[Ruairi O'Boyle]

We have onyx and VPM both are good.

[Ruairi O'Boyle]

The extra speed was the main reason I went for the 360. But it does double sided printing automatically, can create its own profiles etc. I am really pleased with it and have just added a HP FB550 on the back of how good the latex was.

[Ruairi O'Boyle]

Whats the smallest package size you can pack it down to and what does it weigh?

[Ruairi O'Boyle]

Derek most good web design companies will give you a back end were you can alter pages add pictures etc pretty much as standard. I have a local guy who is pretty good if you want his details. If you want send me a pm and i will forward them.

This is my building website (sign one has been on the very long finger!!!) And i can pretty much change every bit of it except he main layout. (We dont update it regularly enough so pass no remarks on the limited content)

http://www.obconstruction.co.uk/

[Ruairi O'Boyle]

Cheers phill – ill give that a go later.

[Ruairi O'Boyle]

Welcome to the boards marc

[Ruairi O'Boyle]

Thanks Kev I will give that a try. I should have run it through the laminator but the print had no bleed design and left me needing to run it very exact as it was across 2 seperate panels.

[Ruairi O'Boyle]

Warren

I agree totally with the ability to do everything in house as you can keep a better handle on quality and turnaround. In my case I think I should invest further in my sign end at present but based on what you have said I think the end game will be to add paper printing in the not too distant future. I have a construction business and within it we continuously invest in developing our internal supply chain and to be honest it has been fairly successful as a result of cross selling etc. I was just interested in sign makers first hand experience in this one as from the outside it seems an extremely competitive market with a lot of competition!!

[Ruairi O'Boyle]

I am interested in this also..

If you use vinyl will it disturb the plaster when it comes round to removing it?

Does ordinary vinyl stick to the wall ok? Does the surface below need to have a shiny painted surface? ie gloss or sheen rather than just matt paint?

[Ruairi O'Boyle]

Cheers David I think I’d rather look for a good trade supplier and put that towards a rolls roller or Cnc to be honest!

[Ruairi O'Boyle]

What kind of outlay would it take to get into it a a commercial level rather than home office type setup?

[Ruairi O'Boyle]

Chris

What do you mean by adding perspective?

Sean

Do you never print he wording into the wrap?

[Ruairi O'Boyle]

Sorry guys never got a chance to come back to you.

I have read through Warren post and I am actually probably going to hold off on the printing idea and concrentrate on building on the signs setup.

Thanks for your input though it certainly was helpful.

Ruairi

[Ruairi O'Boyle]

Cheers guys, I know there will be significant set up costs and I am still not sure if it is the way to go but I get asked for posters, flyers and business cards more and more now.

I will check Warrens post. I did try but wasnt having much luck.

Thanks again

[Ruairi O'Boyle]

I agree with Rob on the aluminium. Composite will dinge and possibly even split much more easily, but you know your application.

[Ruairi O'Boyle]

Did u zoom in on the font to check it was a good version? I have had issues with free font downloads that gave jagged edges!?

[Ruairi O'Boyle]

I have had no trouble with metamark on the jv33. Are u using the correct profile?

[Ruairi O'Boyle]

Personally I don’t think I would bother! Why do you think you might need to?

[Ruairi O'Boyle]

I have just tried them and banner box so hopefully one of the two will come through for me.

Thanks

[Ruairi O'Boyle]

Cheryl

Not sure how thats done but I’ll ask the mother in law – thats her area of expertise!

Cheers

[Ruairi O'Boyle]

Cheers Andrew. I dont know a lot about the machine to be honest – my mother in law was getting rid of it and I thought it would do my job well

[Ruairi O'Boyle]

:lol1: :lol1:

Michael, try downloading version 4 direct from mozilla might do the trick.

[Ruairi O'Boyle]

are you on an up to date version of firefox?

[Ruairi O'Boyle]

havent tried that yet Harry, just kept getting frustrated with the basic search on here as I always got 18K hits and more!!

Will give that a go now!

Cheers

[Ruairi O'Boyle]

Hi Gabriel

[Ruairi O'Boyle]

At last!! I have worked out how to narrow down searches in these boards :jump:

Think I have got my answer but if anyone can comment further please do. I need to renew the day so any response will be appreciated.

Previous post for anyone who is interested:
https://www.uksignboards.com/viewtopic.p … sign+elite

Ruairi

[Ruairi O'Boyle]

Great work Shane. Love the raiders bus!

[Ruairi O'Boyle]

Thursday for me.

[Ruairi O'Boyle]

Depends what the top of the display is like. If you bought a length of aluminum angle could you cut it up and using double sided tape or screws fix it into the top of the display? If the display unit drops back down again on the wall side you could get a "U" shaped bracket and simply drop it over and fix to that.

[Ruairi O'Boyle]

Make a small bracket that goes over the top and fixes there. That way you wont disturb the dark panels.

[Ruairi O'Boyle]

New place looks great Ade. Nice work!

[Ruairi O'Boyle]

Welcome to the boards Alastair.

[Ruairi O'Boyle]

I buy mine off Sign and Digital Ireland – http://www.signanddigital.com

Great service, reasonably priced and a very good sales brochure and on-line catalogue.

Might be worth including Rob, have a look.

[Ruairi O'Boyle]

I had a workshop full of off cuts and had to dump the lot as they were starting to get more expensive to store than I was ever going to get out of them again!!

Again thanks for the opinions guys, at least I know I am not too far away in how I do things.

[Ruairi O'Boyle]

Cheers guys. I normally charge the banner by the metre so waste isn’t a problem but I wasn’t sure if that was the right way to do it!

I use some of the waste but definitely not a shrewdly as you guys! Thanks for the advise it was a great help.

[Ruairi O'Boyle]

Both comments are a great help! It makes me happier that I should charge the dead space in! Hopefully someone might say what exactly they do! Cheers for now

[Ruairi O'Boyle]

Hi John

you aint too far away from me!!

Ruairi

[Ruairi O'Boyle]

In my opinion you are never going to get an answer that is of much meaning or use to this question as it will not accurately relate to your situation.

You need to factor in how much work you have for the machine and how much of the time it will actually be working. (like everyone going down this route you like to think it will be going all day everyday but it takes a while to get to that stage!) Then you need to look how much overheads and wages etc you need to cover the machine when its running. ie someone with a large print facility will need a completley different amount for their printer than a one man band doing the odd print here and there.

Profit for me comes after all this however you will find that a lot of signmakers look at profit as their wages not what is left for the business after everything is paid!

If I were you I would work out my worst case scenario assuming that you will do approximately X metres of print work per week and see if by charging the going rate in your area for print work will this cover:
1. running/print costs
2. a basic wage for you or an operator
3. lease costs
4. and then profit

For me it must cover all of these but if you are financially sound then I would be happy with the first 3 and go for it on the basis it will improve the business enough to eventually generate profit once you get it up a running.

That is just my two cents for what its worth!

good luck!

[Ruairi O'Boyle]

I am with Giant

They were competitive and threw in some machine cover as well.

[Ruairi O'Boyle]

I have used flexi fairly extensively and recently changed to signlab. Personally I found flexi much more user friendly and will prob go back to a newer version of it shortly! Don’t know anything about easysign though!

Are there no illustrator/photoshop fans on the boards? Everyone seems to be corel fans!

[Ruairi O'Boyle]

what depth of cladding is it?

[Ruairi O'Boyle]

:lol1:

I know what its like i have bought two identical laptops and one prints to the colour printer and the other wont!!

I am not sure how your printer appears in the control panel bit but did you try accessing the printer properties from there as it might have a different set of settings from there.

When I had pressure issues in signlab I went through the cutter setup in the file menu and unchecked a box making the software overwrite the machine pressure settings. You probably have a similar issue!

Ruairi

[Ruairi O'Boyle]

Nigel if it was a PC setting I am pretty sure if in front of it I could find it but as I have not used V6 screenshots might help to point you in the right direction! it is a bit of a shot in the dark but if you are beat it might work.

First thing I would try is a reinstall, PC Reboot etc. often they seem too simple but they solve 90% of PC problems! (if you havent already)

[Ruairi O'Boyle]

Nigel send a screen shot it might help us work out whats going on

[Ruairi O'Boyle]

I have hi jacked this thread a bit with my H&S rant!! Sorry Colin!!

You will never get a definite answer on what is right or wrong on inspections etc all they will say is "when in court can you explain why you did not have a competent person erect the trestles and a sign off/inspection sheet filled out – NO then you WILL carry a larger percentage of Liability"

Anyway back to Colins question – I would invest in a good router/cutting system that will let you make trays etc from composite boards. Rob and Phil are probably the experts there and seem to prefer the Keencut systems. I am however going to look at the router Ian suggests!

[Ruairi O'Boyle]

Sorry Rob I wasn’t meaning that you wouldn’t have them I was just pointing out that trestles are treated the same as a scaffold now a days for anyone planning to use them.

I have guys through the scaffolding course recently as we are certified by a external company to allow us to tender work but each year their requests get more and more crazy!! (see the protection system for the old style builders trestles!! a scaffold would be simpler to erect!! H&S gone mad)

What is the max height these trestles and Yougman boards can go up to?

Ruairi

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Attachments:

[Ruairi O'Boyle]

I agree with Rob Trestles are much simpler and convenient but unless they have a handrail with intermediate railing, toe boards etc they do not meet H&S regs either.

Getting away from the H&S side surely a flat platform like this is much easier to work from than ladders any day!!?? And every bit as easily erected.

(if you really want to get tied up in H&S were they erected by a competent scaffolder with a sign off sheet produced? Have you a ladder inspection sheet and register!? all questions I was asked in a H&S audit last week and must have in place by next year to improve my safety grading!)

[Ruairi O'Boyle]

I use both Signlab 8 and Rasterlink. I find rasterlink more comprehensive but for general printing signlab is relatively easy. I agree with Peter profiles in signlab can be a problem as I almost learned to my peril on a last minute print job I took on! Rasterlink saved me though.

[Ruairi O'Boyle]

Dont know what the customer would think of that one Phil but I must give it a go the next time I have something running off! 😉

[Ruairi O'Boyle]

I would steer clear of a spirit level as you will find it very difficult to use! Rob suggests a leveling tool in his toolbox tutorial. Have tried it but sounds like a good job.

Go with Peter – Tape it up and stand back before sticking. If it looks good to the eye you will generally never have much bother.

[Ruairi O'Boyle]

Hugh

We use this type of line marking tins for setting out buildings etc in my building firm but I am pretty sure they are not all that long lasting (2 years max and i would say that is optimistic).

I done a quick search and this pages confirms the 2 year thing. I would make sure they know this as they do not come close to the lifespan of the proper rubberised product!

http://www.rocol.com/corp/index.php?opt … 97&lang=en

Just my 2 cents worth, for what its worth!

Ruairi

[Ruairi O'Boyle]

I had the same issue as Phil solved it by ticking the check box that used the plotter settings rather than the software.

[Ruairi O'Boyle]

Fair point Gary. I have my tender off now anyway so Ill see how I get on!

Thanks for the help guys.

[Ruairi O'Boyle]

Sorry Kev I am probably mistakenly using the term label myself!

Thay are 1 solid colour with with white writing coming through per sign but there is a variety of colours so i think it suits digital printing.

[Ruairi O'Boyle]

They can supply a pantone reference but I take it I need a pantone swatch to compare the colours with my printer?

[Ruairi O'Boyle]

Was thinking about the gloves thing myself Phil! Dont know if they go for it though!

Thanks for the quick response ill go look that up now!

[Ruairi O'Boyle]

Thanks guys. I am using the higher grade banner (own Brand – but good quality) from sign & digital and their matching tape.

The only thing I can see that might be a problem is on occasion the roller is not always used! but a real firm press is nevertheless.

Normally all banners are loosely rolled but I done a job recently and it really spoiled a good looking banner!

Thanks for the help so far guys and I might get the iron out tonight!

[Ruairi O'Boyle]

Thanks George

That is almost exactly what I do but when I roll the banner or fold it for transport it the appears pinched along the hem. Is there anyway around this?

And I must look for a tutorial on how to search the boards as I must be doing something wrong!! Every time I search I get hundreds of thread most of which are of no relevance!! Yet you guys seem to pull things up super fast!

[Ruairi O'Boyle]

Thanks for the replies guys. I got the chance to leave it till the next morning only to find the diesel had froze in the lorry and I couldnt get it into the work shop! Had to do it outside under a tree that kept dropping snow in behind the print! Absolute mess but done will have to do until I get it in for the a proper make over!!

After the winter we just had I will definitely be spray insulating my tin in the workshop and installing new insulated roller doors etc the first chance I get.

[Ruairi O'Boyle]

As far as I am aware flash is too memory hungry for the iPad and would slow it down considerably! There is another alternative to flash currently under development that apple believe will shortly phase out flash. Apple are probably developing it!!
It is designed to be a net surfer and for that I think is great! I bought my computer phobic father 1 and he has gone from not being able to turn a computer on to using the net, emails and YouTube daily!
They have plenty of draw backs but for what they are they get my vote!

[Ruairi O'Boyle]

thanks chris

it is 7ft x 3ft but they have bought their sons a lorry to transport rally cars and want something on it before saturday! Hopefully they will stick with this but it could be off again in a weeks time!!

[Ruairi O'Boyle]

peter

just curious as it is so close to me but what is the significance of belfast?

[Ruairi O'Boyle]

Congratulations Ian

Glad to see everyone is doing well!

[Ruairi O'Boyle]

Matty

What size of cutter do you use?

[Ruairi O'Boyle]

Cheers Dave, thats what the supplier reckoned

[Ruairi O'Boyle]

Cheers David Ill bear that in mind!

[Ruairi O'Boyle]

quote Ian Johnston:

I thought it was a Cow Shed with a feeding barrier, not a football stand 😮

that was my first impression too Ian.

I think if you look closely at the roof it is box profile sheeting as there is large spaces between each height whereas corrugated is "a continuous wave".

[Ruairi O'Boyle]

I would go composite as plastic doesnt perform great in direct sunlight. Also at that height 2mm extra letter depth wont make much of a difference.

If you do use locators put plenty on, then if you do hit an angled area you can afford to leave a locator off. I would also cut small lengths of tubing (small diameter than your locator) to the the depth of the recess less the height of the locator, then this way you can very easily and neatly pack out the letters.

However, the way I normally do it is measure the risers and draw them on my template that way you can easily pick your fixing points before you apply the locators. A wee bit more time needed at the planning stage but much simpler when you go to fit.

I used top and bottom rails once (clear acrylic in the hope they would not be noticeable) but after a few weeks they warped and just ended up a dirt trap, never again!

Hopefully this helps

[Ruairi O'Boyle]

Hello, welcome and all the best with your new venture. They guys on here are a great help!!

[Ruairi O'Boyle]

Jason

sorry just to be sure I understand; do you print on both? and then mount on an opal sheet?

[Ruairi O'Boyle]

Kev the print isnt great when not lit but when in use the desk is always lit so as long as it looks good lit up i am happy!

I just seemed to take far too long approx 1/2 m2 per hour!

[Ruairi O'Boyle]

I have the jv33-130 with a separate cutter. I am more than happy with it but in a year or so I would hope I would like to put in a faster machine as high quality images take a bit longer to print than I want to wait! I think the xc540 is a good bit faster but I know of someone who has alignment issues on long runs small labels. Might not be much help here but it comes to a stage where you just have to plump with a supplier who will give you the best support!

Print and cut is nice but I find having the separates is handy as I can run the printer at the same time.

Best of luck with your purchase!!

[Ruairi O'Boyle]

Great job duncan! Just what i needed to help with the self taught photoshop lessons I am doing!

[Ruairi O'Boyle]

I like harrys idea!! 😀 😀

To be honest all you have to do is make one side of the cross very slightly smaller: (or a very fine outline/Inline would do the trick!)

Check this out:

http://www.brandweeknrx.com/2007/08/red … sued-.html

Summary:

J&J claims the company has been using the red cross since 1887, before the chartering of the Red Cross. J&J trademarked the design consisting of two intersecting red lines of equal length at least "as early as 1906," according to the suit. J&J also claims that the Red Cross only has the right to use the trademark "in connection with nonprofit relief services."

[Ruairi O'Boyle]

Thanks Peter

I thought that was the case but just wanted to be sure! I am happy to feed it down and had positioned it with that in mind. I.e away from corners.

Thanks for the help guys now I fell a little more confident!

[Ruairi O'Boyle]

When you say feed it in Ian what do you mean? do not heat and stretch?

[Ruairi O'Boyle]

Thanks for the help guys. The client is very fussy and wants a long lasting job at the best possible price so he will either have to go for wrap or i go back to the drawing board!

Cheers again
Ruairi

[Ruairi O'Boyle]

I used Portland the other week and they were great! good delivery and very keen with their pricing!

[Ruairi O'Boyle]

cheers Martin Ill ring them now.

[Ruairi O'Boyle]

Cheers Martin – your right 8mm would be a minimum actually!

I might give some of the suppliers a call on this one.

[Ruairi O'Boyle]

When u get ur training make sure u get them to do plenty from beginning cos I got printer training the other week and he just prepared everything for print but never printed! I missed all the settings and tricks of the trade as a result!

[Ruairi O'Boyle]

Thats all very true Matt but then you have the problem of pricing against someone with bulk systems and cheaper inks! Hence my reason for even considering third party inks!

That being said I will not sacrifice print/material quality over price unless a customer specifically requested it!

Cheers

[Ruairi O'Boyle]

Thanks Jamie, Do you mind me asking what the difference was?

[Ruairi O'Boyle]

That is what the supplier suggested but I have others trying to sell the third party inks! I am a believer in sticking with original parts/inks etc but just wanted to see what you guys have done!

Cheers Peter

[Ruairi O'Boyle]

not knowing the GX just as well, this is a biased opinion but i would go for the Graphtec and tell them you need training and all into the deal. Its fairly basic so I am sure they wont miss an order over the head of it!

[Ruairi O'Boyle]

I would start looking for those cherries cos Jills def one of the design gurus round here!

[Ruairi O'Boyle]

ideas should start with the original poster and then the guys here will be a great help!

[Ruairi O'Boyle]

Sounds good – I would prefer that as trying to pack each locator out one by one!

Cheers

[Ruairi O'Boyle]

I would not even consider a comparison based on the square foot area of the panel because the size of the panel may have changed but the extent of the works hasn’t

The number of poles – the amount of digging time to fabricate etc. will only change very slightly .

In fact you have to cut your 6×2 and then look for a use for the off cut. I have no waste.

I am not saying my price is correct by any means it all depends on individual circumstances and specification/qty’s of materials used.

A vehicle graphic (/m2) in one colour only would be vastly different to that of the same one in 3/4 different colours surely?

[Ruairi O'Boyle]

Rich/Dave

Do you guys just locate a rod to the back of the letter push it into the hole and let the chemical fixing set at the desired position?

[Ruairi O'Boyle]

I recently priced a 2 post 8×4 for approx £850+vat (fully printed and Laminated). Dont know what the rest of you guys think of that but it certainly makes yours seem quite keen John.

[Ruairi O'Boyle]

If you want to go down the packing out route i would suggest using rubber washers as the will be a bit more forgiving than hard plastic or metal packers/washers.

Havent had to use them yet but it is what I would do.

How do you guys use the threaded bar? Is there fixings on the market make it simple? Or am I just not right wakened this morning and cant think out how this would work?

[Ruairi O'Boyle]

I dont know a lot about the Roland Machines but I have had my graphtec for 8 years and it is still going like a trooper. For basic vinyl cutting machines reliability is really all you need!

[Ruairi O'Boyle]

Hi mark. Welcome to the boards

[Ruairi O'Boyle]

Just a quick one as I am on my phone and it is not as handy to surf with!

I had similar problems with autocad 2005 on vista I ended up disabling uac(user account control) and seleting something in the properies of the icon for autocad. It might be similas to the virtual machine thing but if u are having problems ill get onto my pc and look up what I done.

To be honest getting rid of vista would probably solve all ur problems!

[Ruairi O'Boyle]

Yep it is drying fine but I am cooking it to about 40 deg.

[Ruairi O'Boyle]

Guys what do you define as excessive ink? I am printing 1.3m x 1.3m wide photograph of a truck and a faded logo in reds and yellow but I am not sure if this warrants the term excessive inks?[/img]

[Ruairi O'Boyle]

Cheers guys, from reading previous posts I had thought that the general consensus was to leave them as long as possible. The prints have about 16-18hrs now so should be fine all being well.

I am still getting the new workshop read out and set up so I must get myself a decent washing/print line.

[Ruairi O'Boyle]

Landlords arent great either!!

We had a few guys working away from home and promised them the £1000 deposit left on the house if they finished the job and left the house in the same condition we rented it in.

After paying cleaners and leaving the house better than they originally got it the landlord done a runner with the money.

6 months later they eventually found out that he owned a bathroom shop, travelled from northern ireland to england, went straight into the shop and in front of all the customers demanded the money. Got a sob story and decided to take matters into their own hands:

One began to remove his trousers and stated that he was going to try out the displays (and was prepared to see it through!) – 2 minutes later they were on their way to the pub with £1000.

I would recommend court (only if you have the paper work) as the most amicable method but I definetely wouldnt give it up too easy!

Good luck.

[Ruairi O'Boyle]

thanks guys I should be ok in the morning then!

I am extra concerned as I have been asked to replace a competitors work after only 1 year. The laminate has blistered and shrunk and ruined the sign. One of my guys believes that it is due to the gassing off period.

Need to make sure this job is right this time!