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It's possible that the DTM series is just a marketing ploy for a self-priming paint. Self-priming paints have actually been around for a long time. Even so, I would not use DTM on raw aluminum without an etching primer first. What DTM is good for, in my opinion, is painting sign poles, where...

Film thickness Consider the possibility that you got twice the scratch resistance because you had twice the film thickness. Achieving a minimum dry film thickness is essential for optimum durability and hardness. With Matthews, for example, a single heavy pass is not enough. You need two wet...

Normally a primer is unnecessary on a pre-painted service if you are using a solvent-based finish. Thorough sanding is necessary. 360-grit might be a little coarse. Certainly that is the coarsest you would want. I prefer 400-grit on a dual action sander. You can get an electric DA if you don't...

True.

Most 3M bulletins (such as Bulletin 5.1) specify 60-100 degrees F for application temperature (though I think Orocal says 46+ degrees for 651). So temperature can be an issue. High humidity can create an adhesion problem, too, as mentioned in Bulletin 5.1. Also, the older the banner material...

This is the way to do it. One of my exes is a "creative director" (whatever that is). She bought design work for projects all the time. She had two steady designers that she farmed work out to. She had to have a policy since she was a middle man. It was "two revisions and three tweaks." After...

Timstudio, I just now realized you are in Netherlands. My comments about logos and letter styles commonly not being protected by copyright is based on US law. The US has taken this position for a long time, though I think it is uncommon in the rest of the world. Because of this, we have the...

Logos copyrighted? If a logo consists of mere lettering, even if the lettering is stylized, or if a logo consists of lettering together with common shapes, it is not protected by copyright law. Surely, neither the Fiat logo nor the Ford logo contain what the US Copyright Office calls...

I make it a point to never say "eps" or "pdf" to a client. If I say "eps vector," they don't even hear the word "vector." Invariably, the clueless client will take their pixel image and save it out as a pdf or eps and send it to you. I say only "vector." We need a vector. I write it down. If...

I don't know the answer either, but here are some thoughts anyway. The two holes at the top were for two of the four bolts that went into the corner gussets, which hold the sign together. This is common construction technique on a knockdown kit when the corners are not welded. Will the top...

Thanks for the replies!

Heebo

A client spec'd a font that was a variable font. All I want to do is type it in as is, without tweaking the strokes in any way. Does Signlab just not support variable fonts?

Is there a trick to using them? Do I just need to be smarter? Brad

Yes, it's part of the "fine print." But it's not an attempt at deception. Charging for overruns has been standard practice in the printing industry for generations. My ex, who has been a creative director for 30 years, told me this a long time ago. She said, for example, an order for 10,000...

I have never had any success welding anything thinner than .080" aluminum.

In typographical terms, this phenomenon is called overshoot. Usually it measures 1 to 3% of the letter height, depending on the letter style. Why does a round letter look shorter? Why the optical illusion? Read my blog post from 2016. :) https://signbrad.com/?s=optical+illusions...

If you don't have a brake but want to make a pan, just attach angle aluminum to the back perimeter. Brad in Kansas City.

Mike, I have done this more times than I care to admit--back in my "snapper" days!

This is worth looking into. Some LED lamps may allow the face to be closer without showing "dots" of light. And I have used top corner screws to ward against blowout of a polycarbonate face when a hanging bar is not feasible. Screw holes do not cause cracks in polycarbonate the way they do in...