[Simon Clayton]

Cheers John..

I’m not sure of the exact terminology but using Silverstone in the context its in, is breaking copyright law.

I did some work which used a well known brand but not there logo.
plain block text saying I love my ****** (won’t put the brand)
I was reported and warned i could/would be prosecuted over the use of said words, as it breached their copyright..
A letter arrived from their lawyers stating i had infringed their copyright even though it was not their logo or colours just the name?

So I would say you can’t call that sausage a Silverstone sausage LOL

[Simon Clayton]

Using the word Silverstone is copyright infringement.
The word is a trademark same as Suzuki, Honda, Ford etc using any of these words even if its not in there company font is breaking the law.

How do you print t-shirt vinyl on the edge, is it a special material, i thought you had to do t-shirt stuff all in reverse coz the glue is on the back….
or am i being thick LOL

[Simon Clayton]

No Phill your wrong not all panels are sucked out, i think you’ll find its only over sized ones around 3′ and above with a big surface area that have been made out of too thin a material or haven’t been reinforced to stop the flexing motion,
Most are in fact blown out where the wind has penetrated behind the sign panels normally through gaping joints,where the edge of the panel is exposed causing it to flex.

What happens when the wind hits the sign square on? will it not try and push the sign panels out backwards, sorry i forgot according to you the wind only travels in one direction from left to right

Having a back panel in my opinion, one makes the back of the sign look neater, as it can easily be seen from inside the shop and two will stop any chance of the wind either pushing the panels inwards or if by any small chance (i know theres only a 2′ void behind it) the wind getting up behind the sign and pushing it outwards.

i know this, coz i spent 5 years designing all types of signs then 2 years as a surveyor/installation engineer and then 18 years making and installing signs.

Sorry Mike!

[Simon Clayton]

Great looking sign Mike, done a couple similar, clear then decorated front and back, which made the letters look like they were floating..

One thing.. did you not back the panatrim frame with ali sheet, i would say theres a good chance of the panels being blown out, especially if in exposed postion?

[Simon Clayton]

By the looks the file its being corrupted when importing back into corel, can you not try importing in a different file format. I’m sure this used to happened to me, in AI so moved over to EPS
I can’t remember having sizing problems in 12, the way i used to do it was, if i wanted 1" letters i would draw a 1" box and just enlarge the letter till it matched the box..

[Simon Clayton]

Sorry this has lost me or am i missing something, why would you not just say i charge £20 an hour for design work payable in 1/2 hour segments.
or i charge £10 every half hour for design work?
Why would someone go for credits?? the only way i could see it working is if you charge someone for a sign and gave them 2 credits per say every £100 they spent redeemable with next purchase.
or Buy one and get 20% off next purchase… TBH it sound a bit Tesco-ish

[Simon Clayton]

One of my customers has had the same set of t-shirts for over 2 years, he wears one every day for work (builder) he washes them at 60 and puts them in the tumble dryer, all the colours are the same as the day i pressed them, t-shirt is now sky blue when it started out navy..
I would do a tester and wash it a few times and see what happens..
sure his misses ain’t scorched them with the iron

[Simon Clayton]

quote Karl Williams:

Warren I’ve just read your last post. The bit about the guy who sleeps in his van probably wont pay, but the well dressed guy in the sprinter will.
I know it’s only theory talk but some of the wealthiest men I’ve dealt with have looked like tramps. It’s the smart bstrds you have to be careful of. 😉
Just look at the guy that runs this site….scruffy g!t but worth a fortune! :lol1: :lol1: :lol1: :lol1: :lol1:

That’s it…….defo banned now! (>) (>) (>) (>) (>) (>) (>) (>) (>) (>) (>) (>) (>) (>) (>) (>) (>)

That’s sooo true, An old guy late 60s round my way sells eggs door to door, every other weekend looks a bit of a down and out.
Really nice guy was chatting to him the other week, and he was telling me how he’s feed up paying too much for his electric………… £4000 yes £4000 for the mouth, turns out this old boy is a multi millionaire, owns loads of property and a massive farm..

[Simon Clayton]

Hi Peter cheers, the virtual one is done via the computer, so if someone call you enter their detail on computer instead of on the terminal.. if that make sense?

[Simon Clayton]

I’ve also been looking at maybe getting card facilities, does the price you guy quote £15-20ish include a terminal or is that for a virtual terminal?
What % do they take.. Had a guy come round today with prices, but not I’m not sure if they are competitive.

[Simon Clayton]

I would do it in pieces, the petals i would do in two halves with the center heart of the flower over the top in one, maybe router the edges to give it a little bit more shape, that way you can cover the joint of the petals and give it a bit of a 3d effect?

[Simon Clayton]

If the blue dots are locators, i would say there are far too many anyway
You could space the big petal shape using split battens, two bits of wood cut full length at 45* then fix one to the back of petal and the other to wall, then just hooks together..

[Simon Clayton]

quote Martin:

John, maybe it depends on where you are located and how long you have been in business. Without trying to discriminate in anyway it would appear that areas where you get a lot of traveling people are more suspicious of mobile only numbers, thats how I see it anyway.

Plus you have a business that has been trading long enough that you can give examples of your work and probably have a good portfolio for any new customers and an existing customer base.

Or maybe I’m just an old ( PARDON ME ) and need to catch up with the times :lol1:

Its funny you saying that Martin, I would be wary of just a mobile number.
All the travellers i have ever seen (we have a good few round here) don’t have mobiles numbers they all use 0800 numbers.

[Simon Clayton]

quote Shaun Cleary:

I did order MDFL 500 and it must have only been 300.

He checked and said they are all like this and basically like it or lump it, as they are all the same.

This was the same name so no mistake or name change, he says this happens sometimes which I cannot believe.

I said how would you feel if you went into a supermarket and only got half a tin of your product, he said it wasn’t the same.

I also said well if it is half the thickness shouldn’t it be half the price, phone went quiet for a second.

I didn’t put a price because we are in an open forum, can anyone recommend a good supplier for banner material.

Exactly right you wouldn’t get a pint of milk with only half in it..
I’ve found this thing go on all the time, you get quoted a price for an item and when you get the invoice the price is different..always dearer.
As I’m the only person that orders and sorts out the bill’s, i normally catch it before they get paid, but i bet with a lot of companies where the secretary orders or where a member of staff just prints what his given and don’t really check what’s what, it goes through un-noticed.
I believe this sort of thing is intentional, and the suppliers are hoping you just don’t notice…

[Simon Clayton]

I’ve had this on other products, (not any type of vinyl or banners) and they blamed it on the fact it came from china, I think its outrageous, if you buying any product, it should be as stated. Its down to the company to then take it up with the Chinese company to rectify and replace

[Simon Clayton]

Hi Myles,
Can’t see a pic, but I see you have said it is a Kodak shop?
I used to do all of the kodak shops nation wide a good few years back, not sure if the procedure has changed, but we had to get approval from Kodak’s design and legal department for every sign. We had a 200 page manual of design layouts specs etc to make sure every sign was laid out correctly
We did everything in translucent vinyl, all colours had been approved by Kodak.
Kodak are a massive company with a huge legal department, and TBH there is no chance of getting paid if the sign doesn’t conform to there exacting standards.
Only two options really Either redo in trans or remove, and put it down to experience..
Having said that, if the franchisee ordered the sign without consulting Kodak it would be down to him, but i’m not sure how they work it now, as Kodak would normally pay for any branded signage, and be in from the start?

[Simon Clayton]

Flexisign also does it, best way I’ve found is as Chris says

[Simon Clayton]

We’ve done this type of thing before, what it does do is give the effect the letters are floating off the panel, looks quite good.
The only problem is the panel would need to be in two bits, and which ever way you joint them be it rebate or butt join you will end up with a line.
The other thing is you have to be careful when installing them into a box or frame as it can damage the vinyl on the back..

[Simon Clayton]

quote Richard Daniel:

Hi guys.

We have had an inquiry about using Duratran, The panels are to go inside concession stores up and down the country that will be lit from the rear, Basically Lightboxes, I want to install the first set, Then when the season changes, Just post out new images, Kinda like large poster holders

How is it best to fit up? I was thinking sandwich it between 2 bits of perspex?

Any suggestions would be more then welcome.

Thanks in advance

We used to do loads of duratrans, years ago, they had to go in between two clear perspex sheets then sealed round the edge, coz if they got wet the image would just ran, not sure if thats still the case
We put them in normal illuminated boxes, bit extra work to fit and remove.

[Simon Clayton]

Kwik fit used to do the very same thing years ago.
It was made up of steel frame work fixed to the walls either side of the door way then ali pans attached, with built up letters neon etc, looked very smart..
Really depends on how much they want to spend..
As John said get a chippie, to knock up some stud work and clad it in marine ply, paint and then apply the sign

[Simon Clayton]

Maybe do the strap in foamex, heated it up and give it some wave making it more 3d…
if you know what i mean?

[Simon Clayton]

Gloss surfaces are far better than matt, so no don’t rub down.
Just makes sure all surfaces are totally clean and free from grease/wax etc

[Simon Clayton]

Hi Terry,
I get this, Screen freezes then goes black, normally it comes back on after a few seconds, a couple of times it just don’t.
I changed graphic card and ram but still the same..
Did a search on the internet and most are saying its a windows software problem.
I’ve not found a cure as such, I just backup work as i go along…
Must admit its not happened for a few days, but windows has updated (I’m running windows XP) a couple of time since it started..
I Couldn’t find any help on the windows web site.
Si

[Simon Clayton]

Here’s my feeble attempt 😳

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Attachments:

[Simon Clayton]

quote Simon James:

Hi Simon

May I suggest you look around for a Uniform Machine that is a converted Versacamm. Roland will come out replace the heads and everything touched by ink and warrant for a year we paid £900 and got virtually a brand new machine.

The only problem is that secondhand machines are fetching silly money because of the pound against the yen. 3 year old sp300’s are bringing £6500 through dealers _ the same price you could get them new for 12 months ago.

the equilavent tweaked machine the VP300 is bringing £11,500 with very little margin to haggle.

suggest you look at a well used uniform ring roland before you buy and get a refurb. i have got a fully warranted sp300 running like near new for a total spend of £3,900 with full parts and labour 12 month warranty.

please feel free to email me back if you see anything you want any advice on?

simon

Hi Simon
Did you already have the cadet? or did you buy it from a company?
Cheers
Simon

[Simon Clayton]

quote Peter Normington:

I’m almost certain that if you compare weight, cross section and wall thickness, round is stronger, hence such things as oars, golf club shafts sailboat masts and scaffolding are a round cross section.

Peter

100% true… that is why bike frames are round or oval not square.. Just look at an egg, put a dozen in a carton, then a board on top you could virtully stand on it without them breaking, try the same with boxes made of the same wall thickness and mass… The reason square section ais used over round is because it easier

[Simon Clayton]

quote Steve Morgan:

A bit late I know but it may still be of interest.
A friend of mine who is an architectural engineer told me that wind loading is a complex subject, however he recommends that a rule of thumb figure to work with is 15lbs/sq.ft for each ‘mile per hour of wind speed’. That will give you some pretty frightening numbers to consider!
And for what it’s worth – I think that round tube is much stronger than square, especially in bending.

Steve

I would agree, that’s why road signs have round poles.. Maybe take a look at a motorway sign of around the same size (if possible) and take some dimension’s from that.. When i worked at oldham signs the petrol station gantry signs had a root cage and concrete base of around 3 cubic meters can’t remember the exact sizes but something like 2m X 1.5m X 1m

[Simon Clayton]

I see this car quite alot while dropping the kids off to school…. Looks even better in real life, top job, you do some really great stuff Cheryl

Simon

[Simon Clayton]

Thats very smart.. look forward to seeing other stuff..
That looks like the dog track there?? i used to live round the corner near the hospital
Simon

[Simon Clayton]

Basically there are so many copies of windows about they have now brought out this update patch that checks you have a genuine copy… It update this authenticity code all the time, its not just a one off, and if you don’t let it install you’ll get no updates

[Simon Clayton]

Yep i’ve been getting loads of these, and each time it has been sent from a different e-mail address.

[Simon Clayton]

Must admit some of them H&S rules are plain stupid, but then again i did see a photo of someone standing at the very top of one of them folding ladders ( the ones that fold up and go in the boot of a car) fitting a sign, seeing that you can understand there reasons.

Peter without a groove in the bayonette a vacum would form and it makes it very hard to pull it out once you plounged it in someone..

[Simon Clayton]

Not too bad lol…
Thats what i was saying about the VW camper on the other thread..
Look’s like they just scanned an A5 flyer and enlarged it up, but it was proberly a £20 job instead of a £50 one; the £20 being a scan and print (10mins) and the £50 job would have been a artwork and print job (nearer 3/4 hour)..
That’s what a lot of customers around my way want, cheap, and they don’t understand the difference in quality.

[Simon Clayton]

If using wrap vinyl it wouldn’t be under tension, as it conforms to the shape, As Adam says tease it into the recesses once heated and formed it would/should stay…
If i were tackling it i would get some spare material and test out the best way to do it first, then once happy i would tackle the printed version.
What course did you say it was again??
Simon

[Simon Clayton]

quote martin armitage:

on a course i went on recently I was told to lay the vinyl over the recess and then work in with heat and pressure, wich is fine, the question is getting rid of the trapped air – the way they dealt with this was to pre drill holes right through the side of the van. I was wondering if this is standard practice or if there is a better solution to it.
Thanks
Martin.

That don’t sound right to me… i wouldn’t be happy someone drilling holes in my £20k van.
I would just Pearce the vinyl to let it escape, (but i have never done a wrap)..

Simon

[Simon Clayton]

I think we have all had it happen to us at one time or another. After reading your post my first thought was get everyone to ring him for a quote as Jill said…

Just say to him that’s fine, but if you use my artwork you will have to pay a design fee, (£30-40 what ever) then write to the other company and notify them that if they use your artwork they are in breach of copy write law and you will take legal action against them or they can pay the fee to use it..

And I’d say £90=VAT is well cheap, that’s a lovely design

Simon

[Simon Clayton]

Very nice, i love stuff like this, what sort of price would that cost to do??(hope you don’t mind me asking)
Simon

[Simon Clayton]

I was told by a builder i do work for, that they were getting rid of the card and replacing it with a pin number system????

[Simon Clayton]

Difficult to tell really, i was production manager for a goood few years and we had staff that would have a laugh and joke and the directors would go mad (want them sacked and the like not realising what they would have lost) but most of these guy were fantastic at their jobs, would work late at the drop of a hat, and could complete work faster and better than the newer members.
They would get higher wages and bigger yearly bonuses, and when there’s not much work on they would get time off paid.

A way of getting around giving your guy a car and not upsetting the other staff is to have him come in early every morning to open up.

Simon

[Simon Clayton]

Sorry Peter, miss read it i thought they had seen it first then paid for it…then again there’s no way I’d pay anyone £1600 up front.. I can see how badly it has been done but would the customer of noticed if not pointed out by the body shop????…

Sadly not Rob, all they see is a cheap price, if i had said £550 for that Vbud i can guarantee someone around here would charge £200, and if it turned out like that, the customer would still be happy coz it was cheap 😥

Simon

[Simon Clayton]

TBH can’t see anything wrong with it apart from the price…..!!
I see this quality of work day in day out from other companies.

When i put a price in for a job and get the reply "how much! Joe blogs down the road only wants half that" that’s what they normally end up and are quite happy as it was cheap.. (god knows why)
The customer must have been happy with it to pay the cash.. and it was only the body shop that pointed it out??

If they paid £1600 I’d do it for £1k and take as long as i wanted 😀

Seriously though i recon about £450-500 but it would take me most of the day setting up cutting and laying

Simon

[Simon Clayton]

I had one guy on the phone saying he was unhappy with the vinyl signwriting on his van, and what do i suggest he do
He told me how it was already pealing off and had rips in it…
I said he should get straight on to the guy who had done the job and either get him to redo it or get your money back…

Turns out the sign writing had been put on five years ago 😕

I only give one year, as Rob and Peter have said it could have been the wind, vandals or bad workmanship, its impossible to say, but all in all you get what you pay for IMHO if i bought a £70 bed, i wouldn’t expect it to last as long as a £700 one.

I would tell him to just get new perspex or dibond panels, the old foam ones would have well paid for themselves in 18 months

Simon

[Simon Clayton]

I’m sorry Rob, but maybe you should read thru all the other posts and see who did bring up ex members and other sites??? clearly not me!

So should you not be aiming your comment at the person who did..

Simon c

[Simon Clayton]

Carrie,
I see other sign sites and ex members being referred to as instigators of trouble,
What proof do you have, you imply it is all ex members, and I feel that to be very unfair.. maybe you should be edited to say “some ex members”

quote :

or silly bickering from members who do not really support the site, but only come here as they think its amusing to try and cause conflict then go boast about it on other sites

. Which I’ve not seen on any of the other sites

quote :

Other sites do moderate too … they just arent open enough to let people know about it. We leave a little note so that the person knows their post has been edited. Other sites just remove … no-one knows this as they are not open enough to admit doing it!

if your not a moderator of any other sign site how would you know what has been moderated or not?? Yes if someone sticks on hard core porn and the like yes it would be removed, that’s to be expected, but I can say I have never had any of my posts delete or edited on any other sign site, as I have here..

quote :

Suppliers both trade and non official trade cannot blow their own trumpet

Yet you have paid advertisements on here, why not just be honest and tell people this is a commercial site, and needs to make money.. simple

To solve the contact problem is simple; you have a public and private profile, the private profile is for Rob it has all your contact details, phone number, address etc the public one is the same but you can choose what you want to show, ie just your email and maybe phone number..

I hope I don’t come across in the wrong way, and that I’m trying to cause trouble as I’m not,(its difficult to write down what your trying to say) I have enjoyed this site from the very start.. But felt it was unfair that ex members and other sign site were being somehow blamed

Simon c

[Simon Clayton]

I would go for wall saw, very compact, ideal for cutting sheet material
As for 3 phase, i was told by my electrician anyone could have it, something to do with the way the cables are set up in the street 3 live cables run down every street that supply houses etc.. (would check through) as for cost, my friend got it put in, it cost well over a thousand, and that was only about two foot from his shop they had to dig..
Plus he had to pay an electrician to do all the wiring from the board they put in..

Simon

[Simon Clayton]

Vinyl won’t stick on a freshley waxed surface

[Simon Clayton]

here you go.. APA 020 8311 4400

Simon

[Simon Clayton]

That’s the trouble over here Rodney, they only want to sell you the machine… That’s easy money for them..

Now I’m no engineer, but don’t these machines all work on the same principle? can’t be that hard.. can they?
Simon

[Simon Clayton]

Silvo, did you try APA?
i would say that dove grey colour was spot on

Simon

[Simon Clayton]

What an amazing amount of money spent on so few….

[Simon Clayton]

Fair comment Peter, i know what your saying, who do you believe?? without actually being there..
(it’s very difficult when trying to put a point across in text, a lot of my post sound totally different than intended, plus it take me ages to type the blooming things)….

I apologise to BP, my comment were in general, not directed at them, but i would have said the same, if no company name was mentioned as this is my experience with many companies that supply the sign-trade..

It seams the general rule for any large supplier over here; is if anything goes wrong, lets start passing the buck,
unless you are also a large company, but the thing is, large companies would properly have more than one machine, therefore it would have a much bigger impact on me, i’ve worked for companies that have gone down because of such things..

These machines have been around long enough for most of the general faults to have been discovered, stock levels should be there.. but i suppose because the technology keeps changing they don’t want loads of stock.

As Rodney has said, Johns posting has achieved something, which inturn will help other small companies be heard….

Simon

[Simon Clayton]

I think it’s mean’t to be a water mark Dave

Simon

[Simon Clayton]

But what John has said, is that he has had to wait over a week. that is fact, or why would he say it.. What is the other side of the story?? no explanation of why it has taken a week. as southern Andy said why if a part is not available take it off a stock machine.. But we won’t do that coz the part is only worth £200 to us when the whole machine is worth £20k

Now i bet when he was sold the machine, there were all sorts of promises made, as all these companies do.
Take when i first started up, i was sold talking pages advertising, promises of all sorts; only 3 sign companies in my area on the system and they were getting 370 call enquires a month, so by rights you will get a quarter as you are rotated, each time some asks for a sign company in that area,total crap, i got two call in a year. When i complained i was fobbed off, saying but that’s the figures we had when you sigh up, the calls must have dropped off..

I have worked for very big sign companies, and when their machinery broke down it was fixed within a day, and if the part was not available, a complete new machine was sent out, the reason being, this sign company had a £60m turn over and would sued the ar*e off the supplier..

Boards like this give us smaller companies a big voice to be heard, that’s why we get discounts ( that Rob has negotiated) and that’s why Dave at Bp has responded..

As for the petrol, people panic bought because the protesters said they were going to block petrol refineries as they did last time.. Also funny is how one day it was a £1 a litre and two days later it was down to .93p, yet the crude oil price was higher..

Simon

[Simon Clayton]

Just got to make sure all the area is totally clean, (that’s around every rivet)
Not sure if you would need heat, as they are not that raised… but must be clean..

Simon

[Simon Clayton]

you just go over them with the vinyl.. use a rivet brush
Simon

[Simon Clayton]

But if your printer went down and you were losing thousands of £s in lost work, or even lost one of your major cantracts, what then?, especially when you’ve paid £2 gand for extended warranty, would you not be fed up?

I’ve not had dealings with Bp, but from my experiance of buying very expensive £100k plus equipment from very large suppliers, is they bend over back wards to sell you nice new shinny expensive equipment, but have great difficulty with things go wrong..

And as we all know whoever shouts loudest get seen too first, this forum give people (like me) some sort of idea of what to expect and what quesions to ask… what sort of service will i get.

Also we always hear there side of the story, in the way of sales chat and adverts, its normally the let down customer you don’t hear from, its places like this forum that help keep big companies upto scratch with after sales service.. Word of mouth is a very powerful tool..

Simon

[Simon Clayton]

If you have no luck you’ll have to Just break the tubes, get them out, then get some smaller ones, and some ends plugs (not sure what call them) what fit on the tube, and regig it to fit in..

Simon

[Simon Clayton]

APA do a dove grey, that is very very close match (if they still do it) i would see if they go for thaat colour..

Simon

[Simon Clayton]

Your right Hugh, forgot about that type 😳 thats what there be..

Simon

[Simon Clayton]

Fixed sockets? not heard of them before?
Sometimes they look solid but do have a spring type thing in them and can be pulled out slightly to remove the tube (normally one end only moves on this type).. Post some pic of the box, then we can see if its that bad, or standard construction

Simon

[Simon Clayton]

Now thats very good Dave.. 😀

Simon

[Simon Clayton]

That’s my point, £49 a van, most likely basic, but when they start doing van after van, do you compete by lowering your price to£45?
You can only go so low with price and quality, do you then buy 70p a metre vinyl, and start to turn out crap to compete, its all well and good saying do a better job, compete or change profession, it shouldn’t be like that..
If i had a unit to pay for, I would put out boards saying cars and vans £40, get a school leaver in for £100 a week or run this at a loss until the other firm folded

Simon

[Simon Clayton]

Could try these people, http://www.southernrigging.co.uk/

Simon

[Simon Clayton]

Hi

Simon

[Simon Clayton]

Screen printing ain’t the way to go.. the vinyl ends up like chewing gum, also it’s not a smooth colour, you end up with ridges, dust, squeegee marks and faint lines, i would only use this method for short term stuff.
If your doing all their fleet, i would buy in 1000m as 46 vans would properly use near on 500m??

What do they use on the vehicles abroad, they may have a standard colour matched vinyl supplier?

10% black is just Grey, unless your talking tint, so spaying, rollering or screening ain’t a problem, but to do 500m with it all matching would be hard, plus take up miles of space.

Simon

[Simon Clayton]

Yep, best of luck mate, have you done neon before?
I don’t get much call for neon, clients won’t pay for it..shame i like it..
Simon

[Simon Clayton]

Simon

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Attachments:

[Simon Clayton]

Post up the file, and see what people come up with

Simon

[Simon Clayton]

The back don’t match up with the side? I would make the logos big, and take off the smaller text..

Simon

[Simon Clayton]

What are they using on their fleet abroad?? that would be the best way of going..

Also, you can get vinyl colour matched to a specific pantone ref, as long as you have a lot, not sure how much properly around 500m, Then when that company changes all its vehicles, or just gets new one here and there, you will have the exact colour, hopefully meaning they will come back time and time again, and you won’t loose the job to anyone else quoting on a couple of their vans coz it won’t be worth their while getting colour matched vinyl..

Simon

[Simon Clayton]

Peter you didn’t buy 10 sheets of foam-x thinking it was foamex ?? 😮

So many cowboys around my way, i just call it "a bit of white board", other wise the punters think i’m too dear..lol

Simon

[Simon Clayton]

Yep we also have the roundabout signs as well…
isore

[Simon Clayton]

In my time i have done, hundreds of Tcp applications, and would say only a hand full of them ever needed amending.
I knew that if you were putting signs in a village setting, it should be of traditional construction,
This type of planning, needs to be addressed, but won’t happen until people start complaining about the mess the high street are in.

Things like A board/pavement signs, in some places should be banned, our local high street is a paved area, and on saturadays it is jamed packed, as you come to the end of the road, it narrows, and still shops put them out, and i have seen people knock into them, and even trip over them..

[Simon Clayton]

Good point that Martin

Simon

[Simon Clayton]

But even with some of the stupid decisions the councils doy the high street/local shops would look a darn site better, and would help bring the sign trade up again, IMHO
The thing that got me was I would have to do TCP applications for major blue chip companies, like Threshers, the council would get you to change things say you need this or change that, (which made live very difficult due to the strict layouts and colours most corp companies use) yet the shop next door would have 5 mile of neon flashing around every window door and surface available, but would never be asked to remove it.. MAD

Simon

[Simon Clayton]

sorry 😳 read it wrong thought it said gardener

Simon

[Simon Clayton]

Not sure Andy, been thinking of investing in digital, but that too has become or is becoming swamped with Joe blogs doing it.. I started years ago, when everything was done by hand (bit out of practice now) when skill was involved, I find most of my time is spent designing and getting nothing more in return, years ago people came to you with a design and said can i have that on my van etc.. now they want blood..

I’m in a lucky position, as I’m subsidized by the wife..lol but the way things are going I’m not sure where this industry will be in the 10 years (how long can you flog a dead horse type of thing), i have two sons and was hoping they would sort of take over, but now I’m thinking they should become dentists :o..
only time will tell…
I’ve seen a classic sign in yarmouth, absolute fantastic design, and it has been unbeleivable defaced.. i will take a pic this weekend while i’m up there and post it, this sums up the sign trade today

Simon

[Simon Clayton]

You could always find someone to dress up and take a photo, that way you would own it..

Simon

[Simon Clayton]

You’ll have to get yourself a laminator Mark 😀 keeping busy, not been around much just latley

Simon

[Simon Clayton]

Hiya, welcome back……..

quote Shane Drew:

quote Stephen Sill:

Ha!

lost me 😮 have I missed something?

😀 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀

Simon

[Simon Clayton]

Spot on there Andy, years ago as you said the councils would insist on decent signage, now they don’t care, i spoke to my local lot asking when the last time they enforced someone to comply with their notice ( i was enquiring about a projector sign that’s not allowed in this particular area), the guy i was speaking too, said he been working in the planning dept 5 years and never heard of one.

This trade (can you still call it that) has gone right down hill, i would say on par with painters and decorators
(sorry to say anyone can pick up a paint brush and wall paper, i had a few decorator round to give me a price on papering a ceiling, “sorry mate i don’t do that or i don’t do any type of papering” FFS whats that about), i am charging far less that my last employer did 15 years ago yet have around the same out going costs, i know prices of material has come down quite a bit but all the same… not that much.

This trade will only get better when the local councils step in and start demanding higher quality jobs..

Simon

[Simon Clayton]

That’s why i think all signs should have to have planning permission, the local council planners should get involved more, and not allow shoddy looking foemex tat type signs, on another thread, people were asking should signmakers have certificates, if councils took an interest in the look and style of signs what should be allowed and what not, not allowing the cheap foamex black and white sign to be stuck on a 300 year old exposed timber framed building.. many of these cheapo signmakers/people getting in the business for a quick buck, would leave, and the majority left would be half decent..

As said here, a really nice sign is an asset, but most of the corner shop brigade don’t care about looks just profit, and when all the signs look sh*te in the street, it doesn’t matter what shop you go in..

Simon

[Simon Clayton]

Think the trouble is too many foamex brigade about, knocking signs out for a oner… Most people don’t care what their signs are like, as long as its cheap

Simon

[Simon Clayton]

What about using this?? for the back, couldn’t get it on your van but put in place of the yellow..

Simon

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[Simon Clayton]

Or cover it all in cheese?? with your logo big, or mouse trap, with don’t get caught out, your in safe hands with us??

Simon

[Simon Clayton]

I like it Phil, appart from the grey shaddow, if it needs one what about a very pale shade of the purple??

Simon

[Simon Clayton]

Horrid Vans to sign write Shane, nice to look at… 😀

Simon

[Simon Clayton]

Very eye catching.. I think it looks good, I would say you may need the “lets talk signage” on side..
The corporate thing, not sure, i can’t see it being a problem??

Simon

[Simon Clayton]

😀 😀 😀 😀 😀

[Simon Clayton]

Hugh their old swatches used to be a fan type book, bit like a pantone book, 55mm X 165mm sample size which were divided into three section with a perforated line so you could tear off a third as a colour ref, or to give the customer..
It must have been to expensive, shame they should bring them back even if they charged a fiver, i’d buy one..

Simon

[Simon Clayton]

I love the way it has no windows… Is the sign sitting on the roof? or does the walls step back at the top

Simon

[Simon Clayton]

Hi Daniel.
Welcome, great looking car

Simon

[Simon Clayton]

Good idea that Chris…

Then there’s the dreaded new shape vito, whatever you put on it, it don’t look right, horrid vans

Simon

[Simon Clayton]

Try this.. its all to do with it being broken down.. ie the centres of the letters didn’t move with the rest of the number.
What i did was to move the white to one side combine it all together, and same with the red, combining it makes the centres hollow.. hope that makes sense.. flexi file are not uploadable here so did it in Ai, just import it..

Simon

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Number 8.ai

[Simon Clayton]

Cheers Martin,
That makes sense, about using up all their old stock.. still think they should bring back the bigger swatch book

Simon 😀

[Simon Clayton]

That’s lost me totally…not hard to do, i must admit.
Is there a swatch card with 751 cast on it? are there different colours to the normal 751, have they dropped any colours?? 9/10 when i order 751 it turns up as cast..
Must admit i do have trouble getting swatches from Europoint.. I say Bring back the old big swatches.. so much easier to show clients (have shown some colours to clients but they have complained when they’ve seen the end result, hard for them to see from a 1×2 cm sample) and to match too..

Simon

[Simon Clayton]

If you do loads, a router would be no use..
We used to do a lot of mdf boxes, which were made up from about 10 components, at first we cut them on the Pacer (not a very good machine, don’t know if it has been improved 12 years on) the router is slow, plus you have to have someone there to watch the machine and “tape in” as when they cut often the cut parts move even with vacumn beds..

What about a vertical saw?? or even get your supplier to cut them for you..

When you go to look at the router, make sure you take a sheet of material and get them to layout a full bed, and cut it, then look at how long it has taken and what the finished item is like, checking it fits into whatever you put them in or on, as often they look good but don’t fit…

Simon

[Simon Clayton]

Cheers leigh it looks great, what i did last night was throw a few designs at him, i may even put this one to him as an alternative.

Thanks

Simon

[Simon Clayton]

Great job Jill

Simon

[Simon Clayton]

or.. use the real thing??
You could get a nice peice of ply, with a good grain pattern and varnish..
(would be quite dear)

Simon