[Richard Wills]

if you stick with the B2B customers, then could work well for you.

Train the studios to deliver files / orders in a standardised fashion, and start by offering only a few profiles / formulas.

As soon as you go B2C, you introduce the time vampires to the equation!

[Richard Wills]

Zombie thread resurrection – a cautionary tale.

30-degree olfa’s lives in my back pocket (love the supersharp black blades).

Didn’t pay attention today to a clickety sound, sitting down.

Washed my hands, semi dried them, then did what we all do, and used my jeans to do a final dry.

Over the edge of 5mm of exposed blade x 35mm of travel, up my right ring finger, at which point copious anglo saxon words were used, repeatedly.

4 hours in minor injury, one of those being to stop the bleeding so they could glue my finger shut, to dress it.

Dressing plays havoc with the mouse right-click, and the finger hurts like #ell.

Need to find a slim-knife belt-holder. And listen out for clicketies.

[Richard Wills]

Polyprop seems to be less evil than PVC when it comes to disposal – it can be (potentially, but probably not actually) recycled, and seems to be an acceptable fuel for incineration. So that gives you options for print and laminate, but what substrate, will look good over the years?

I’ve got customers pushing for eco-friendly – I point out we’re in a recycled building, using all the kit to beyond normal end of life – then ask for giant prints on aluminium from their cruise liner trip to the (ant)arctic.

Carbon credits; paying someone on the other side of the world to be kind, so you can be nasty at home. While making the traders a shed load of cash, as usual. Collective term for those financial people, a wunch (of bankers)

Electric vehicles – one benefit (if you can afford one) is reduced localised air pollution in towns and cities. Yes, manufacturing and running of them is less green than they’d like you to think, but localised air pollution is reduced.

[Richard Wills]

Thank goodness their branding guidelines are up to date – would hate to take an order from them.

https://about.twitter.com/en/who-we-are/brand-toolkit

[Richard Wills]

Where are you located?

[Richard Wills]

Camera perpendicular to art work, with lights on either side, pointing towards the opposite side of the work. If possible, flag the lights from the camera and lens.

If the camera is reflecting in the glass, shift it off axis. If you put a grid matt down where the work would be, and take a picture with the set up off axis, then it is simple to undistort the picture in Photoshop, and apply the same transformation to pictures of the photos.

Use the DSLR and the tripod.

[Richard Wills]

The decolam linen looks like it has a very regular geometric silvering to it. Wonder if it’ll fade in the sunlight 😉

[Richard Wills]

Thanks guys, meeting with designer and client next week to gague scope of project.

[Richard Wills]

Thank you both – I’ll look into these tomorrow.

Appreciate the suggestions.

[Richard Wills]

Keencut fanboy here.

Steeltrak – large and expensive, clean, quick, low effort and repeatable.

Or, the Evolution 3 has the option to cut ACM. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TlsH6FTqJw&ab_channel=Keencut.

I think (though may likely be wrong) that score and fold requires a certain amount of material to do the fold, so if you need to take 20mm off a side, it could be tricky. Only tried it once, moons ago, trying to take 5″ off the 8′ side of a sheet of Dibond; didn’t enjoy the experience, and the far rightside of the laminator rolls never looked the same.

[Richard Wills]

Thanks Hugh,

Once the designs are set, I’ll better idea of the colours, and will see if Metamark can do them.

I’m happy to go with other brands – M7 was recommended to me when we first started to cut, as it weeds pretty well for small lettering (not an issue for this job).

[Richard Wills]

Had the meeting this morning, and the walls we’ll mostly be dealing with are cast concrete – smoothish, but with little voids apprx 1-2mm, and odd raised grains here and there. Doesn’t seem to be a problem with things sticking to it (selotaped A4 posters here and there).

I’d like to go down the cast route but am having trouble finding anything other than black and white in a matt finish (except wrap vinyl that won’t fit in a 24″ plotter, and costs rather a lot). The decor is mostly muted greys / pastels, and part of the job would be text/colour coding different zones of the floors – three of the floors are effectively hot desk. I get the feeling that some areas will shift purpose over the years, so a vinyl that has a fairly clean removal would be an advantage.

Hopefully a very rough draft of design will be with me next week, at which point I’ll order in a test roll, and see how I feel about the time scale (quote) for production and install.

Pictures attached – I’ve spoken with the designer, and we’re going to avoid graphics over the casting holes (apprx 35mm diameter, maybe 8mm deep)!

[Richard Wills]

Thanks Robert, I’ll have a look at 751 and 951. Normally I prefer matte for wall lettering, but will look see what the meeting brings up.

Allister, thank you.

I use the M4 for gallery walls, as shows tend to be 4-8 weeks, and there’s a reasonable range of matt colours. I’ll stay away from it for longer term use.

[Richard Wills]

You may have software that with your printer that allows you to track ink usage different media. On our aqueous Canon, I can see sqM of the different media printed, and the ink used. Take a couple of months average of the ink used/ sqM and start to have a figure that reflects your actual costs.

Then (assuming that your printer has accounting built in) try to match this against ink purchases from suppliers to take account for cleaning etc.

Some jobs will be heavy load,
some light, some middling. This helps you to not worry that a job is going
to be a heavy ink load.

Then add 15% per month to your quotes.

[Richard Wills]

You’ve helped me out – I have a new font for the wall of shame!

[Richard Wills]

I’d thought about the dimensional stability of the paper, but being still aqueous based, I’d forgotten that other ink sets have their majical properties.

[Richard Wills]

Graham, do you know if these are using a different adhesive, from that used with vinyl, or whether the porosity of the paper stops the out gas from causing problems?

I’d love to get away from vinyl for the shows where we currently use it (though 80% has a now discontinued DryTac satin matt laminated, that gets the images to nigh on photographic). After Rob suggested it a while back, it’s been on my list of things to try.

For an art show, my concern would be the risk of the print bruising during application, though I guess that a roller could be used in place of a squeegee.

[Richard Wills]

Thanks Robert – a great help as always.

[Richard Wills]

In answer to my question, the work will be on laminated scrim banner, screwed to walls, so no real structural issues. Thinking wall anchors, with penny washers over the face of the vinyl.

I’m planning to tape/hem the banners, but wondering whether to put grommets in in advance, as the pieces will be going onto very solid ’70s red brick, and potentially into coarse concrete, so the bolt holes would have to be very precise to keep the banners smooth. Or should I plan on bungees?

The install is literally two minutes from us, so I do have the option of grometting each piece to match wall anchors.

[Richard Wills]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozVGLrYXKKU&ab_channel=3MFilms

It’s in the prep. We change shows every 6-8 weeks, and some of the artists want to change the wall colour away from a light grey, so often a few coats of dark low VOC paint and only a week or two to turn the shows around. Lots of ventilation to dry the walls (I tell them at least a couple of weeks). Then follow the IPA/water 50/50 mopping protocol.

Then a few more coats to switch back to pale neutral. Then follow the IPA/water 50/50 mopping protocol.

If someone has painted with an easy clean emulsion, then they’re in for a world of pain, as the paint normally has silicon or ptfe built into it, and you’ll be lucky to get a high grab vinyl to take it.

Our walls are mdf, and we use Leyland trade vinyl matt. We can get non-agressive canon ijm538 to hang a couple of days after painting, but we ventilate, and do three reps of the IPA mop protocol. We don’t post heat, and where the works are not laminated, we apply with a minimum of pressure, to avoid scuffing the prints

Temperature has an impact -below 10degreesC, it gets dodgy. IJM538 is cheap (for aqueous), and little different from the cheapest generic materials we have tried (but has a slightly better colur gamut)

I’ve only had one failure (after using the ipa/water x3 protocol), and that was on what should have been a well cured solvent painted wall. There was a cold water riser to the building directly behind the wall. But I’d not expect that in a gallery. No amount of scuffing, IPA, heat worked. So we redesigned the graphic, and avoided the problem.

[Richard Wills]

“You
can even leave the gun running, the metal holster directs the heat away
from your body and the wood backing insulates you against direct
contact.”

Wonder what damage that could cause to a vehicle…

[Richard Wills]

How did I miss this. Self adhesive vinyl, and polyprop, I use all the time. Never noticed self adhesive paper.

I’m not seeing any recycled aqueous versions, but doing away with the intermediate adhesive production would cut down on the carbon impact, and should make the whole package recyclable.

Are these types of boards smooth enough to run through a laminator? I’m assuming they are, as they are designed to go on flat bed printers…

Thanks Robert.

[Richard Wills]

We’re getting increased requests for enviromental friendly solutions – I can think of several clients who would definitely like to show off the unfinished edges.

Has anyone run these through a laminator – I’m thinking flood coating with adhesive, then bonding prints (paper based, aqueous) to them?

[Richard Wills]

A sign shop local to us plays with the idea of nudity.

Are you driving around naked, are you working naked etc. They sponsor one of the local MTB tracks, are you riding naked.

Tied in with their own vehicle livery and shop, it works really well. Not a radio ad, but an idea of a hook for creative signage.

They’re fxuk dot net

[Richard Wills]

Apart from the flimsy construction, the bridges in the cross members are joined over the panel joints.

But fatally, someone left an upturned cup of HOT coffee over the connection to the support, so given that this is in Scotland, differential expansion from thermal stress. I believe the same problem can happen in Eastborne in the summer with mojitos. Particularly if the straws snap.

[Richard Wills]

That is an absolute steal. I wish I had space to fit this in right now.

Nice and tidy workspace you have there Warren.

[Richard Wills]

Almost time to lock up and run to the hills. Last couple of months have been the best part of a year’s worth of exhibitions. Looking forward to some basic R&R.

A Cool Yule to y’all.

[Richard Wills]

Steel Cat boots from Screwfix. https://www.screwfix.com
Two days after getting new ones, dropped a pair of shears on my foot.
Dewalt ones lasted about three years, but don’t look as smart.
Both are light and comfortable.

What is this street cred thing, and where can I buy some?

[Richard Wills]

Thanks Hugh,

Really appreciate your taking the time to explain this.

[Richard Wills]

Couple more 2 metre pieces came through, so tried it using the laminator as a dispenser. Worked well. Nice to have an alternative method. Didn’t have the courage to try Hugh’s from the centre approach!

[Richard Wills]

I rather think I was over thinking things.

Used the laminator, went down flawlessly. What really helped was tucking 25mm of the following sheet under the tail of the preceding one. Allowed simple squaring up of the vinyl to the rollers.

Thanks guys, appreciate the help.

[Richard Wills]

Yes makes sense, though the muppet who laid out the vinyl only left 50mm head and tail. Fortunately it’s only 61cm wide. Plan C is I stand in front of the laminator legs akimbo, with the cut vinyl on the floor between my feet.

Plan B is to make a dibond tray to hold the lightly rolled vinyl in, so it’s not coming off the floor.

That’ll do. I guess phrasing the question was enough to work out an answer.

Thanks for the reply David, was the nudge I needed to think clearly.

[Richard Wills]

One of our suppliers uses palletways for oversize and fragile deliveries and doesn’t charge us a fortune for the delivery. Not sure how small a business they’ll work with, or if you have space for pallets, and a forklift to work with them, but might be an option. We’ve never seen the slightest ding on a package with them.

Print head failed yesterday afternoon. Called the dealer, sure, no problem out for an AM delivery with APC, as usual. Checked tracking this morning – delivery due 16:49 – 18:49, driver only 71 stops (and one mile) away. Sinking weekend gone feeling. Lunchtime, walked through the building reception, This arrived a couple of hours ago for you… Email notification, 20:49 package delivered. So APC are working, but their client notifications, not really

https://www.apc-overnight.com
https://www.palletways.com/

Root canal, parking warden, Hermes.

• This reply was modified 2 years, 6 months ago by  Richard Wills.

[Richard Wills]

Correx is lighter, and massively less expensive

[Richard Wills]

Beautiful job, and hopefully one that will keep on giving.

[Richard Wills]

It’s the annoying thing with the Aladin Hasp dongles. Looking at the system requirements for Signlab 9.1, might it make sense to get a cheap PC and install on that, and then control it through your main computer via a remote desktop utility? I know this is not as smooth as having it within your main machine, but would allow you to continue using the signlab.

I’ve got several old computers running Win7 and old versions of OSX, because the dongle drivers no longer work.

[Richard Wills]

I got our little Graphtec from Harry at Edward Mathias.

Cracking little unit, particularly (I am told) if you are on a Mac (though I’m struggling to get CuttingMaster to play nicely on an M1 chip)

[Richard Wills]

You might try taping a print head swab to the side of the cutter head (perhaps with a bit of microfibre cloth to cover the foam), so the swab acts as an extra hand to lightly hold the doming down.

[Richard Wills]

I can imagine a van manufacturer getting these in for their fleet customers. Apply graphics (variable data very much an option), followed by a stop off in the spray booth for something like a top coat (oh, they have a machine that can put on a top coat, very precisely). What happens at end of contract, I don’t know, but perhaps part of the service is an automated cleaning, or at least a cleaning with the correct solvents, before the vehicles are sold at EoL.

[Richard Wills]

The Harrylujah chorus

[Richard Wills]

I got my little graphtec from Harry at Edward Mathias a while back. I’ve only ever had smart knives, and wouldn’t dream of using anything else. I’m on my second blade, first one ruined by silliness.
You’ll love Harry.

[Richard Wills]

I send work out in them. Our packaging supplier sells end caps.

The boxes that laminates come in sit open at the top, next to the steeltrak, and the cutting bench, ready to take small off cuts, to go down to the dumpster. There are bins all around the work shop, but strips of dibond, forex and Kapa destroy bin bags.

[Richard Wills]

DiBond is a capacitor. It gets charged up when sheets rub together, when peeling the protective skin, and when the bonds of the adhesive are broken, when it’s removed from the lining.

Low humidity really helps to promote the charge (do you have heating / AC on?). A dehumidifier can help, as can running a string of tinsel https://fraser-antistatic.com/products/801-anti-static-tinsel/.

Footwear – depends on the floor material. If the floor is isolating you, then the charge still gets you.

i try to remember to short the two faces of the Dibond with a scalpel before touching it, when it’s just gone through the laminator. Try to, almost never remember to.

Kapa mount does the same thing, and the thicker the insulating (core) material of the board, the bigger the charge, the greater the kick from the spark. 6mm Dibond on a dry day can be really fun.

[Richard Wills]

I should clarify quality – photographic exhibition / gallery standard, where the papers can be £30/sq metre, where the prints can sell for four or five figures. Dropping down a level, for production work, with carefully controlled profiles, I can get to around £4-5/sqM. Quality is still very good for most purposes, and survives pretty close inspection.

Depends on the paper being used, and the ink load it requires to get good v ultimate quality. On matt bond paper, SAV etc, we’re in the region of £5/sqM, and this machine is a couple of generations old. Our focus has always been on quality above all else – I’m sure that with control of expectations, and aiming at a slightly less picky sector, we could get this lower, but not massively on something like the 2100.

[Richard Wills]

I can vouch for the Canon 8400 – 44″, but two generations old. I run exhibition/gallery prints on this all the time. 4000/2000 (24″) last gen, 4100/2100 current. 8400 good for 4pt text

Epson 7570 has glowing reviews, though driver issues. HP z9+, even better potential, but software lacking.

All the above run pigment prints, and are capable of pretty much archival quality (except the Canon x100 series, where they traded longevity for speed. Prints only likely to last less than a century).

I have an old epson 7880 that prints crisp 2pt lettering, though it does take a while.

How inexpensive, how fast, and printing to what size?

[Richard Wills]

Simon, I’m in the same situation, and I think that if customers send you a great thank you email, then that’s the time to ask for a google review.

Now, must go through all the flagged emails where the job is completed, but I told myself that there was one more thing to do.

Thanks for reminding me.

[Richard Wills]

I was just Rob Lambie.

So yeah, take it on.

Hat’s off to you sir, I knew you were good, but, damn!

[Richard Wills]

A dozen or so S&M #3’s, with 10A blades for the majority. Olfa 9mm with ABB-50 black blades in my back pocket, particularly good for cutting work off the little graphtec, and general opening of stuff. Not so good when pulling wallet out in the pub (remember pubs?). I find the Olfa blades don’t give the same precise control as the scalpel.

Oh, and blunty boxes placed all around the workshop.

Just need a decent holder for the scalpels.

[Richard Wills]

I can’t lay my hands on the processing data sheet for dibond, but thermal expansion is outlined (pick your local temperature range, and add 10 degrees plus and minus). And I’m sure that you make the hole large enough to compensate for expansion, then use a pan head screw, or washer to cover said movement, positioned inset from edges.

Black Dibond will only have very subtly more heat absorbtion than white flood coated, or printed in a dark colour. 2 foot spaceings should be fine with suitable fixings. If you’ve got a gloss finish with a dark face, pay double attention to the data sheet – black gloss is a mirror, and any warp will be glaringly visible.

If you’re installing at height, or in an area with extreme wind, pay triple attention to the manufaturer’s technical data. Then fixings suitable for the brick wall you’re fixing to.

[Richard Wills]

So back to the 2405. Printing short term onto plastic, then bonding that to more plastic is crazy, when there is a subtly more sustainable option.

I understand the requirements to use the best material for the job, and the environmental compromises that the trade makes (vinyl, solvents, aluminium, composites etc).

I get that we are in the promotional, information business, and I’d prefer a sign that lasts 5 years, seven years, that is worth the use of the resources.

But posters can be made on biodegradeable materials. Printing onto vinyl, and then bonding that to pvc, when sounder options are available, for want of a decent paper, ink, profile combination, is just wrong.

As a great man once said, buried in soft peat for six months, and recycled as fire lighters.

/rant

[Richard Wills]

Wow Beej,

I’m one video in and learning. I’ve only been using PS since ’94, but for a very limited set of purposes. Normally I’ll search for a specific outcome, but you’re calmly handing out an organic series of methods in an amazing narrative. I look forward to taking time to go through the rest

Thank you.

Be well.

Richard

[Richard Wills]

Reminds me of an ad in one of the trade rags, that said something like “if your finishing department is a couple of guys with steel rules, then you need this”

Zund.

I’m trying at the moment to get my little grapthec 6000 to trim out batched of little prints on photographic paper. I think the answer is mostly no, and that I either invest in a nest of event printers, or a second user Fotoba digitrim, or drop upwards of £30k on a Noritsu or Epson drylab (not currently in budget).

These are very impressive machines, but requires a similarly impressive sales team.

[Richard Wills]

Are they joining a theme, a franchise, or merely using the same style and branding cues?

If your local drivers are not joining the full branding, then they and you are free to riff on a motif. If it is all tied in to an app (uberoo etc), then the theme owner will have tied the brand up pretty tight, and licensing and franchise “rules” will kick in. I’m pretty sure that McDonald’s franchisee’s don’t get a say in who does the signage, or supplies the lettuce.

[Richard Wills]

Cheap inkjet printer, copier paper, postage stamp, watermarked print. This is what event photographers do – they don’t show on screen to browsing punters, as they’ll whip out the iphone, and the sale is gone.

At the stage the client is feeling happy with how the design process is going, it’s time to talk deposit. Wants to run it past his other half/partner. The design is approved, time to take deposit. Potentially factor in one or x number of revisions, but you’d spent the time with them getting to the approved design.

[Richard Wills]

3M Command strips – WhSmiths, screwfix, amazon etc

[Richard Wills]

I don’t have experience with the Dorotape Matte poster paper, nor of solvent printing. But I do print a lot of matte papers on aqueous printers (older Epsons, more modern Canons). Paper surface is prone to scuffing, and the smaller the print (A3, A2) the closer the print is viewed, the more surface damage is seen. Most matte papers are delicate under a heavy ink load (the exception seems to be materials like Fuji matt bond, available in a range of weights, though not as inexpensive as the Dorotape). Lustar/oyster surface tends to be less delicate. Many of the papers we use are in the £10 – 25/Mˆ2 range, plus ink plus time, so we try to be careful.

The solution we use is to buy rolls of tissue paper to wrap the prints. A2 print, cut tissue 500x650ish, lay the print face down after drying, and roll the print with the tissue. and put in the tube.

Adds time and materials, but prevents scuffing, and increases perceived value in the print.

• This reply was modified 3 years, 3 months ago by  Richard Wills.

[Richard Wills]

We’re open for click and kerbside collect – visit our website at xxyy.zz or call 0123 456 789

We’re open for delivery only – visit our website at xxyy.zz or call 0123 456 789

We’re doing zoom consultations and planning

Perspex sneeze screens

Face masks required

One person per lift

Directional arrows

Planning to reopen on the Ides of March

OK, so most of these are likely to be printed / cut vinyl, but arguably essential for those businesses that are open, or adapting, or planning reopening. As such, essential to the current economy, when operated in a safe fashion, and this doesn’t even touch on the work of those doing work on emergency vehicles, vehicle repair signeage, and so on.

Given that you’re producing work to support the NHS, your MP gave poor advice.

• This reply was modified 3 years, 3 months ago by  Richard Wills.

[Richard Wills]

Shane,

I hope your rep has the integrity to stand by their recomendation, or that the product actually has the potential to conform. Almost the worst case scenario might be the client screws up and hands the job over to you!

[Richard Wills]

Shut up shop this evening, got home for dinner and a beer or two. Looking forward to a couple of weeks off – think there were four days of holiday this year.

I know that I’ll still be checking the emails and if something comes up that would be easier to go into work for a half day, to ease the way back in to the working year, I suspect I’ll do so (not much good at sitting around doing nowt). Apart from that, planning to spend too much time with Lynda, to get ahead with latest Lr, PS, Il and ID, as well as some plans with FileMaker.

[Richard Wills]

Saatana Perkele!

Good luck with finding the people who can, hope you’ve not lost too much on this one.

[Richard Wills]

It is my fault for sending a fractal image at the cutter’s highest setting – this is a non serious background thing – I would simplify this for anything approaching production. But it is quite lovely to look at under an 8x loupe. I’ll be interested to see if it weeds at the end.

[Richard Wills]

I hope that is 4 American mil (thousandths of an inch), or just over 0.1mm thick.

[Richard Wills]

I’ve only tried the green or black self healing matts. The blades last longer and there is less effort in cutting, than the HDPE sheets we use, but the difference is marginal. The difference in blade life with glass is very noticably shorter. Assuming you’ve got a backlit table, clear matts will reduce the pauses in production, while snapping/changing blades.

All cutting surfaces (and the people cutting) benefit from sharp blades – less effort is involved in the cut, which makes for a cleaner, more controlled cut, which means less force, and the surface lasts longer. Most operators stand in a couple of positions for the majority of cuts, so you have the option to rotates as well as flip the matt, to extend life.

50p a day isn’t much, except when you have to pay it all up front, and miss the beauty of the clean shiny glass…

[Richard Wills]

We’ve only got the first gen evolution cutter, but have played with the 3. Lift and hover, as well as one sided control is enough to make me really want one.

Just seen that they have a new rocker tool head suitable for cutting ACM. Not a heavy duty option, but might be useful in a bind, and on the product video, it shows a pretty clean result

I’m a fan of Keencut products, and particularly their customer service (and hey, they manufacture in the UK!)

[Richard Wills]

Had this issue with Illustrator 2020 on mac 10.13.6. Copied folder cutplot2378 from Illustrator 2019 plugin folder.

Just had a look now and Cutting Master 4 not working with Illustrator 24 (2020)

I have attached a PDF workaround for 2021.

How-to-Install-Cutting-Master-4-when-using-Adobe-Illustrator-2021.pdf 192 KB PDF - Click to view

• Copy Download Link

[Richard Wills]

Good Cat5 cables are good for the best part of 300′. Hopefully, your office is too large for this, and you’ll need a network switch in the middle (/humour)

Measure up the run you need for the cable, add a few metres for moving things around for maintenance, then get a decent Cat6 patch cable. cablemonkey.co.uk

[Richard Wills]

Down, gravity is on your side. Hopefully have someone below to keep you on track, and a laser at your side.

We’ve always sworn byat Drytac for lamination and adhesive products, and they seem to be focusing more on the large format materials (at the expense of their photographic related products, my niche).

Have you ever seen Robert install horizontally?

[Richard Wills]

Photoshop will allow you to stitch and remove lens distortions. Depending on the camera and lens you are using, you could probably dimension from the photos. If you have a magtape (obviosly useless on non-ferrous) then that would help for the scale, but a yard stick wouldn’t hurt. A huge swathe of the features in photoshop range beyond creating bitmap graphics and pixel pushing, and are aimed at 3D work, as well as scientific analysis.

The new iphone monstrous expensive (and also the iPad Pro) comes with lidar, and I believe that the features have been designed with dimensioning in mind. https://www.geospatialworld.net/blogs/apples-lidar-scanner/. I’d be very surpised if the data available from the lidar isn’t available soon to accurately create measurable models.

I’m not really a sign maker, but I’ve been in the photographic industry for the best part of 3 decades, and a lot of what I do day to day crosses over.

[Richard Wills]

CM4 doesn’t play nicely for us on Illustrator 2020, but seems fine with Illustrator 2019.

Mac, High Sierra, CE6000.

[Richard Wills]

About to buy a dozen or so 40×60″ frames, so we can extend a gallery to an external space.

The plan is to drill a set of mounting points so we can switch the frames from portrait to landscape or square (yes, more frames will be needed…) as shows change.

I’m looking for suggestions for the mounting points – some sort of hollow bolt, that we can cap off when they’re not holding the frames. The walls are seriously solid red brick.

Prints will be mounted on 2mm ACM with a laminate, frames 38mm profile from Signwaves.

Thanks.

[Richard Wills]

If it really needed to be flat, then that is rather an elegant solution. I hope to imagine that they’re reusing some existing packaging.

Otherwise, some one just got a new flat bed printer and cutter setup, and was wondering what can I do next.

[Richard Wills]

I’m having good results on very fiddly bits using Metamark M4 and M7.

Smart knifes from Harry at EDWARD MATHIAS & Co. Clean cutting strip on the Graphtec, tangential emulation on, taking it slow with the blade dialed in (sometimes making adjustments on different colours of the same product).

[Richard Wills]

Accurate, repeatable, fast, clean, reliable, excellent manufacturer back up, can even do v-groove in DiBond for tray panels.

Keencut all the way (and made in the UK!-)

Anyone tried the new composite cutting head STC2C?

[Richard Wills]

It was my first purchase from a new supplier! But, TBF, I’d rather not loose the merchant fees and be paid by transfer. Thanks for the reality check.

[Richard Wills]

Recently had a new supplier charge extra fees to us as B2B. They had the goods I needed, and delivered well, but it did leave a slightly nasty taste, when the total then had an additional fee at checkout.

[Richard Wills]

Anyone tried to buy IPA recently? Down to my last gallon, and the stuff has reached silly prices.

[Richard Wills]

Apologies David, I’d missed the two week bit – that sort of delay really shouldn’t happen, and can really screw with scheduling.

You can get a 34mmx8ft ash boat pole on (e)bay for twenty four quid, so as long as you stay 2550mm away from the ‘puter, you should be in safe range.

[Richard Wills]

We had our building ISP, Gamma (Tier one) fail on Friday – got a stack load of production done, as no interwebs for distraction https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/01/31/uk_internet_outages/) .
If you, or a supplier, don’t have expensive resillient comms, then email, and voip phones can disappear. And cellular often connects through to the same fubar’d backhaul.

I try to avoid answering phones, on principal.

[Richard Wills]

I wonder if those anti scratch arms are available as a retrofit on the steeltrak… Knowing Keencut the odds are high (though I’ve never noticed anything being scratched on ours…)

[Richard Wills]

Lion may export to Finland – certainly in the UK, they are my go to supplier, and if they’re geared up for .eu export, are a very customer focused supplier.

Might be worth checking Larson-Juhl and Nielsen; both Nordic suppliers.

I used to know a couple of studios in Kuopio, and at least one framer, so I’m sure there are good trade suppliers for the basics (mouldings, glass, equipment) relatively close to you.

[Richard Wills]

But it always looks so much nicer with a good frame around it.

Finns have a long history of portraits at various mile stones in life, and the studios are always happy to promote a premium presentation!

[Richard Wills]

Can’t. help. it. x-business looks so 2012

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[Richard Wills]

I believe that Apple does this with their handsets

Eizo CG243 (for second screen, colour management not compatible)

Fiery xPress

Filemaker 12

i1pro revD

Imacon scanners.

I have multiple old machines accessed via remote desktop, but they’re heading towards EoL.

Recently offloaded a couple of mirror door G4’s to someone getting into drum scanning.

My iphone6 no longer handles instagram, so not all progress is bad.

[Richard Wills]

Good to hear that – I’ll try and grab some samples.

We try to be eco friendly, except when people want aluminium, DiBond, laminates, and vinyls…

[Richard Wills]

Those look good. I’ve seen the logo before on a few higher end trades.

[Richard Wills]

Afraid I don’t have a take up roll (little 44″ Drytac machine), just the splitter bar.

But looking at roll to roll for next printer, so probably time to upgrade the laminator as well.

[Richard Wills]

No kidding, that is priceless.

And now I know what the bar at the back of the laminator is for… And how to get past that tricky last section at the end, rather than struggling to draw the app tape from the roll.

Thanks Hugh.👍

[Richard Wills]

We use weed border all the time for smaller text panels, as we can tell the client (mostly galleries), or work with them to determine what the ideal offset is, so, 1″ from top and left (and bottom and right…). Uses more vinyl, but speeds up installation, and is a value added service. For stuff that might be sat around for a week or two, having the weed border, plus a couple of mm of vinyl helps to keep the app tape looking tidy.

[Richard Wills]

If you could swap the lift wheels for a pair of matched stepper motors, with limit switches for top and bottom of travel, then you could have automated lift and drop…

[Richard Wills]

You can pickup the 44″ latest version dual roll Canon for £4300, so either load two rolls, or use it as a take up reel. 12 ink tanks 700ml, itro £200/tank. On quality settings, we’re averaging about £10.00/sq ink metre for photographic output (using older model, but costs pretty similar).

We run a fair amount of repositionable vinyl on ours. With a satin matt UV laminate, can produce pretty durable, gallery quality, temporary results, that we use both indoors and outdoors, with prints looking good 18 months down the line.

I’ve run pop up displays – the output is delicate, but a quick run through the laminator, and all is good

Maintenance is a breeze, the latest model is almost pocket size, though to get the best quality does require a multiple pass. I’m looking at around 20 minutes / linear metre, I believe the latest model is supposed to be pretty much twice as fast.

[Richard Wills]

If going down the cladding route, there is the option of DiBond FR.
DIBOND FR aluminium composite sheets have the fire classification “fire retardant” because of their mineral core.
No horses need to be harmed.

[Richard Wills]

All too real.

Finnish is one of the most complex languages imaginable. Spent several years trying to learn it, before realising that almost all the Finns I met had good to excellent English.

Hyvää joulua

[Richard Wills]

Was married to a Savo lass for almost 20 years.

Glad the wallet won’t hurt much, and tbf, you went into this technical challenge with a good degree of uncertainty, followed by research, ending with a compound curve ball.

Once the pride recovers, you (and we’ll) remember that the things not mentioned can come back to bite.

Recommend some Koskenkorva Viina, or if the local alko is up market, a bit of the Estonian viruvalja. Damn, I wish I could be in sauna now.

[Richard Wills]

The thickest they do is 13mil 0.3mm. Looks like this stuff https://www.solargard.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/armorcoat-4-mil-clear-safety-sample-page-03144clr-int.pdf.

Hopefuly they want it for moose protection, rather than its main selling point.

Can’t tell you anything about using it, but always intrigued by the goings on in central Finland.

edit

“All performance results are based on the film installed on the inside surface of 4mm and 4mm+4mm thick, clear glass. ” so atleast you get to instal in a warm train, though that would make the surfaces concave. Which sounds fun. Are the metro trains triple glazed?

• This reply was modified 3 years, 4 months ago by  Richard Wills.

[Richard Wills]

If you get the freehand, then you loose the lift and hover mechanism, which is a huge part of the productivity, and makes cutting less effort. Looks like the benchtop and smartfold cutting bars are permanently wedded to the lift mechanism, so no sliding it along the material width.

Our 160cm only has 150cm of actual cutting width.

[Richard Wills]

I’m lucky in that my mac won’t take a newer OS, so I’m off the CC upgrade path. Hopefully stability will be mine.
Anything worth having in 2021?

[Richard Wills]

Robert, you’re right, these are the snap poster frames, similar to ones we installed years ago outside our old gallery. Signwaves have confirmed that these will take 2mm DiBond.

Once we get the frames in, we’ll be able to see if they’ll line up with the mortar, but the two which we currently have up, removed from the old site (can no longer find the supplier details) didn’t line up.

[Richard Wills]

Thanks Colin, like the idea of the drop in anchors. As soon as I know the size of the fitting holes in the frames, I’ll get some ordered in.

Life is so much simpler when someone else tells you what a thing is called.

[Richard Wills]

The irony. Robert Horne used to deliver 3A materials to us in South London, three sheets of 8×4 per quality cardboard envelope. At the time, the only firm who would bring a wagon near our door (and we were 1st floor, narrow staircase). Never had to buy packaging to ship out finished work (photographic exhibitions).

Was told that they lost option to sell 3A, as they would offer other products. Stuck with them until we got almost a ton of PVC board that was just within spec, but completely useless for us, compared to Forex.

Loved the packaging.

The companies that took over handling 3A would always offer us their products first, and second.

Fun factoid, 3 sheets of 3mm DiBond, in a cardboard envelope, on a hot day, carried upstairs, makes a damned nasty capacitor, when the charge decides to jump through the wrapper.

[Richard Wills]

From HP, one 4MB SIMM – larger, yet smaller, and vastly more expensive