[Texcat]

I like the idea of Dibond or similar. You can get it in 4m x 1.5m so you have enough to do the returns.

Andy

[Texcat]

sorry to here this mate. As someone else said we are normally happy if someone goes down, less competition. But it shows what Robert has done here and created a Family who look out for each other.

What ever you do next, good look.. Someone said once “If you reach for the stars, you will get there. Reach for the ceiling and you will bang your head”

It could be a blessing in disguise.

Stay on the boards and let us know how you get on.

Good Luck

Andy

[Texcat]

Cant tell you how much they paid for it but its 5 figures. We average about two like that a month plus all our normal work.

Not bad for a business thats only been going 18 months, what do you think???

Andy

[Texcat]

It is cold cathode lighting behind it. The cables are external HT but we couldnt route through the wall behind the sign to hide them. The client doesnt own the part of the other side of the wall, so thats what we had to do unfortunately.

I must make a point of trying to photograph at night to show people but it doesnt get dark till late. I will wait till the winter and go for a drive. Probably take me all night to photograph them all but it will be worth it.

Glad you like it Mike. From you that is a compliment. Thanks

[Texcat]

Cheers Mke

No it is just a flat screen. We wanted to do it as the ¬real` thing but client couldnt afford it. The little buttons on the side and the battery charger bits are on there.

It was good fun. i will post a picture of it in our workshop to show the illumination

Andy

[Texcat]

Dont know if this is the new one.

Andy

---

Attachments:

manchester_united__8278.eps

[Texcat]

Your bloody right, whats them bloody white clips doing up there. Didnt even notice myself.

Wait till my fitters get back (:)

We have already pulled a job from it for a nightclub chain. They saw it at night and popped in and asked the manager for our number.

Seeing them tomorrow..

Andy

[Texcat]

Sent them all for you, just in case. The actual three logo should has gradients but this is fine. Also there are different colours as said

Andy

---

Attachments:

network logo vinyls.eps

[Texcat]

Dont you recognise the place.???

Its Port Solent main entrance. Yes it did cost a bit, have a guess. In fact why doesnt everyone have a guess for a laugh. I will let you know who is closest.

The good thing Gray is now thats done the existing signs need doing Yippeeee

When your next in Pompey call and i will take you to lunch there so you can see the size of it.

Thanks for the praise

Andy

[Texcat]

While were on this subject, can anyone give a guide on how much this would cost. Basically, one of you coming done to do it and what it would cost, and what i could charge the client.

Cheers

[Texcat]

Ha ha mike

I will get the designers to make it wrinkley and bits flapping around. We will tell the client its 3D.

We could take pictures and do a demo at the same time.

Keep you in touch with progress

Thanks

[Texcat]

Thanks both.

The artwork is being done by a design company (oh no). No actually they are good. dont have to redraw anything. Perfect vectors etc.

I am talking to them today to find out about times etc. So whoever is not the busiest can help.

Mike, talking about a busmans holiday, you can help us move factories as well.

Speak to both soon

Cheers

Andy

[Texcat]

More Northeners!!!!!!!

Only joking, good you joined this crazy bunch.

Dig in

[Texcat]

There is a post in here somewhere from Racoon digital who is selling an Arizona 180. I think its in your price range as well.

I was interested but got to get the cash toghether first. Do a quick search and you will fing it.

Texcat

[Texcat]

I agree with both

Rodney has a wealth of experience in his field and i think will be an asset to the UKSG. However, a small critism, i think he has a large company with all the kit for every angle of signmaking. Not everyone has this. I like his posts because we have the kit and his advice we try or know.

What you should do is follow his advice but use the old adage. KEEP IT SIMPLE STUPID (KISS). A perfect finish like rods may not be required for some jobs. A simple gas blow torch will do a great job and will cost a £10 inc gas. Just play with offcuts and see what YOU think.

As signmakers we are normally over critical. We notice things that customers dont. This doesnt mean lower your standards, it means dont over stress yourself.

“My comments only”

P.S Keep it up Rodney

Tex

[Texcat]

Personally its got to be AXYZ.

The service is second to none. We blew a special fuse on Monday. How do we know whats gone wrong. Phone AXYZ, described problem “its stopped working” is the best we had. 5 mins on the phone, new the problem, part sent in post next day, back up and running. Perfect.

It stopped 3/4 through a job on a 3m x 2m 19mm foamboard. Thought it was written off. No, it picked up on its last path and continued. Excellent.

We was going to by a system from Pacer. I am sorry but we has SH** service. We paid a deposit £1000. They gave us a delivery date and then said we hadnt ordered one. What was the £1000 for then. They still have our money and have said it was for Admin charges. They didnt like it last year at the sign show when my guys stood at their stand slagging them off but still refused a refund. “give us our money back and we will leave you alone” Didnt want to play so hopefully they lost business like we did with no router for 6 weeks.

AXYZ flew ours in from Canada and fitted in 10 days.

Well done AXYZ.

P.s Vac bed essential, auto tool changer good investment if you can afford it.

[Texcat]

I know exactly how you feel. Happened to us on Sunday. I hope this is a warning for all about security.

We were working at the weekend and two guys went out to measure up leaving one guy in the workshop. Our building creeks a bit and gets hit by golf balls sometimes so strange noises are the norm. However these noises were to regular. He went to investigate. Creeping up the stairs, baseball bat in one hand, machete in the other (only joking but wish he did).

Stood in MY office was a young bloke with backpack. “got any jobs going mate” he said.

WHAT its bloody sunday and only idiots or memebers of the UKSG work weekends. Oh and BURGLARS. “Get out” said our man. And off he went on his merry way.

Monday morning arrives. £120 cash gone out of safe box (left for early morning cash delivery)

Moral of the story. We have had them before. “Got any jobs going” THEY are casing your joint. They wonder round looking lost and got time to do anything and then use the old “got any jobs going” to through you off. Everyones kit and files are priceless and need protecting. OK only £120 cash gone but could have been laptops etc.

Please CHECK YOUR SECURITY and make sure staff know as well.

Or go for the GUN PITS AND SNARLING DOGS

Tex

[Texcat]

Have you got an approx guide of what this machine is worth and how much your looking for??????????????

[Texcat]

This reminds me of the Bond movie.

For Rob “The World is not enough”. May see some pictures of some pesky little ETs on the group soon.

Well Done Rob

[Texcat]

Who is the supplier?

Amari etc deliver their own goods. Not couriers. Might be worth it???

Andy

P.S. Normal car body filler will do it.

[Texcat]

Chris.

Whats your company called and tel no. Need a quote from you

Andy

[Texcat]

Thanks to all (many many thanks)

Lorraine, ive checked my Oracle swatch and your ones are perfect. Could you post me a bit of each. Only 500x500mm. Tell me what i owe you.

Many thanks again

SignMade (UK) Ltd
18 Fairways Business Centre
Portsmouth
Hampshire
PO3 5NU

[Texcat]

There’s good news and bad news I’m afraid…
The good news is I know what is wrong with your file, the bad news is you probably can’t fix it. If you open it in a text editor (such as Notepad) and compare it with a file you know DOES work you will see that you have lost all the carriage returns at the end of every line and each line should begin with a % sign. Also there is a lot of HEX info at the start of the file that shouldn’t be there. I went through your file repairing the returns using a search & replace function but it still did not open because there are some lines that do not begin with % signs and there are too many to sort manually. You can try it yourself but there is no guarantees it will work and it may take a LONG time. Also a simple search for “%” and replace with a “return” will not work because some lines begin with “%%” and as you can see that would be split into two lines. I worked round this by searching for “0D%” and replacing with “0D[return]%” and manually repairing the ones that slipped through the filter (but like I say it still didn’t work there are lines of code in the middle that are not so easily repaired). If you do decide to do it yourself be thankfull it’s a small file with a few thousand lines – the working one I compared was a very simple file and had 15000 lines of code in it!!!

I suspect what caused this is a virus checker on the clients email program or a compression program like winzip or stuffit. Is the file you uploaded to the signgroup the exact same file you recieved in the first place? Did YOU scan it for viruses and change it in any way? Was it zipped or anything either?

I know this is all techy but hope it helps.

Jon George (Texcats graphic design team)

[Texcat]

Can I ask how you got the file. Was it emailed or FTP’d to you because when FTP’ing images you have to be in Binary mode not ASCII? And did the originator have a virus checker on their email program – quite often I get files from Macs and the virus checker renders them useless. The file you uploaded to this site – is it the very original file that you recieved as well?

Jon (Texcats Graphic Designer)

[Texcat]

Simon

Sorry not been back to you yet. Dont know when i can collect them. If someone needs them thats fine.

Thanks for holding on but it could be another month or so away.

Tex

[Texcat]

Gray

Are you coming to Pompey??????

Texcat

[Texcat]

Thanks for all suggestions ( been there though).

The problem is because its a rarely used colour no one has it. I was just wondering if anyone here had a bit sat on the shelf collecting dust.

Thanks

Andy

[Texcat]

Here you go rich

Andy

---

Attachments:

lti001.eps

[Texcat]

I have it, i will send in morning
What format PC or MAC

Andy

[Texcat]

Thanks Simon and Leeroy

Used a bit of both so thanks

Andy
Sorry (thought i posted it in correct bit Rob) My mistake

[Texcat]

Richard

Dont know if i got right number.

please try again on mobile 07764300093

Andy

[Texcat]

And i made the headlines

[Texcat]

Hiya

Give us a call on 02392 666813

Andy

[Texcat]

Simon

Not desperate to help you clear some room (ha ha) but how much you wanting and where are they.

Andy

[Texcat]

Are you sure this list is acurate?????

I cannot see your name up there 😀 😀

Andy

[Texcat]

Paddy, Congrats on your first fascia.

Couple of things, i never use 5mm foams for fascia`s unless its in a frame and even then dont like doing it because of possible blowouts (even though it should be called a suckout). Only probably a personal thing but we only use 10mm. Stops it bowing as much. On the issue of sheet sizes (Jaybee) materials come in 3m x 2 m lengths as well(can we all work in metric please) but you could use the 2440 x 1220mm sheet (8ft x 4 ft for you older peeps ha ha)

If you use dibond (depending on clients budget) i recommend making a pan out of it. One it looks smart and two it gives alot of strength to the fascia panel. Make a timber subframe, attach this to the building, pop the panels on and screw through top and bottom and cover with nice screw caps.
A tip when doing this or any other pan is to make the subframe on one panel longer than the other. This stops any alignment problems. If that makes sense.(ie left hand side panel say 1000 mm make subframe 1250mm) Finish with butt straps to keep panels flat on the joints.

Jaybee, Hanging straps are used to let a panel hang inside a frame, not held all round in the frame. Because of expansion rates etc. the panel is allowed to expand but because its “hanging” from the top it just expands downways and sideways without bowing as nothing is there to make it bow.

Hope this helps a bit

Andy (Texcat)

[Texcat]

Any helpers on this one????

[Texcat]

With regards to people under cutting or charging cheaper we seem to be lucky as we have only lost one job in the last 14months due to a competitor in the market. And we are not cheap

The job was for a fascia sign and window vinyls for an accounting practice. We were £220 more expensive than the others so he went with them. Fine i am not dropping my price.

I reworked the price just to see and i cannot understand how the other company can do it at their price, unless they are using inferior products. They are travelling 100 miles, round trip to do the job. (Ours is 4miles)

When job was finished we had a look. 5mm foam board in two pieces and screwed through front of panel. Its bowing already after 3 weeks. Had to laugh, client scrimping on money and gets crap job.

To let you know our hourly figures that i worked out are as follows.

Design time (senior) £50ph
Design Time (Junior) £35ph
Workshop £35per man hour
Routing £48ph +Set up
Fitting £40ph one man. £65 2 men
Vinyl cutting £22.50 phour to cut, weed apply

What do you charge???

I am currently working on a small program that will help you work out the correct hourly rate for men (and women) and machine times taking into consideration cost, running times, depreciation etc

Andy

[Texcat]

One of the first things is have you calculated your hourly rate for labour hours and machine hours correctly. I just tried to write an article about costing for the last half an hour, but it gets very complicated ( trying to remember those 4 years i spent at Uni doing this).

I was going to post it but it is already 3 pages long and only covered about 2% of it.

Briefly have you considered all the indirect labour costs and indirect materials costs Ie Secretary or accounts person and sand paper, scalpels, squegees etc. And the overheads of the business, rent, rates, electric and Employers NI contributions etc

Basically the easy way is as follows.

Direct Materials
Direct Labour
Direct Expenses

=Prime cost

+ Indirect labour
+Indirect materials
+Indirect Expenses

=Cost

+Mark up

=Selling price

Getting to the hourly rates is the harder part which i will try and give an easy example at another time

Andy
BA Accounting

[Texcat]

I use a company called

Spraylat International
Corby
Northants

01536 408409

Excellent stuff, sticks to foams, acrylics with no prep.

In aerosols or cans and will colour match.

Andy

[Texcat]

Hi all

Thanks for your feedback, and yes the bent post is on the right not left Doh.

The aurora frosted perspex looks amazing. I showed the client a swatch (he wanted a boring blue) and the minute he saw the aurara was sold. However it was a bugger to get hold of. As it is almost a brand new product no one stocks it. So after lots of chasing around a mate at another sign company has been using loads for POS signs, so i `borrowed` some off cuts. I am sure Cox plastics do it.

I will get some shots at night because the aurara really looks good with the inside illumunation.

All was built in house and fitted toghther on site. The was a few problems that i mentoned in a previous post, mainly the scaffold was always in the way (not our scaff).

John, we always bond (using Penloc) L angle inside for strength and it keeps its shape better.

The A Board and windows are not done by us. The client has a friend of a friend who does the window vinyls, the place has been open for two weeks now and still not done.

There is also internal signage (only toilet signs etc) that were made from 5mm clear with black reverse cut vinyl and fixed with Stainless steel dome caps. Look smart. And a 3.5 metre mesh banner going up the stairwell with a sail boat and sunset image.

The last part was a bit of a cheat. He then wanted to add the “High Tide Lounge” and “Low Tide Bar” letters in 2 days. Easy, we cut them from the remainder of the Brushed Dibond, plastic locators and job done. 1.5 hours
all cut glued and fixed up.

Gray, the bar is in Palmerston Road, Southsea. You can see it when you come over next. Play up Pompey

Cheers All
Andy

[Texcat]

Sorry about my last post

Re.We have done alot of 100mm acrylic letters.

Make then 10mm and upwards. Can you imagine the price of 100mm acrylic sheet.

Sorry

If you can get it we could probably cut it.[/quote]

[Texcat]

Hi

Get yourself a copy of a sign mag, there are loads of trade only letter cutters out there.

If you post exactly what materials you wish to use and the finish as well we can all advise you. If you do have any problems i can cut them, spray them or whatever finish, provide the fixings and a drilling template. We have a AXYZ 6010 router. 3x2m vacuum bed with auto tool changer so there are only a few (and i havent found them yet but we will) things we cannot do.

We have done alot of 100mm acrylic letters with brass locators and then sprayed to finish. If colours came in 10mm all the better (only in 5mm) but we spray them after and get a great finish and effect. Especially when you put a chamfer on the edges.

Keep us informed i am sure we can all help. Rob did a post on individual letters that is worth reading.

Andy

[Texcat]

Thanks guys

I havent had the chance to look at them yet, been away from office.

But im sure they are great, we will cut them anyway and show client

Once again many thanks

Andy

[Texcat]

Rob

Can i pop in and have a look around and have a coffee. Or do i have to imagine a Virtual shop and a Virtual cup of coffee.
Now its open is that why the site has been down this morning????

Anyway you got there so well done

Andy

[Texcat]

Neil

You must REALLY love this job. The time of your last post on this subject was 12.48 am. I was in bed tucked up with me hot water bottle and teddy bear, or did you just get home from the pub, spending all that money you earn???? 😆 😆

Andy

P.S. Love the jobs you did, well done

[Texcat]

Well done Lorraine.

If i could get T shirts that low i would have them printed as well. Can you quote me for 5000 T Shirts with the following logos.

Next
Nike
Ben Sherman…………

I would make a fortune down the markets

Anyway to a serious point i do not do T shirts etc but how much is it for the following

10 High Quality T shirts with collar/ without collar with our company logo on breast

Logo is Pegasus (the flying horse) and SignMade (UK) Ltd on back. Delivered to Portsmouth

Cheers

[Texcat]

Brian

Its not the perfume you are wearing (re. Lorraine) its because the free bits are for home use only. For business use it is £60 set up, £24.95 pm but you can use any modem

Even with this said it is better than BT in fact anything is because it doesnt bloody work.

Andy

[Texcat]

Let us know how you get on or post their number for me. BT have been trying to sort mine out since October, the only good thing they are good at is sending me invoices for it.

I might send them an invoice for all my time wasted chasing it up.

Andy

[Texcat]

Am i right but temporary banners do not need planning permission, so thats a plus as well

[Texcat]

When you open i will make a nice plaque for you and invite the queen if we can use johns curtains

[Texcat]

Who needs a spellchequer. ????

[Texcat]

There is a product called FASTFITI 5 year anti graffiti film. I know Cox plastics do it but others may. I have never used it so feedback would be welcome if anyone else has

Texcat

[Texcat]

Hi from sunny Portsmouth

Tex

[Texcat]

Rob

Wish it was as easy as that, i agree with all points because thats exactly what was done (photos, survey etc)

The probs were the place is a building site and they are trying to open this week. So we are working around the builders, sparkies, plumbers, decorators etc.

When i did the survey i spoke to the builders and asked what the ceilings were, joists etc. Since then they have changed things. The doors were not supposed to be in yet but they were. All the measurements we spot on apart from lifting the sign up. When i post the pictures you will see what i mean. We didnt want the scaff but the plasterers need it after us so they left it up. The sign is 1760 wide but 3 metres in length and goes through the entrance of the building like a canopy and up to the ceiling again. Its like a U shape with infilled illuminated logosand lit disks.

The original drawings were from an architect and yes they were all wrong thats why we measured it. We always check the site and charge for a detailed site survey. With regards charging for the extra labour i already costed in 8 hours 3 men. but when we designed the build of the sign it should have gone up quicker so we are still quids in. Now he wants more signage (probably about £3000 more, not costed it yet) and we got invites to the launch party. Its a trendy bar/bistro and FREE beer all night.

The main problems as said was the scaff and the doors in the way

Hope this makes sense but will post pictures soon and you`ll see what i mean a bit clearer. All said and done it was fun because there were lots of totty around.

Andy

[Texcat]

ME ME Please

Andy (Texcat)

Cheers

[Texcat]

Wheres the pictures?????????????

Nice to see other peoples work

[Texcat]

Panic over.

Mate from another sign company had Aurora Perspex in for a job thats delayed and the Dibond. Thank god his is delayed as mine got pushed forward.

Will post pickies when done

Andy

[Texcat]

Cheers Becky

That will be great

Thanks

Andy

[Texcat]

There are many suppliers who do different foam products so it may be worth shopping around or asking Rob. As with all products, length is the problem. Dibond etc comes in lengths of up to 6 metres but no one will transport it unless you order loads and even that can be a problem. It seems norm for 3050 lengths but any bigger is trouble

Have you tried

Amari
Antalis
Cox Plastics

or Rob

Andy

[Texcat]

Robert

Did you ever manage to sort this project out.

Andy

[Texcat]

Hi Lorraine hope this helps or am I too confusing.

“So often in the process of buying and selling a business, either the buyer or the seller gets confused with the aspects of mark-up and gross profit, sometimes with disastrous effects. The importance of understanding the difference can be seen in this simple example:

After buying a stock item for £100 a shopkeeper adds £15 to the sale price to cover his expenses and a further £15 mark up to provide the necessary profit. A cash buyer is then offered a 20% discount which reduces the price of £130 to £104. This leaves the shopkeeper with a £4 gross profit from which he still has to deduct his expenses of £15. The end result is a loss of £11 on the sale.

The problem arose because he mistakenly thought that as he had added 30% onto the cost of the product, he would still make 10% if he gave away 20%. He didn’t understand mark-up and gross profit.

Mark up is what is added to the cost price of the item to cover expenses and provide a gross profit. Gross profit is what is left after deducting the costs of the item from the selling price. Running expenses need to be deducted to reach the net profit.

This is a very common mistake and will lead the business to financial ruin if giving discounts. Obviously the seller will sell more than one item to contribute to covering the expenses, but the point is to be careful. In your investigations you will also want a breakdown of the gross profit percentage for each item. This will help to determine which items are contributing the most to the gross profit.”

Andy

[Texcat]

We tried to spray a large batch of foamex for a client and tried lots of different methods. We took them to a car spray shop and it started to peal off alomost immediately.

We have tried Quad paints and two part, but now found a supplier that produces an acrlic paint that goes straight on and stays on. It comes in tins or aerosols.

Call Spraylat International on 01536 408409. It is not cheap but it is great stuff. Ask for Series 10 spray

I do not know about graduating it but you can put it in your spray gun

Hope it helps

Andy

[Texcat]

We tried these news Avery squeeges and have got back to the old gold and felt. These blue ones fall apart (we do it wet) and can then damage the vinyl when the felt falls off.

Also the plastic seems to get damaged easily and ends up with sharp edges.

Back to the old for us.

Andy

[Texcat]

I dont know if anyone here does but i use the following

Hampshire Canopies
Portsmouth
02392 650001

They do the lot

Andy (Tex)

[Texcat]

Soooorrrryyyyyy

I meant Rhinobond comes in 2 metre widths , thats good but only in white

Andy

[Texcat]

Thanks Guys

Dibond only comes in 1.5 metre widths.
Rhinobond comes in 2 metre lengths.

However, i need 2 metre length that is butler finish (brushed stainless effect)

This we cannot get yet, back to the drawing board.

It wasnt my design???
Good old architects, know it all don`t they!!! NOT

Andy

[Texcat]

Any one using Antalis as a supplier. I get great discounts and they are very good at deliveries and service.

Give them a call for magnetic board, call Mike Culver on 07980 791457

Andy

[Texcat]

Hi
Thats for the wet and dry saga, i think that will continue again for some time, but have looked on past posts and understand. Living on the south coast (warmer) its not to bad wet.
To Gray Hi from Pompey (Top of the league) when did you leave????

As for the web site, it is done in house by our design team and a new one is fast approaching ( nearly complete)

We shall post some of our work on the site soon and would like to talk through how some were done ( we seem to get all the silly jobs). Especially the 3m x 2m large curved sign we made that fluxed us at first, but heat bending foamex worked. post piccy soon.

Two things as well, anyone see the indoor mirror maze at the OXO tower (London) for Absolut Vodka? we designed and built that.

Also got to quote on some stickers (DECALS) the client calls them. 20000 off 4 types. will post the details tomorrow or thursday if anyone interested.

Love this place and keep it going.

Special thanks to Paul Davenport for the LED info.

Cheers

Andy (Texcat) Tex is the name of my one eyed cat