Need Help Best Tools/ Equipment For Traffic Sign Fabrication/ Installation

[TrafficTrailblazer]

Hello, I hope everyone is having a great day!

I just really wanted to get some ideas for the best tools and brands so I can upgrade my sign truck. I work for the city and can buy any tools and equipment I need.

This is what I currently have:
-Old craftsman wrenches
-Old Hammer
-Very worn lightweight post hole diggers
-Brand new impact, drill, sawzall & grinder (dewalt)
-Broken shovel stem + handle (tamper tool)
-Water tank on truck (sign cleaning)

I considered getting a cheap pneumatic tamper tool and putting an air compressor on my truck, but not sure if it will save me that much time/ effort compared to using a stick to pack in the sand/ dirt around sign posts.

Im looking to REALLY upgrade my tools and equipment and need your advice on some of the best brands or even some specific tools I may not know I need! We buy metal blanks and print/ cut the signs using an HP 365 Latex printer and a Summa 150 cutter. We are pretty covered for shop supplies, so my main priority is upgrading my truck for when im in the field, but if you have reccomendations on shop supplies i would love to hear that as well. Im open to anything so please dont hold back.

Thanks!
-TrafficTrailblazer

 

[Texas_Signmaker]

I dunno what else you need to install street signs, that's a pretty limited scope. Sounds like you already know what you need based on that list of old broken tools. Think though what you use and go stand in the tool isle of Lowes and look around. I install a mix of everything so hard to tell what would be useful to you

 

[ikarasu]

If you dig a lot of post holes.... Get an earth auger. You'll still need the post hole digger for when you hit a rock, but we purchased one for a job when we had to dig 50+ holes...it saved so much time and was worth the few hundred bucks and saved our backs. We got the cheap Ryobi one because we purchased it specifically for a job just to see if it'd work... It's not bad, and maybe a Dewalt / Milwaukee one would be better - we don't do TOO many holes aside from that one job... but every time we have to do some digging, thats the first tool our installers grab. I'd say it works in 9/10 locations.... All depends if theres huge tree roots / Rocks, or something else in the way.

If you're using HS1 brackets... A Cordless ratchet is nice as well....We just had another job where we had to put up 400 signs, swapping out a parking lots signs with a new provider - 90% of them were unbolt an old sign, re-bolt a new one... The ratchet worked perfectly. A drill works as well, and would probably be faster... but the ratchet allowed getting into tight spaces (When doing a front and a back HS1 bracket, and then needing to adjust where the height is... a drill wont fit, the cheapo ryobi ratchet system we have does).


Actually.... I'd say invest in some ryobi tools, as dumb and counter productive as it may be. We use milwuakee for 90% of our items... and anything we know we'll be using once a week, or even once a month. but having a bit of Ryobi in the ecosystem allows us to purchase "Specialized" tools on a whim.... We've bought a ratchet, earth auger, Glue gun, Grinder, we have a cheapo drill just as a backup... Got the stapler... And probably half a dozen other tools that stay in our shop 99% of the time, but when we need them... boy are they worth the $100 they cost.... If a tool can save 1 hour of labor over its lifetime, it's worth the $100. I wouldn't spend the $3-400 per tool Dewalt/ Milwuakee wants for the amount of use we get out of them.... but its nice to have them.

 

[Charlie Davidson]

I know I'm a little late to the party but I can help with this.

What sort of sign posts are you installing? U-Channel, Telespar (square posts) or wood 4x4 posts?

 

[kcollinsdesign]

Just as important as having decent tools is storage and organization. I carry several tool boxes (or heavy duty tool bags), each organized and stocked with tools for different applications. I also keep my power tools in their original cases, stocked with bits, blades, and attachments (and extra batteries). I also have several hardware organizers I keep stocked with commonly used fasteners and other bits of hardware and electrical supplies. I buy fasteners in bulk which I keep organized on a shelf in the shop, and restock my mobile supplies from there, buying more when my shop supplies start to run low (avoiding multiple trips to the hardware store which gets expensive).
Battery management is important too. Learn how to keep your batteries healthy by charging them correctly, and keep extra batteries with you on the truck, charging depleted batteries when you get back (I also have an inverter installed in my truck).
I carry a duffel filled with rope, twine, cable ties, a cheap grommet kit, duct tape, baling wire, rags, paper towels, glass cleaner, and WD40. I also have a dedicated vinyl installation tool box that holds a 24" plastic level along with squeegees, x-acto knives, extra blades, scissors, window scrapers and a collection of hand tools that I have found handy for working with vinyl. I also keep extra power supplies, ballasts, lamps, LED modules, sockets, etc. on the truck, along with a few sticks of aluminum angle and tubing and a few pieces of 2x4 lumber.
Organization is key, along with keeping your mobile supplies stocked and ready to go. Spending time looking for (and remembering) everything you need for a job is a time drain; I like knowing everything is stocked and ready to go.

 

[JBurton]

I carry a duffel filled with rope, twine, cable ties, a cheap grommet kit, duct tape, baling wire, rags, paper towels, glass cleaner, and WD40.

Ya know, I'm not saying that these are the tools of a kidnapper, but I can see a cop getting really wide eyed until he comes across the grommet kit...

 

[netsol]

Ya know, I'm not saying that these are the tools of a kidnapper, but I can see a cop getting really wide eyed until he comes across the grommet kit...

nothing against ken, but, i was just thinking that John Wayne Gacey carried the same things in his truck...

 

[JBurton]

nothing against ken, but, i was just thinking that John Wayne Gacey carried the same things in his truck...

Yeah, minus the grommet kit, plus a clown costume.

 

[netsol]

you mean you don't have a clown costume?
we can send you one

 

[Rocco G]

If you have to pull a lot of posts, with concrete, out of the ground, look into postpullers dot com (IDK if i can post a direct URL). In 2019/20 we did a bunch of bank locations and of course there were a lot of directional signs to remove/replace at each. There were about 300 directionals in total. All of the old signs had concrete footings. As long as the concrete fit between the legs of the puller, they came out with minimal effort. Usually the hardest part was taking the old sign/footing away from the installation site. As a bonus, your new hole is mostly dug because you pulled out the old "plug". Best of all, they are made in Texas. I think they are ~$1250 now but if I had another bank conversion with pulling directional signs, I'd buy a 2nd without hesitation.

 

[JBurton]

If you have to pull a lot of posts, with concrete, out of the ground, look into postpullers dot com (IDK if i can post a direct URL). In 2019/20 we did a bunch of bank locations and of course there were a lot of directional signs to remove/replace at each. There were about 300 directionals in total. All of the old signs had concrete footings. As long as the concrete fit between the legs of the puller, they came out with minimal effort. Usually the hardest part was taking the old sign/footing away from the installation site. As a bonus, your new hole is mostly dug because you pulled out the old "plug". Best of all, they are made in Texas. I think they are ~$1250 now but if I had another bank conversion with pulling directional signs, I'd buy a 2nd without hesitation.

We used to always use a 'farmer's jack', or evidently most folks call them hi lifts. I say used to, because now most of them are glued together, and the jack just rips the face and middle frame from the sign. Googling postpullers, them folks in the uk have it figured out, there's one that fits on a back hoe and pulls off the pto. Makes quick work for loading up the scrap post.