Help with making aluminum signs!

[ikarasu]

Funny enough.... while trying to be funny, Gino is right. These are all usually screen printed.


We do them all the time.... UV ink doesn't last long enough, these are meant for machines that need to last 15-25 years and UV ink will scratch off.


The reason you're paying $40 each is because of the time it takes to burn a screen and print them in low quantities.


We do them for an aircraft manufacturer... And they always have to be screen printed.... They won't accept laser or anything else. Even the blanks are screen printed and then they stamp / ink them.


You could buy a $20 screenprint kit on Amazon and do it yourself. It'd cost you maybe $5 cents in enamel ink, and less than a buck in emulsion and film to print them.

Then about 30 mins to setup / print / register.... 45 mins to clean the screen....


Ask your current provider if they screen print or UV print and I bet you they're screen printed.


You can buy a UV printer... But even chinese ones are in the 6k range for one that can print on them. And the ink won't last nearly as long or be nearly as durable.

 

[Owen Signcraft]

Those prices he called out sound like retail prices. I'm reading it like he's just trying to bring these in-house to save a couple bucks.
Fine, but don't expect professionals to hand over trade secrets so you can cut them out of the equation. OTH... The set-up he would need and learning curve is going to cost more than $3

Because the 3 or 4 9x12's that he requires a month could be feeding a sign guy's family! lol.

 

[CodaMatthews8]

Why would you replace these or even take them off? We have a construction equipment paint shop and always mask them off. If there's a pile of rust behind them, which is rare, we will remove it and put it back on after. Never replaced a serial plate though

I’m not replacing those I found those on Google for something “similar” to what I make. We do APi 4G inspections and make our own plates showing certification dates etc.
I won’t be putting anyone out of business by buying my own printer, I thought I was using a US company but lately my packages have been coming via DHL so I’m guessing it’s being shipped from China now. They used to be extremely durable and now they chip easily, the quality recently decreased! Probably when they started outsourcing to China.

 

[CodaMatthews8]

The next question he will ask is where to get the blanks.

There’s a local Company called premier craft in OkC that builds us custom control panels, they take aluminum, brush it and anodize it. He can make me blanks for reasonably cheap. With that said, if he anodizes them black, I could laser engrave the letters, would something like an omtech laser work for that or are those cheap Chinese stuff?

I have autocad we use for machining parts, so something that would print/engrave a DXF file would be awesome.

 

[Patrick Farrell]

Why would you replace these or even take them off? We have a construction equipment paint shop and always mask them off. If there's a pile of rust behind them, which is rare, we will remove it and put it back on after. Never replaced a serial plate though

I used to work for Weller Reman. All of the cast iron carriers for the rear/front differentials and transmissions all had plates on them noting who built it and date of manufacture. In the case of a rebuild and the cast iron is good to be used again the plates are removed so that the new builder can put his name on it for warranty purposes. But we had a computerized stamp machine that punched the letters into the plate (which was premade).

 

[CodaMatthews8]

Ended up getting a OMTech Galvo 50W laser. I’ll cut do the mostly black signs with anodized blanks and I’ll do the other ones with black marking ink and see how it works.
Our inspections expire every 10 years so I guess if it don’t last 10 years I’ll mail them a replacement.
Largest I can do is 8 x 8, but 95% of my work is 6x8 so if i occasionally have to order one tag online I’ll survive, or I’ll get on here and pay one of you to do it .

if it don’t work out I’ll have a slightly used laser for sale

 

[GraphixGirl79]

Hey all, long time lurker, just made an account to ask this question!

I need to print black color on aluminum signs. Not large scale, maybe 3-4 per month. Largest size 9x12.

What’s the best method to do this? Any recommendations for a printer? Would like to spend less than 3K.

You could always just print them on a clear media with UV laminate, and then apply them to aluminum. If you only doing a few. Unless they want the "laser engraved" / stamped look or entering their own numbers, etc . You could try sourcing through Gemini. They make all sorts of goodies like that.

 

[Notarealsignguy]

You could always just print them on a clear media with UV laminate, and then apply them to aluminum. If you only doing a few. Unless they want the "laser engraved" / stamped look or entering their own numbers, etc . You could try sourcing through Gemini. They make all sorts of goodies like that.

They won't hold up. It really has to be engraved,, we have had to do a pencil rubbing many times to get serial numbers off of parts and machines.