[Nick Minnery]

Thank you for all the replies. If cut a sample of vinyl to test, along with application tape. Fingers crossed!

Cheers👍

[Nick Minnery]

Pane, that worked! Thanks very much for your help pal- really appreciate it :thumbsup:

Alan, thank you too 😉

[Nick Minnery]

quote Alan Drury:

I use winplot with corel too. I only have a recognition problem if the marks have been laminated over.

Thanks Alan. Hmmm, wondering if the vinyl is too glossy, perhaps?

[Nick Minnery]

I just send it to Winplot via Corel. I don’t get that far though. I load the vinyl into the cutter….

then = move cutting head, over bottom RH mark,

choose ‘media alignment’ on cutter. It tries for about 30 secs, hovering over first mark….then stops…and says try again

[Nick Minnery]

Cheers Pane. I did try that originally (set OPOS markers in CorelDraw), wouldn’t recognise those either ❓ ………

[Nick Minnery]

I agree, apostrophie’s in the wrong place drive me nut’s, its’ just lazy.

[Nick Minnery]

I’ve actually just ordered an 8’x4′ sheet, thought it would be a lot more expensive.

Thanks Kev,

[Nick Minnery]

quote Kevin Busby:

Hi Nick

I used to use this company to supply smaller thickness but they do the 10mm as well

http://www.cutplasticsheeting.co.uk/pvc-foamex-board/

Good service and price is not to bad if your not needing the full sheet, don’t have any 10mm or I would have sent you some.

Kev

Thanks a lot Kev, will try them :thumbsup:

[Nick Minnery]

Your original match looks good- couldn’t you use that and just edit the ‘r’ slightly?

[Nick Minnery]

Thanks for the replies everyone, happier about that now! :thumbsup:

[Nick Minnery]

Many thanks Hugh, Rob, Ian – great help, sorted now :thumbup2:

[Nick Minnery]

Peter

I can recommend the UKSB training (above). Robert was our instructor and fortunately he was very patient! Seriously though, you’ll learn a good deal in the 2 day course :thumbup2:

[Nick Minnery]

quote Hugh Potter:

I’m guessing you’ve checked the pole at the back is properly seated?

That said, I’m sure you have.. I’ve noticed this on a number of the ones I’ve made, cheapo or posh!

Hugh

Hi Hugh

Yes mate, I made sure the pole was sat on the little plastic bit properly. I’m thinking that that spring in the cassette is too strong. It’s weird, this is the last of a batch I bought, I just seems to be this one that I’ve struggled with! :banghead:

[Nick Minnery]

Thanks for all the replies everyone.

Also, I find that when you stand back to check how they line up, it is best to stand back a good 6m+, as anything less and you really don’t get the best idea of how it looks.

Oh, and have you ever fitted graphics, then opened a door and forgot to put your scalpel through the overlapping letters?? Errrr, I haven’t……………just wondered if any of you have done that………… 😳

[Nick Minnery]

Ruined a beautiful Lamborghini Murcielago, criminal!

[Nick Minnery]

What about using a fine signwriting brush and a small tin of enamel? That’s what I would do.

[Nick Minnery]

Hi Lauren, welcome along :thumbup2:

[Nick Minnery]

Apollo colours in Liverpool are a friendly and helpful bunch, supply all our screen printing inks…
0151 922 5665

[Nick Minnery]

Also, try another magenta ink cartridge, could be something as simple as that. ALSO! try and print a solid block (1220 X 300 mm ish) of magenta, see if it flushes the head.

[Nick Minnery]

I bought some digital vinyl from a guy in a LWB van OVERLOADED with vinyl. Never again. 75m for the price of 100, proper ripped off. ‘There’s one 50m roll boss, and these 2 other rolls add up to 50 metres, 100 metres boss’, nowhere near 100 metres 👿

[Nick Minnery]

Thanks Kevin, David, & Denise. Some top tips there.

Denise, I did do that. There’s plenty of vids on standard laminating, but I could see any using them to apply onto large boards.

[Nick Minnery]

I was asked to fit some correx marketing boards to units, using DS tape as they didn’t want to damage the cladding.

Anyway, someone ripped one of the signs off, leaving tape/residue on the cladding. The landlord then went mental, demanding the tape removed/cleaned up ASAP. I wish I’d have walked away from that one.

[Nick Minnery]

quote Martin Cole:

quote Robert Lambie:

illuminated lighboxes using 4mm correx for the face.

😮

What should I be using instead then…………. 😉

3mm Martin, 4mm won’t let the light through enough, and unnecessary expense for the client!

[Nick Minnery]

Good for you Adrian. We’re currently in negotiations for larger premises, simply so we can accommodate a flatbed (we hope to buy next year)

I’m sure you won’t regret it 😉

[Nick Minnery]

Cheers Adrian, seems I wasn’t miles off then.

[Nick Minnery]

I’ve been looking at the flatbed route. 90% of our work is estate agency boards (residential and large commercial boards)

The machine would be mainly used to print these correx boards (don’t need laminating)

Having read this thread though, it’s put me off to be honest!

[Nick Minnery]

quote DavidRogers:

Reminds me of:

CHEAP

GOOD

FAST

…pick any two…and the other can’t happen in business.

I like that!

[Nick Minnery]

quote Gert du Preez:

Ive been using a colour chart I made up with ALL the pantone colours in the Corel Library for the past few years. There is 1144 colours on that ‘un……

Printed on Vinyl, PVC, Reflective and Photo Paper. Use that to find the colour, open the Corel file of the colour chart, copy the relevant colours, paste into the Corel file Im working with, and copy properties from my swatch coulour.

Sounds long winded, but actually only take a few seconds!

hanks Gert! When you say ‘open the corel file’, how do you copy the properties?

Cheers

[Nick Minnery]

Big help Glenn, thank you very much 😉

Thank you to Jon too!

[Nick Minnery]

Cheers Jon, where would it be in the Roland RIP software? I looked under ‘media’, there’s nothing there.

Thanks for the download Glenn. So, if I imported that chart straight into my Roland RIP software, and printed it- those pantone colours would look exactly the same as the Pantone colours I select and export in CorelDraw? Sorry if sounding a bit thick.

[Nick Minnery]

quote Paul Seeley:

I feel for you – when I spoke to an estate agent recently (we did all the shop signage etc.) we were asked if we could ‘service’ their boards . . . (<(

Don't envy you at all at the moment

Thanks for the sympathy Paul 😉

[Nick Minnery]

quote Jean Oakley:

I always refer to this site for matching colours

http://www.imi21.com/conversion-couleur … tZQ9P1Ofm0

Thanks for the link Jean

[Nick Minnery]

Thanks Stafford, good call that.

I printed off the Versaworks colours, didn’t think of printing the Pantone colours out for reference though.

Cheers!

[Nick Minnery]

Yes, that is actually closer to the one I chosen

Cheers John 😉

[Nick Minnery]

Sorted! Thanks for everyones help.

I used the ‘Bitmap Colour Mask’ tool, used the eyedropper to select ‘white’, and the surround was gone. It also took away some white from the main image (made it transparent) but I just adjusted the tolerance and it was perfect,

The problem with using a basic mask, was that I had to overlap two images, so I couldn’t really do it that way.

Thanks again

Nick

[Nick Minnery]

Apologies, I don’t understand the ‘use as a mask’ bit 😳

Take a look at the attached, the 2 logos need to overlap, but I need to remove the white from around each one….

---

Attachments:

[Nick Minnery]

Hi Kev, sorry no. I want that image but without the white area, that makes up the rectangle.

Probably not been clear enough there.

[Nick Minnery]

I have a Bosch circular saw, with a special 6" fine toothed blade, makes a clean cut.

If you haven’t got a steady hand (or you’ve had a few beers the previous night) you can clamp a straight edge in position and use that as a guide.

Cheap and effective.

[Nick Minnery]

Hi Dave

Thanks for taking time out to do those designs, appreciate that.

Take on board what you say about the order of the words, will bear that in mind mate 😉

[Nick Minnery]

90% of our business is estate agency work (including commercial signs, developments, shops, offices etc).

We have a lot of good clients, but a lot of Estate Agents feel they should only have to pay pennies for the service.

This is a recent conversation I had (condensed)

‘Our current fitter is terrible, we wait over two weeks for a Sold slip to be fitted. How much would you charge to fit our signs??’

Me ‘we can fit your boards for you for £X ammount’

‘Hmmmm, but that’s £1 more than we’re paying now though….’

It seems some firms prefer to save £1 or two per job and have poor service.

THAT is what we’re up against!

I didn’t hear back from that particular chap, fortunately.

[Nick Minnery]

This thread is great! It’s also happened to me plenty of times.

I had someone call in once with a very intricate graphic down one side of a motorbike, applied new at the factory, but the other side had been removed because of damage and re-painted. He wanted it replacing…..

‘They cost a fortune on eBay, can’t you just scan it??’ Yes mate, normally we just use our scanner for copying A4 invoices, so a 750cc Suzuki should be no problem.

moron.

[Nick Minnery]

Just checking John, try exporting it to Versaworks in a different file type.

[Nick Minnery]

Thanks for the advice Simon, will invest in some knifeless tape 😉

[Nick Minnery]

Cheers Rob, schoolboy error by the original fitters.

So, anyone any tips on replacing the panel/removing damaged graphics??

[Nick Minnery]

quote Jason Bagladi:

Maybe the vinyl got tyred!

Oh dear, you need to get a grip Jason 😉

[Nick Minnery]

Dear me!!! Funny video Rob.

Superglue!! We all know the correct product to use is Pritt stick, idiots.

[Nick Minnery]

quote Martin:

Not something I have ever had to do Nick, easy enough to change the colour of the whole van by just selecting the outline vector & selecting colour but just a part of that would require you to copy the outline vector & then edit it to whatever shape you wanted it to be, colour it & then put it to the back of the outline if that makes sense??

Thanks Martin. Yes I think I know what you mean. I’ve just tried that, not really getting anywhere to be honest! I think I’ll just get a blue felt pen and draw on the monitor!

[Nick Minnery]

Fellas, many thanks for the replies.

@ Harry, I’m using X5 at the moment, never thought it could be a temporary folder issue? Will look into that.

@ Paul, surprised to hear that you still had issues after changing the hardware. It’s all foreign to me too!

@ Alan, thanks for the suggestions, will try those. One image I was trying to export did have a some intricate floral images on it, but when I scaled it down to 1/4 the size, it worked?!!

I do find that exporting as EPS is quick and always works. Also, thse EPS images don’t need cropping in Versaworks. What are the disadvantages of exporting all images as EPS?? I’m guessing you can only export vector images like this??

Thanks again chaps 😉

[Nick Minnery]

Nice work David, I like that 🙂

[Nick Minnery]

Very nice job Ben. How did you cut the vinyl at the front of the roof, where it curves to the door??

[Nick Minnery]

Some of these designs are really good, you’re a clever lot!! 😉

[Nick Minnery]

Some fantastic work there, very well done mate 😉

[Nick Minnery]

Neil, thanks for that. I got up to the ‘Back Minus Front’ function, but wasn’t quite sure what that was??

Jill, that is VERY easy, thanks very much! I really do need to spend a weekend reading the Coreldraw book, instead of making it up as I go along!

Thanks everyone 😀

[Nick Minnery]

quote David Hammond:

Would you be producing it in cut vinyl.

I don’t use corel, but using illustrator and cutting master, I would add the rectangle for the white cut through, and then in cutting master crop the area that is being cut to minimise waste.

Cut the Red & Black, then just weed it out?

Hi David

Thanks for that, sounds like a plan. Just not sure I can ‘crop’ a vector image in my cutting software, will give it a go.

Thanks again!

[Nick Minnery]

Steve, you’re a genius mate, thank you 😉

Well I looked in the Coreldraw book, and in help in the programme, couldn’t see those instructions anywhere.

Thanks again

Nick

[Nick Minnery]

quote Stuart Drynan:

Personally i place a 10mm overlap on wall jobs. either 10mm to the right OR 10mm on each panel (Left and right) depending on how busy the image is etc.

I have found both materials to be rather easy to work with, granted vinyl is more simple to fit etc 🙂

Thanks for the response Stuart, much appreciated. Anyone else had experience with this type of job??

Thanks

[Nick Minnery]

Hi Michiel

I don’t know if you have ‘copied’ and ‘pasted’ the wording from one programme to another perhaps??

If I design an image in Corel, then copy and paste into my sign/cutter software – then cut the image, the lines are fine but curves are ‘jagged’.

It’s probably not that, just in case though.

[Nick Minnery]

quote Sean Mitchell:

Yeah I liked the white wrap nick but it just came across as a white van so went for something to get me noticed and its working, I’ve got a couple of wraps from the van alone so its doing its job.

Well, can’t argue with that Sean. Excellent work mate 😉

I’m doing a wrap course soon, so will be using my work van (Connect) as a guinea pig!!

Nick

[Nick Minnery]

It’s certainly impressive! I prefer the white, personally 🙂

[Nick Minnery]

Hi Tony, welcome along from another Cestrian!

[Nick Minnery]

Cheers Stuart & Martin. Of course there is the option of getting a professional to remove the trim, I never really considered that!

And yes, Google is a wonderful thing, how did we manage before?!

[Nick Minnery]

I didn’t know you could cut from Corel??

[Nick Minnery]

Nice work Kev!

I’d like to learn this too. The thing that concerns me, is removing all trim/handles etc, it’s all guess work, to me anyway!

[Nick Minnery]

A simple but very helpful link, cheers Harry 😉

[Nick Minnery]

quote Steve Hooper:

My mistake… 😳

I have used it several times and thought it would handle this bitmap but it doesn’t.

Sorry to get your hopes up… Someone show me the way to the humble pie, please. 😳

No problem Steve, thought I was just doing it wrong! 😉

[Nick Minnery]

quote Steve Hooper:

I realise this is an old thread but for future reference, Smart Fill in Corel would do this very quickly and with probably less clean-up than trace. 🙂

I’ve just tried to use that Smart Fill function, as I was interested to use it in future. But couldn’t do it with the above logo, it just drew a square around the image 😳

[Nick Minnery]

Here you go Jean

http://trade.venturebanners.co.uk/roller_banners.asp

That includes the graphics.

Nick

[Nick Minnery]

Thanks Gary. If they could stick to aluminium, they may work. But I think I’ll order some anyway, they could come in very handy for a lot of the interior signage i do.

Cheers 😉

[Nick Minnery]

Thanks David. No I can’t do that because it’s lots of small windows within the 9’x5′ frame. Bit of an awkward one.

Just need to somehow fix the banners to the frame without causing any damage, or making a mess (glue)

😕

[Nick Minnery]

Looking forward to new website in January (currently in construction), new van is imminent (keep the others cleaner)

I’d like to do a vehicle wrap course, after having been asked many times if I can do wraps, and sending business away to other companies- not good.

Being generally tidier/more organised.

Have lots of fun with my 9 month old son 🙂

[Nick Minnery]

Cheers Martin, I’ll look into those options. Appreciate the advice 😉

[Nick Minnery]

This looks a handy bit of kit.

To anyone who has one of these, would it be easy enough to apply, say, a 4’x3′ digital print to a 4’x3′ correx sheet?

Just wondered how easy/difficult it would be lining it up.

Thanks!

[Nick Minnery]

That’s the one Liam, thanks very much! 🙂

[Nick Minnery]

quote George Elsmore:

grafityp do small bottles to roll on prints

Thanks George, ordered from Grafityp 🙂

[Nick Minnery]

quote Phill Fenton:

Your blades are being blunted because they are coming into contact with the media clamp that holds the vinyl down to stop it curling. This is caused by ink vapor gradually clogging the mechanism that controls the knifes up and down movement. Look closely at the right hand media clamp and you will see scratch marks where the knife has come into contact. This is not normal and should not happen, but is a common fault that develops on these machines

The solution is to create a cutting file consisting of a large number of “0”‘s. When you run this file a few times the rapid up and down action will free off the mechanism so that it returns to normal operation. Alternatively, remove the clamps so that the blade is no longer able to hit them. Or remove the knife and only fit it when you are cutting

Cheers Phill (& Paul). Someone else mentioned the clamps, but I watched the head pass the clamps and thought there was plenty of clearance, so I dismissed that. But, I didn’t realise that the knife sometimes fails to move up and down properly. So, that makes sense now. And I’ve just looked at the clamps, there is indeed a couple of horizontal scratches.

Thanks again! 🙂

[Nick Minnery]

quote Martin Armitage:

Heavy roll of media? Let some out before printing?

Martin, you legend! Thanks mate, that’s exactly what it was 😀

Thanks you too, John, for that suggestion.

Nick

[Nick Minnery]

Kevin, Dave, Stafford; many thanks for the help.

I sorted the problem, was quite simple really. Instead of using a wireless connection, I simply plugged the ethernet cable straight into the PC, bingo! 😳

Thanks again for taking your time to reply,

Nick

[Nick Minnery]

Thanks Cheryl.

I don’t really do vehicles, this is just a one off for a friend ‘of a friend’, otherwise I’d probably already have invested in software by now!!

Will take a look at that link

Thanks

Nick

[Nick Minnery]

quote George Elsmore:

here ya go

Perfect! Many thanks George, much appreciated 🙂

Regards

Nick

[Nick Minnery]

Thanks very much John, appreciate that advice 😉

[Nick Minnery]

Many thanks for all the advice fellas. I’ve ordered the composite, that’s a good call.

Will do what John suggested and countersink and countersink the screws and cover them with matching vinyl 😉

Thanks again

Nick

[Nick Minnery]

Log cabin? Sounds nice. Definitely get some pics up, would like to see that 🙂

[Nick Minnery]

Welcome along Jim, I’m also from Chester, will look out for you 😀

[Nick Minnery]

Thanks John 😉

[Nick Minnery]

Thanks for the links Rob, very helpful.

Would never have thought of scanning the ground first, good job you mentioned it.

Thanks also Derek and Neil.

[Nick Minnery]

Cheers guys.

Neil, the file was really big, so the quality was pretty spot on. I’m no expert regarding compression etc, but it looked fine. Thanks though.

Alan, I tried to attach the design, but it’s 2.4 MB, too big to upload here. Thanks for offering to take a look though
😉

Nick

[Nick Minnery]

Cheers Gary. It worked using jpeg in the end, not sure why it wouldn’t open TIFF. Oh well, sorted now, thanks again.

Nick

[Nick Minnery]

[Hi Gary

Thanks for that. Can VersaWorks open Tiff files ok?[/quote]

Yes mate[/quote]

Just tried that, it said ‘unsupported format’

D’oh! 🙁

[Nick Minnery]

quote Gary Birch:

What file extension are you exporting as? Try a tiff. Tends to sort a lot of problems out.

Cheers

Gary

Hi Gary

Thanks for that. Can VersaWorks open Tiff files ok?

[Nick Minnery]

How annoying, bet you couldn’t believe it when you saw that van.

I imagine it’s quite hard getting customers to pay money/deposit up front before a design is even done, that’s the problem.

You never stop learning on this job.

[Nick Minnery]

Blimey that’s huge! Nice bit of kit 😉

[Nick Minnery]

Thanks Ian and David, will try them too.

[Nick Minnery]

Thanks Gary, they seem good 😉

Nick

[Nick Minnery]

Genius Neil! I did just that, saved it half size, then scaled it up to 200%.

Tried altering media size, it just would let me alter the height (length)

Oh well, sorted anyway

Thanks mate 😉

[Nick Minnery]

quote Neil Fox:

What RIP are you using?

Hi Neil

Using the Versaworks RIP and print software, that came with the printer….

[Nick Minnery]

Hi Bob

I have the SP540i, as the other replies say, it certainly can do that. But, after using a Summa (cut only machine) for 10 years, I’ve found that the Roland doesn’t cut that great.

Having said that, it is a very good machine, I’m sure you wouldn’t regret buying one.

Cheers

Nick

[Nick Minnery]

quote Robert Lambie:

if signs come down in the likes of the weather Scotland is getting today, then its an act of god and the insurers should will pay out. note how i said “should” :lol1:

anyway, in severe weather, signs will come down, just like anything else and we cannot be expected to replace or re-fit for free. i wouldnt anyway.

the trouble with for sale & to let signage is its often manufactured from the likes of correx. which will rip and burst in the winds we are getting today. so they could be fixed into concrete on anchor bolts, it doesnt mean they will be safe and sound.
other V-type projecting for sale signs, if not made of correx, then its cheap thin board and can sometimes weigh a bit. I in no way mean “your” signs, but any i take down when installing shop fascia and the like are often very roughly fitted. i.e. the last one i took down had 6 inch nails thru the sign into metal trim, some even hammered thru the face of acrylic.
granted these signs are temporary, i get that part, but still, they also must comply to a level of health and safety in the chance they come down and hit someone.

anyway, just talking in general here mate, not directed at you in any way.

Hi Robert

Yes, I’ve seen some pretty shoddy boards (not ours) erected over the years. We now use concrete screws to fit the wood batton to brick, then ‘screw’ (torque screws up ladders, god-send) the framed correx boards to the batton. We always (personally, quite obsessivelly) make sure they are rock solid before leaving them.

Before correx was introduced, I believe all of this style signs were framed hardboard. I really don’t know how they managed!

Thanks for the reply 🙂

Nick

[Nick Minnery]

Cheers Gavin, we do try our best. I think the fitters are fighting a losing battle today though! 😮

[Nick Minnery]

Having only had my wide format printer since September, I’m now discovering what affects the cold/damp is having. Poor prints due to curly wurly vinyl, generally poor results. The printer is in an office within a 1500 sq.ft. unit, that has a not got a door on it (the office) at the moment!

So, I’ve bought a small oil filled convector radiator. It’s pretty good, but I’ve also bought a huge roll of insulation because there’s gaps everywhere, and fit a door of course! I’m hoping my new insulated room with luxury-delux heater should do the trick!

[Nick Minnery]

quote Martin:

Nick maybe it’s down to the way you install them, Like Gavin I used to get asked to install these and the money the companies are prepared to pay doesn’t make it worth doing unless you are dealing with a lot of companies so when you go to an area your not fitting just one board.
Don’t think some people who fit them take a lot of time over it, couple of six inch nails through a facia seems to be how some do it.

Hi Martin,

I’m pretty obsessed with fixing them properly, it doesn’t matter how long I take, and how many fixings (screws) I use, I always worry when there’s strong winds around. Better to be like that, than to not worry at all, I guess.