Machine that welds vinyl banner edges and grommets at the same time?

Miller Weldmaster has one.
https://www.weldmaster.com/machines/aes1900/

 

I would have to do 10,000 banners to pay for a machine like this. I buy premade banners and keep them in stock

 

How many banners are you talking about? We use hem tape and a hand grommeter. Grommets usually every 24" or so unless otherwise specified.

 

I sell a banner that does not need to be finished. You just print, cut, grommet and go. No tape, no sewing, no hassle. (Unless you need a pole pocket lol)

 

Sounds perfect for me were do I find that material?

 

Just give me a jingle at 714-878-7989 I am Josh

 

Any luck for us overseas people on that material? So sick of hemming by hand, but we don't do enough to warrant buying a machine either.

 

I could totally send it from here, BUT let me see if I can find you a Dickson Coating/Glen Raven dealer over there. I can also send it by boat and that would bring down freight by a lot. It would take a few weeks to get it but we would plan around that.

 

Modern scrim vinyl technically doesn't need finishing. It'll last much longer than the standard 90 days a banner is made to last. For us, edge finishing is more for appearance than durability, it also helps with customer peace of mind. I ordered a Liester Hemtek a few months ago, and while it's not for the faint at heart, it's pretty great. It's literally cut after-print production time in half. On some sizes like 5ft and 3ft, there's no trimming except the short ends. I'm still not sure about a semi-auto grommet machine yet, but we're keeping an eye out for one.

The Liester can be had for around $3k, but again, it takes tuning and practice. I was running max speed after only 4 hours of practice. You'd also need a minimum of 10 feet of table space. The more the better. Might be something to consider.

With a lot of hesitation we've also added those sticky corner tabs and hole punch. We installed a bunch of banners for a corporate client and they all came with the small clear tabs. A big storm came through and not a single one was damaged. So we started to use those for when a customer doesn't care about the edge hem. You can use the "reinforced" single sided hem tape or the white tape for extra "strength." It's strong, but it's not as strong as they want you to think it is. Custom Adhesive Products makes a white single sided hem tape that's cheaper than the Banner Up version too.

 

We have an RF welder machine and people who need that type of work just use us. Also have an automatic grommet machine. If your not doing huge quantities, best to source out.

 

I have customers who use banners as permanent signs. They do work...

 

We use this.

Started with PowerTape, was fine for 4-5 years, but then every roll had the adhesive leaking out of the edges which make an awful mess if the banner is in storage for any amount of time (gets all over the print side). Tried different vendors, same result. An employee accidentally reordered it recently and the result was the same.
Anyway, we found and switched to the tape sold by Custom Adhesive Products, and it was MUCH better, a little less costly as well.

 

Never said it's not possible. We had a 300sqft banner on the side of a building outside Dallas that was up over 20 years (unless someone was reproducing and painting the same thing all those years). However, I'd never go and tell a customer their banner will last 20 years. Plus, I'd bet any city using a UDC will not "permit" a banner or allow banners for more than 30/60 days. Obviously this excludes flexface type materials.

Yeah, it's a better product at a better price. Surprised that more people aren't aware of them.

 

I have clients that cover illuminated faces with them. They leave the boxes off. I don't agree they are long term, but with a good quality material and some UV liquid topcoating they can go for some time.