USMC3225

I just got a job for quite a few coro signs to promote a detailing business. The shape of the sign has to be a 50's classic like the one they use for their logo. How do you think a router would work to cut multiple coro signs at one time? I looked around and nobody sells blanks in the shape I need.

I have been thinking of buying a Wacom Intuos5 Pen Tablet to use with Corel Draw for node editing and drawing new art. Does anyone use a pen tablet or have any experience with one? If so what are your thoughts.. good buy or pass on it?

really nice

word will spread pretty fast with you doing that kind of work... you may be getting busy whether you like it or not... no advertising required...

First time needing some help pricing a job... I just landed a contract with a natural gas company doing there signs (well contract pending this job). I need to come up with a price for 10 4' x 4' signs using Oralite 5500 reflective. The signs have basic lettering and a 2" reflective boarder. All lettering and boarder are reflective. The signs will be placed on aluminum base. I was going to use Max-metal from Grimco. Never have done a job this large with such high stakes. Pricing help and any tips, tricks, or donations welcome... Thanks for the help in advance.

Everyone on here is very honest and gives the best advice to improve and or fix something to make it better than what it currently is. It is only to help you advance your skills or through a road block of sorts. I do agree with everyone though. The art is very good and if it were on your store front window the comments may be a bit different. Yes, being on your tail gate with people following you does give them more time to read it, but the people that are more than likely to call you for your services are going to be looking for how you effectively display your own graphics as well. The art is spot on but the readability of the advertisement is not and that may cost you the better side of business.

Now that's not right.... lol

Exact same way I do it and has never failed me yet.

A catalog is the way to go. I keep a catalog for vinyl and another for dimensional signs. Maybe one day I will have one for print/dye sub, just not in the budget at the moment.

Yeah the wind is certainly the worst part of going up.

My insurance wont cover me or anything or anyone for any damages or injuries if I go above 47 feet. Not exactly sure why the odd number though... I occasionally will take a job pushing 40 feet but don't like taking anything above 30. I had a company in the city ask me to hang a dimensional between floors 6 & 7 and the only access was the roof were they had winches for the window washers to repel down. I would have had to repel almost two stories to hang a one piece sign aprox 8' by 4'. I told them I wasn't even going to quote a price bc I was afraid they'd accept it.

Id be in the $600 range too. The wind will give you a challenge that high up with that large of a graphic in one piece. It may seem calm on the ground but the higher you go the more wind you will have. I only go 30' up and that's usually with dimensional letters on store fronts.

lol.. I know right... Its not a government job but because of permits that the company needs it needs to meet certain government requirements because they will be obstructing a waterway with frequent small craft travel. I sent them over a quote. Thanks for the input it really helped.

20 per sqft actually sounds really good to me right in around my profit margins. Sounds a little high to me since they only need them hung for about 5 days during the project, but gov regs say they need them sign put up or the fines will cost them a hell of a lot more.. I do use clean cut blades wouldn't use anything but.. Thanks for letting me know about tubelite. I will be sending them my application for the esales tomorrow to see their prices and what shipping might be. The closest location they have to me is about 4 hours away in NJ. I used to have a local supplier that gave me really good deals on Alum. but he retired and I had to resort to Grimco for a lot of things. I just hate paying their shipping charges.

Harbor Freight is about an hour from me... like everything else lol... but I have tons of tools from them. I buy most of my bigger power tools from sears bc I like craftsman tools but if Im not going to be using it hard of its a good enough deal I will buy from Harbor Freight especially hand tools bc they have a lifetime warranty and are cheap. I might have to hit them up for a cheap band saw. I wont use it much but every now and again I do wish I had one. Maybe a scroll saw as well.

I'm pretty good with the router but would imagine it would leave rough edges that need to be cleaned up. I thought about using a band saw but that is the one thing I don't have as of yet. I have used my router to cut kydex for holsters and just run it over the belt sander to clean the edges. That rotozip tool looks pretty much like a jig saw without the pulling of the blade, may have to look into that thing.

I have a lot of family in NY and some are even cops. I have no idea why they stay there.. well cops in NY are paid very well... but besides that even though they are allowed to carry anywhere in the country they themselves cant stand NY laws. I frequently am asked (when I open carry), why do you carry a gun? My response; because I would rather have it to save your life as well as mine, but also pray to god that I will never need it. Better to have it and not need it than to need it and wish you had it.

I wouldn't be either.. The only place we cant carry is schools and government building or places with a posted sign specifying the own of the property doesn't allow it. I carry into my local court house on regular basis and check my gun with the deputy at the door. Lately there seems to be more companies posting no firearms allowed signs so a few local companies in my area have countered them with the signs I make stating they encourage the legal carry of firearms. The more people that carry the safer our neighbor hoods will be.. I wrote a research paper for one of my CJ classes on "Gun Laws and their Effect on Violent Crime." Some of the facts actually surprised me. Women that carry can have a HUGE impact on decreasing violent crime (13% decrease). Here is one of the signs I make for the local companies. I charge for supplies only on this one. Guns_Allowed_Sign.eps

Concealed carry badges are always a bad idea.. I love PA bc of the gun laws here. There is not a single day I do not carry. We can carry openly without a permit as long as you don't get into/or on a vehicle of any kind or go into a city of the first degree (Philly is the only city of the first degree in PA) I carry concealed most times but open carry 2 to 3 times a week as well. A noticeable presence of a civilian carrying a gun can thwart off crime before it happens. Open carry vs concealed is topic of its own but I do both. I also just made up some sign a couple weeks ago for a couple stores in town that basically said the carrying of guns is encouraged on these premises for your protection - criminals beware. I had a guy come up on my back deck and break my sliding glass doors into my kitchen about 2 months ago, he met me, my dog and my S&W MP9. Amazing how fast the cops show up when your wife calls 911 and says you are holding someone at gun point. We had 2 cruisers here in about 2 minutes... PA laws says I could have shot him bc he came in the house but then I would have had a mess to clean up lol..

very nice........ but you are missing Yuengling Lager in that fridge

welcome from Pennsylvania. Those koi are awesome, great work.

Thanks, that post helped a lot... One question though... what is Atari?.?.?.?........... Hahahaha... couldn't help myself... I think I might still have mine up in the attic somewhere actually..

I build mine out of old windows and led strip lights from eBay. Because the window in the frame is inset a bit the led lights sit in perfectly and I can just take the whole window and set it on my desk when needed.

I also use paper tape. The green star med tack has been wonderful to me. Cheap too . The only time I use clear tape is when it is requested. When I go to the occasional flee market I have a catalog with everything I have with me and a some examples of decal in different colors on a banner hanging from the table. works better than clear tape bc people don't handle everything as much too.

that's funny right there