Without rules
This demonstration shows a system used to make signs without using a tape measure or rule.
No need to check alignments, calculate centres, compare margins or anything else for that matter, and the trick is not performed with mirrors but with ‘alignment bars’.
The answer, as with all things in life was unbelievably simple! – when you’ve finished laying out your sign on screen – simply add a bar or several bars to indicate where the edge of the sign is. Cut these ‘bars’ together with the text and graphics and then ‘align’ them to the edge of the real sign as you apply…it was so simple…and it all came out of the vinyl that would normally be weeded out and thrown in the bin!
Anyway, without further ado, here’s a sequence of photos showing a real-life example of this process beginning with…
the original design and… the ‘cut file’ in Signlab with the ‘alignment bars’ added.
We begin with the 3’ x 2’ foam board, ordered pre-cut from the supplier at no extra charge.
The Black block incorporating the ladder fits neatly into the left-hand end of the board.
The Light Grey shadow for the main title is applied with the accompanying ‘alignment bar’ laid along the top edge of the signboard – between the previously laid Black block on the left and the right-hand edge of the signboard.
With the shadow correctly applied, the ‘alignment’ bar’ is removed before it adheres too permanently.
Next, the main Red title is applied. The grey shadow was welded during the design process to ‘extend it’ under the Red title itself (see previous photo – notice the double letter shape effect!). Now all that is needed is to place the Red title directly over this ‘extended’ part of the grey shadow.
As all the Red text was cut from a single ‘pass’ of vinyl, with the main title correctly applied over the Grey shadow, the rest of the Red text must also be correctly aligned!
Next, the Black text. These are applied, again as one ‘block’, this time with the ‘alignment bar’ positioned along the bottom edge of the sign, again between the Black block on the left and the right-hand side of the sign board. In this way, all the Black texts are applied in one and all perfectly positioned too!
Here we can see the application tape being removed and, because the ‘alignment bar’ was not pressed ‘home’ with the squeegee, it comes off easily at this point.
Finally – the finished sign! Not once did we use the tape measure – no ‘extra’ vinyl was used – and everything is perfectly aligned and positioned.
So – that’s ‘Signmaking without Rules’
