As a designer, I recently started ordering some Flex Face signs for a customer from a wholesale company. The signs came out great and they are needing a couple more, but the thing I noticed was they rolled them on a core and shipped out freight. The shipping cost was brutal. Can these be folded or does it cause an issue when backlit. I hate to request it to be done and there be an issue and have to eat it.
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Question Flex Face
- Thread starter Shirthead
- Start date
Brandon708
New Member
You really should ask the wholesaler you are getting them from this question. They would know what their materials can do.
My opinion though is that it acts the same as a banner. It will have some creases in it but eventually will come out. Although I am not familiar if their inks will crack if folded or pinched at a corner.
Very true. I just didn't want to request they fold it, them follow my instruction and it come back to bite me in the behind.
d fleming
Premium Subscriber
For vinyl, roll. Printed not so much. I used to do two rather large movie theater frames with new releases. 14'x20'. Just install what was sent to theater. They were all printed and all came folded in boxes. By the time we laid them in the morning sun and removed old faces they were just fine. Gave me a little nervy the first time I saw that they were boxed but rolled with it and worked out fine.
Hey! Thanks for the input. Greatly appreciated. I can for sure see where if it were vinyl that could be a bigger issue than printed. Where the ones you installed backlit? Wasn't sure if that would make a difference either and show a crease.
signbrad
New Member
I worked for a short time for a company that did backlit awnings and fascias for truck stops. Some of the fascia panels that were installed on the canopies over the pump islands were 90–100 feet long. Shipping them in a large tube was the only practical way. It was expensive (they were usually overnighted directly to the construction sites, so 1000 dollars was a typical freight charge).
But, assuming we could have folded them instead of rolled them, I don't think we would have, because sometimes these were shipped in below zero weather. I think there could easily have been a problem with the ink cracking on the eradicated faces, as well as a problem with the first-surface vinyl on the vinyled faces because of the cold weather. Some of the vinyled faces were full coverage backgrounds with reversed out graphics. We tried to always roll them up carefully, tightly and smoothly, and then wrap them in angel foam, before sliding them into the tubes for shipping. The tubes we used were the heavy-walled tubes that the Cooley fabric was shipped to us in.
We never actually folded anything, though, so I am just speculating that it might have caused a problem.
But, assuming we could have folded them instead of rolled them, I don't think we would have, because sometimes these were shipped in below zero weather. I think there could easily have been a problem with the ink cracking on the eradicated faces, as well as a problem with the first-surface vinyl on the vinyled faces because of the cold weather. Some of the vinyled faces were full coverage backgrounds with reversed out graphics. We tried to always roll them up carefully, tightly and smoothly, and then wrap them in angel foam, before sliding them into the tubes for shipping. The tubes we used were the heavy-walled tubes that the Cooley fabric was shipped to us in.
We never actually folded anything, though, so I am just speculating that it might have caused a problem.
The shipping cost is part of the cost of the sign. You should be doubling the shipping cost and adding it to the price of your job to the customer. Likewise, you should be at minimum doubling what the printer is charging for the flex face, possibly more. Just because you aren't putting in the work and time doesn't mean the end product isn't worth it. You are selling the primary on-premises identification and advertising for a business, and it's something that is going to last 5-10 years. You are not just selling a few hours of design time and passing on the wholesale cost of producing the product.