozen unacknowledged emails and a dozen phone calls when all else had failed.

this is what I mailed

dell dell dell
well what the hell
do I cancel my order
and go to Packard bell

ive tried to get you
to sought out your cock up
but nobody calls back
to tell me what’s up

you don’t get my mail
you don’t answer the phone
I have to leave a message
as there’s nobody home

I hope that you can find
it in your heart
to tell me what’s happening
with my missing part

as communication goes
this is the last you will get
please deliver my pc
as I ordered on the net

It worked
they sorted out my order within 24 Hrs and gave me free delivery and a 10% discount for inconvenience.

Neil……………

[Neil Kelly]

fixed it.

A very nice man at Cadlink (Ray) said i had to much ram and by changing my virtual memory settings
it worked i hope this may be of some help if anyone else has a similar problem in the future.

Neil…….

[Neil Kelly]

Well handled Joe I think he will be back its a dificult one because if he is trying it on its hard for him to come back to you so id chase him up in a couple of days I think its a brave and well handled approach its so easy to be bullied into giving discount and as Tony said it sounds like the patter of a typical car dealer..Good Luck

[Neil Kelly]

Where can I get an Avery Squeegee from ive herd you guys discuss them before and would like to try one at present we use 3M gold and but them from Spandex were does everyone else get them from..

Thanks Neil…………..

[Neil Kelly]

I used Spandex for 5 years and I negotiated there prices to a decent rate
but after trying mactac found it to be a better product and switched about a year ago.
I wasn’t doing any thing like the volume of Tim maybe 2K a month and I don’t think they noticed id stopped using them. to there credit they are very reliable and my only grievance was joints in rolls but if you mention it they will avoid sending you them.

I have recently started using Oracle from PaperCo and I am enjoying the benefits of the uksign group’s buying power the boys here have given a big thumbs up to the product and say it weeds and fits better than ultramark and mactac so we are making it our stock vinyl from now on. Just for reference Paper Co’s stock levels arnt brilliant I had a recent requirement for some fleet graphics and needed 300M of 1250 mm Green but they only had 120 m in stock and was quoted 3 Weeks so unfortunately I had to go elsewhere. It would have been handy to know if any one else stocks Oracle in the UK so I can be consistent and source it elsewhere if required So if any one can let me know much appreciated.

Re Xmas Drink never had a cup of tea let alone a bottle of plonk from any supplier. must be to small or to ugly.

Neil…………..

[Neil Kelly]

Hi Becky
As A guide I would price as follows
16 x 3 = 48 sq feet no frame so 48 x £7.50
+£100.00 to cover Scaffold and extra time and labour to errect etc

Id want probably go in at £450 + vat fitted

x 2 man Hours to cut weed and mount £30.00
x 2 8 x 4 Foam Board £45.00
X 5 M 1220 vinyl £15.00
Fixings and App tape petrol use of tools etc £30.00
iv got one now but if you have to hire one allow about £50.00 For tower Hire
x 3 Hour Fitting 2 men max 6 man hours £90.00

Total £260
£450.00 – £260.00 = £190.00 For the wife to spend in NEXT at the Weekend.

Or if you could do 2 a day for five day’s week for a year
£98,000 I could get out of bed for that

Hope this helps

Neil………….

[Neil Kelly]

Hi lorraine
you are paying over the top but you are being charged a premium for cut to size I recently bought a sheet of 3mm Blue 2030mm x 1520mm and paid £39.49
for the sheet The supplier will cut to size and deliver but then you will end up with off cuts that you may never use

well then theres always Robs car boot sale.

If you get stuck let me know ill have a bit that size
our shop’s not far away in South Harrow.

Neil…………..

[Neil Kelly]

the seven teddys are behind you

oh no there not

oh yes thay are

oh nooooo there not

oh yeeeees thay are

oh noooooooooo there not

oh yeeeeeeeeeeees thay are

Nice one Timmy

Very Brave

Neil………

[Neil Kelly]

Phill love the science but not sure if it stands up the low pressure on the back of the ply in the voids of the corrugation would not transfer to the rear of the panel and the gap between the panel and the board would be still air and arguably a partial vacuum resulting in sucking the panel back resisting the outward pulling forces of mother nature.

I haven’t used a ply backing but I wood have to agree with Martin if you were intent on using panatrim that this wood be a good option but may prove to add weight to the cladding and eventually cheaper woods might rot and fail. I have fitted top and bottom rails and used a deep storm extrusion on very exposed areas. But joints however good at first always seen to be a problem on signs made of 3 or more panels. on one sign fitted 8 years ago 55′ x 4′ I started with panel locks as Bob describes at the top but they eventually failed, we ended up putting a 4″ wide overlap strip behind the joints and using 3 mm countersunk machine screws drilled and tapped 4 per join through the face with the vinyl dots to hide them.

Touch Ally its still there Today

But less of my blurrb I HATE 👿 Panatrim and everything that looks like it.

Terry Foam is cheap and light and I wouldn’t use it on a sign of 20′ because of the problems that you have encounterd a cheap extruded acrylic would be heavier and may not have failed in the same circumstances and this is always a good argument and justification for a higher price when quoting I often throw in a cheap alternative when pricing a job to compete with an alternate budget quote but always make the customer aware of any possible weaknesses they tend to respect your experience and the decision is theirs.
then if we do have a mother of a storm your covered to some extent

My Solution Bin The Trim (:) (:) (:) (:) (:)
fit an Aluminium Tray sign with 50 mm returns 😛 😛 😛 😛 😛
Rob can we have some hearts in the emoticons I would have used them here if they were available + Valentines is on its way. I looooove ally trays because they are warm.

😀 Benefits:

No face fixings
nice sleeve joint’s
powder coated finish
takes vinyl like a van
cost is the only fractionally more than panel and frame
light weight
easy and quick to install
last forever

😥 Drawbacks:

No visible frame to act as a border ( but a vinyl stripe around the perimeter can add the same effect )

Rob: Re Using wood and ally beading for a long term solution I would have thought the screws fitted into the open end of the ply will probably come out as the wood rots and you could loose the trim and expose the edges of the silicone fixed panel.

I once fitted A 2400mm x 1200 mm Oval to a cladded building using 5 mm acrylic fixed with loads of Dow Corning silicon to a 1″ marine ply Oval . I used a rear fixed rail to attach it to the building and the acrylic was bonded on the bench and left over night. It didn’t last 12 Months the silicon failed and the face fell of the front.

never did that again I generally don’t use wood now if I can use metal.

well that’s my twopeneth

by for now Neil……………………..

[Neil Kelly]

Henry the material you descride is it the curtain material that they hang infront of large chiller rooms if so i think that is the same as the cutting mat I bought or very similar.
do you know who distributes it

cheers neil

[Neil Kelly]

Hi Becky
8 x 4 cutting matt sorced from Cherwell Sign Supplies
01280 840297

Rob could it be Zink sheet on your benches

neil………

[Neil Kelly]

did a simple window graphic ( frosted crystal ) to match contemporary design but it finished it of nice and promoted the name and rebranding for pedestrians at street leval

neil……

---

Attachments:

[Neil Kelly]

HI chaps sorry I haven’t posted for a while busy with the xmas thing. first day back today and while I was off I’ve been thinking of work place improvements and you guessed one of them was work benches I my self use x2 8×4 5 mm fomex panels on 1″mdf table supported by 2 16’x 3″ x 2″ Timbers sat on x 3 off brickys trestles was put together in a rush three years ago as a temp measure and still stands today ive had to change the tops a few times and found suppliers helpful with old stock or damaged sheets they couldn’t sell.
I recently bought an 8 x 4 self healing cutting mat not cheap but not bad to use as the Fomex does break up after a while.

I hope to replace this Jan with a glass toped under lit bench ive had an old 10 x 4 light box on the roof of the shed for ages and I wanted to build it into the new bench the idea is to assist weeding and it can be used for referencing intricate vinyl work. I had heard glass was a good surface so glad to hear that view reinforced curious to know about metal benches a few questions for you
do you use mild steel or ally sheet.
is it painted or unfinished
is there a problem with surface rust
do you find you blunt a lot of blades when cutting up vinyl jobs

I might finish the sides of the bench with metal if its recommended your thoughts/comments would be helpful.

Kind Regards And best wishes for the New Year

Neil…………

PS metal letter with the plastic locators looked great ive posted couple of picks in show us your stuff thanks again for all the tips

[Neil Kelly]

No

[Neil Kelly]

Paul ued the maaan
3M is double dear and im of to Boots thanks for the economy busting tip

Just one point re public being decapitated by flying stainless if God forbid an accident occurred and we had followed exact 3M procedures and used branded 3M products hopefully we would not be proven negligent and our liability insurance would have no get out and compensate accordingly

I know it sounds a bit only if

but I thought id be a mega nerd and mention it

neil…………

[Neil Kelly]

Thanks for all the tips hear on adhesive I have gone down the locater route and used the 3 M dp810 out of the glue mixing gun we used 3m surface cleaner and a scotch-bright abrasive pad to prepare the surface the bond is excellent and I am happy with the strength of the bond well the test we did resulted in the nipple breaking of the back of the letter before the joint failed and it failed only when struck with the fork end of a claw hammer not very scientific I know but an effective test.

Dave I take on board what you said about safety and I am concerned that long term the polypro cups will deteriorate after 5 or so years and the soldered brass would be a far superior fixing I would like to know how to do this is what equipment is used type of solder preparation and were to by the brass locaters from I imagine you would use a small blow torch with plumbers solder and flux on to a roughed up surface but is there an issue with heat marking the face of the letters the set we are installing are 1mm brushed stainless the largest letter was 300 mm any advise would be great

ill post a pick when the jobs done

Thanks to all and seasons greeting Neil

[Neil Kelly]

Thanks Robert it would work on a very dark negative cut facia but it could cause a dark line on a translucent vinyl mid coloured panel. I have sprayed the sleeve joint before and on a recent light box used a blue permanent marker along the rebate join edge to take the glare out of the joint. But this would be difficult on a Digitally printed graphic made up of different colours. I think Flexi is the way has anyone fitted digitally printed vinyl to flexface signs? or does it have to be printed direct to the face.

Cheers Rob Il contact Liam and see how he got on

Thanks Bob for the tip Re Kestrel.

Regards Neil…………

[Neil Kelly]

Hi Paul ive considered perspex but the background colour is a redy brown colour. In the past with translucent vinyl on acrylic facias however tight we make the rebate joins use panel locks etc you always get that thin line at the join
what do you do to minimise this.

Neil…..

[Neil Kelly]

Very Nice……..if built-ups were women these would be the Carmen Electra’s

Paul are you up for trade work as I imagine fabricated halo with leds would transport well without the risk of glass breakages
id love to flog a set of letters like this but we don’t have the manufacturing expertise.

Regards Neil……

[Neil Kelly]

see your not just a pretty face

pure talent

thanks for the glue tip

regards neil…

[Neil Kelly]

( spoken in a broad scouse accent ) calm down calm down i wasnt moaning rob i just thought I was being a bit thick and coudnt work out how to do it after all im new to this mate 🙄

ps I think your brilliant Rob and your sites brilliant and if i could id gladly have your children 😆 😆 :lol:[/b]

[Neil Kelly]

Thanks Rob ill let you know how i get on

neil……

[Neil Kelly]

is the attachment thing not working

[Neil Kelly]

Jhon Intrested to see you have a Motor traders policy we dont move customer vehicles that mutch and its normally left to me as I am our main policy holder it gives me 3rd party cover on any vehicle but the private cars included might be a great advantage, also does this include your sign making equipment as well as buildings public liability etc.

I would be interested in a Quote if you woudnt mind sharing your contact

regards Neil…

[Neil Kelly]

Thanks Martin, Johnny
re increases my first couple of year’s at the shop I was paying about 400.00 for building content and liability all in. 2002 it rose up to 943.00 this year they are quoting 1804.00 ill try HSBC ill let you know if they come up trumps
does anyone know of any signmaking schemes I used to use a broker that had a scheme for photographic studios with they adapted for retail sign shops but they discontinued the plan 2 years ago.
re Federation of Small Businesses I haven’t heard of them have you any info/ tel no’s

Kind Regards Neil………..

[Neil Kelly]

whats Birmingham got to do with it is that were the rocket landed

Neil…

[Neil Kelly]

Thanks for the info Mike on striping:
ive done something similar in the past on a landscape panel were I left the scollaps attached to the end stripes:
A tip for cutting stripes space them a stripes width away from each other ( in Signlab use Aray ) it saves on cuts and the possability of unalignment when plotting when finished run a blade down either end of the stipes less wastage and a quicker cut

Neil..

[Neil Kelly]

verry nice work I like the ripped open metal effect it looks verry realistic (have you got any close ups) and all for a grand Bargin

enyoying your work Neil..[/list][/quote]

[Neil Kelly]

Hi Martin I use a co called Sign Industries
http://www.signindustries.com
they take artwork as ai or eps files
I dont think there the cheapest but quality and service are great thay etch 3mm as standard most only offer 2mm so the signs always have heavy quality feel to them, ask for stuart if you call them tell them him I said hi

neil ..action signs

[Neil Kelly]

I use a gold with a velcro wrap on one edge brilliant for all use’s recently used it on wraping some smart cars see show your stuff for picy

neil

[Neil Kelly]

The cutting in on the stripes was a dilema what i did was lay them up long and using a blunt blade indent the vinyl were i needed to cut. then peeled it back 2 to 3 ” and using a squege as a portable cutting mat cut them of with a sharp blade.
by the way the graphics were only on for the exibition and a week or so with the owner posing around then we stripped the lot.

more soon neil

[Neil Kelly]

Thanks Rob for your comments
I was given the web address as a reference for the artwork
cut and pasted the logo out of the site and what you see was the finished result. the car arrived in black everything else is vinyl

re 650 wide ? what does that refer to I normally edit pictures in paintshop pro is it pixels

ill give it a try

neil

---

Attachments:

[Neil Kelly]

ps just for the record I wasnt trying to show the no parkig sign

neil

[Neil Kelly]

ooopss whats the best picture size/ file size and can you attach more than one at a time

neil