Need Help Folding Portable Trade Show Booth Prints Questions...

[player]

I have a customer (friend) who just got a used portable trade show booth. It is about 10.5' long, and 7.5' high. There are vertical magnetic strips that the sign panels (booth wall) attach to the skeleton or structure of the booth.

There are 4 panels 26.5" wide by 88.125" high. They look like they are thin styrene with the print either printed directly or an attached print. Then there is a very nice thick tough matte laminate that is very scratch resistant. On the back of each panel are .5" magnetic strips running from top to bottom on each side. The magnetic strips hold the panels to the booth. On the top left and right edge of each panel there is a plastic hook that is sort of like a large bread tag. These hook onto screws at the top of each side. On the back of each panel there is a thicker plastic strip that stiffens the top and helps the panel keep a nice slight curve. The ends are nice. The left and right end panels attach to the front and back edge (about 12" apart) and the panel curves around in the air creating a round 1/2 tube at each end.

I am looking for a very costs effect way to produce the panels. I was told by another forum member that the lam is probably a matte polycarbonate laminate. I looked up this material and found it to be a little pricey for quick pop up shows that will change frequently. I saw one example of panels that where printed banner material with the good lam.

So my questions are:

1- Laminate materials. What is good and tough (scratch resistant) and cost effective. If there is nothing cost effective, what should I use?

2- Backer material. Can I use banner material? I have a Roland VP540i printer, so I cannot print direct to styrene sheets. Are there other materials that I should look at for the panels.

3- A source for the .5" wide magnetic strip.

4- A source for the "bread tag" hooks.

5- Are these booths generic or are there specific manufactures? If so, what are some brand names?

Thanks!

 

[TrustMoore_TN]

Personally, I would have Orbus produce these for you. Even if it's not their hardware, you can send them the hardware and old panels and they can produce the new ones. The cost of materials alone will exceed the retail price, and getting everything trimmed correctly will take some time to perfect. I can't tell you how many of these I have had to reprint because of screwups.

 

[player]

Personally, I would have Orbus produce these for you. Even if it's not their hardware, you can send them the hardware and old panels and they can produce the new ones. The cost of materials alone will exceed the retail price, and getting everything trimmed correctly will take some time to perfect. I can't tell you how many of these I have had to reprint because of screwups.

Thanks for the advice. I am doing this for free, so for me to ship the unit to the USA from Canada would be costly. I am willing to do the time, and pay for materials, but have more time than money...

 

[jfiscus]

You can use just about any no-curl banner.
You can use any matte laminate, if you want to be fancy use a floor laminate. No one is really going to scratch these up.
You can hand cut new "hanger tabs" from thin sintra/plastic/pvc stock if you have an original as a template.
You can buy magnet stripping in a roll from most regular sign product vendors or I would have to say amazon or uline should both also carry it.
OR you can buy a "finishing kit" Creative Banner -

 

[player]

Is there a printable thin plastic roll material? What is normally used in roll-up banners?

 

[rossmosh]

This goes back several years when I was in the trade show world (and not in the printing dept) but we printed, laminated on HIPS, and then applied a textured laminate. We use all different types of booths so we applied whatever magnetic/hanger needed at the end.

I do know we got a decent buck for doing 10x10 and 10x20 booths. We had a few clients try to outsource the printing to save money but when they got to the show, the graphics didn't fit properly more often than not. Often the sales reps are doing setup on these pop-ups, so it was problematic when things didn't go smoothly.

 

[eahicks]

We also print on vinyl, mount to HIPS, and laminate with thin polycarb laminate. I will probably begin printing on the non-curl supersmooth retractable banner material and laminate that with a thicker polycarbonate in the future. Eliminates a production step. We don't do these that often though.