Making street and traffic signs

[jdwilliams1]

Hello, I have a sign business and have been making street signs for almost 10 years...mostly novelty.

I use aluminum blanks and vinyl since most are one offs and all are unique. Very few large runs.

I recently bought some signs from several competitors and one of them it seems prints onto the aluminum blanks and I believe it is from a uv printer. the finished product seems to be slightly textured and very nice. I am getting to the point where weeding is taking way too long and thought this might be another option.

Which leads me to my next question, many of my signs are put indoors but some outdoors. so I assume the life on these is not very good out doors?

How would you make a bunch of unique street signs on a daily bases if you had too?

Your thoughts are appreciated.

Oh...by the way I am new and this is my first post.

Jay

 

[Ken]

Hi.
Welcome from BC.
The inkjet printed signs ( Roland, Mimaki, Mutoh ) have only about a 3 to 4 year lifespan because of ink fade. Thermal printers are better for that. Perhaps someone else will chime in with some ideas.
You can search these forums for the info you are looking for.
Cheers!
Ken

 

[jdwilliams1]

Hi.
Welcome from BC.
The inkjet printed signs ( Roland, Mimaki, Mutoh ) have only about a 3 to 4 year lifespan because of ink fade. Thermal printers are better for that. Perhaps someone else will chime in with some ideas.
You can search these forums for the info you are looking for.
Cheers!
Ken

Hi Ken, could you give me some examples of Thermal printers? Are these flatbed?

 

[cwb143]

Flatbed printers do a nice job on aluminum blanks. Sometimes have to be cleaned with 99% isopropyl alcohol. Sometimes they need to be wiped with adhesion promoter. Flatbed printers use a UV light to cure the ink. but anything you put outdoors should be laminated. The first flatbed I ever used cost $150,000 and the 2nd one cost $400,000 not to mention the cost of the laminator.

 

[Bobby H]

Our shop can make authentic looking traffic signs. More often than not the customer merely wants one or more signs on his own personal or business property with the look of a certain kind of traffic sign. Standard flat or reflective vinyls (often with graphics digital printed) are fine for that purpose. Sometimes those signs are fun to make. I made a modified Speed Limit 55 sign for one guy whose wife was turning 55. I forget the extra messaging that was included, but it was taller in shape than normal.

For signs that will actually be used on streets and highways the specs are considerably more demanding and the resulting signs are considerably more expensive. The specs on street name signs for actual traffic use have changed based on the 2009 MUTCD. The reflective sheeting must be Type III high intensity sheeting or better, such as 3M 3930 White. You also have to use something like 3937 Green sheeting rather than just printing green on top of white. Type I "engineer's grade" reflective material is not allowed.

One of the toughest changes is new street name signs have to be made in mixed case. No more all caps legends. Sounds great until you try to fit 4" type in a 6" tall panel or 6" type in a 9" tall panel. Lowercase "g" "j" "p" and "q" characters can goof up the layout. You're stuck going with a taller, more expensive panel. Clearview Highway type hasn't been mandated but I'm seeing it used on a lot more traffic signs. It complies with the rule of lowercase letters being at least 75% the height of capital letters. FHWA Series 2000 Gothic barely complies with that. Funny thing: I've seen some new mixed case street name signs and even big green signs (in Pennsylvania) with the lowercase letters reduced to 75% of their normal height. You get a really big capital letter and tiny lowercase letters. I guess the MUTCD folks didn't write their rules clear enough to follow.

 

[jdwilliams1]

Our shop can make authentic looking traffic signs. More often than not the customer merely wants one or more signs on his own personal or business property with the look of a certain kind of traffic sign. Standard flat or reflective vinyls (often with graphics digital printed) are fine for that purpose. Sometimes those signs are fun to make. I made a modified Speed Limit 55 sign for one guy whose wife was turning 55. I forget the extra messaging that was included, but it was taller in shape than normal.

Hi Bobby, do you print these onto aluminum or do you use vinyl? If you print, what type of printer do you use?

Thanks

 

[JoshMarten]

We have set up traffic sign shops with Vutek flatbeds running 3M inks. We chose this ink set for the signs due the the MCS warranty and the fact that we went through extensive weatherometer testing for California state weather compliance. For extreme weather with hot and cold shifts, the 3M ink tends keep adhesion on metal due to it's ability to stretch and flex better than some of the OEM inks (although Vutek modeled it's Series 2 inks for the QS to emulate these properties.

With the 3M ink, our customers are printing directly onto 3M reflective traffic vinyls.

Another option is printing on 3M film with latex inks and applying to the blanks after the fact. No weeding!

 

[jdwilliams1]

Another option is printing on 3M film with latex inks and applying to the blanks after the fact. No weeding!

How do you line it up on the blank?

 

[aquasco]

If you want to enter in professional trafic sign bussines you can check some specialized machines from Durst:
http://www.durst.it/en/durst-phototechnik-ag/home/products-inkjet/rho-161-ts.html
http://www.durst.it/en/durst-phototechnik-ag/home/products-inkjet/rho-162-ts.html
or Mutoh:
http://www.mutoh.be/uv-printers/traffic-sign/page.aspx/5518

 

[MikeD]

jd
another option for printing street signs would be Summa's DC4 thermal resin printer. It's great for unattended production; holds up to 8 foils at once, and then cuts the graphics as well.

 

[StarSign]

I would just make sure that the process you are using meets not only your local code but the MUTCD as well, if they are going on streets.

 

[signage]

I would just make sure that the process you are using meets not only your local code but the MUTCD as well, if they are going on streets.

His signs are novelty signs not traffics signs!

 

[jdwilliams1]

His signs are novelty signs not traffics signs!

Actually we make novelty signs as well as MUTCD signs.

 

[hydo1]

Someone mentioned a Summa thermal printer... along the same lines you could also get a Gerber Edge & an EnVision 375 plotter. If most of the signs are under 11.75" in height this might work out fine. Just print green onto white. That is how we do most of our smaller traffic signs here.

 

[jdwilliams1]

How do line up your cut graphics? Same thing. If you're considering buying a flatbed because you're worried about lining up graphics on little signs.....you're missing something. Not trying to be an ***....just sayin.

Currently, I cut my vinyl letters and border and then I also cut out a square the size of my blank, so when I weed out the square it leaves behind the vinyl I want on the substrate. Then all I do is slide the blank up against the square weeded out edge and drop the blank. Perfect!! Of course I do these 20 at a time. So I guess if I did this method I would still have to weed out the board to line up the graphic with the blank but I would not have to weed the lettering because they would be printed...? am I understanding this correct?