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Need a New Outdoor Sign Method (temp signs)

M

Monsoon190

New Member
Hi All,

I've been making temporary outdoor signs for thoroughbred auctions on 4mm coroplast with an inkjet coating on an old Novajet 880 for over a decade now, but my coroplast vendor is no longer willing to provide this blank for me. Seems I've been his only customer for this sign blank for a while now and it's a disruption to his bread and butter runs of other material.

So now I need another way to produce these signs. The end product only needs to last about 2 weeks, outdoors, under an eve, winter or summer. They are 22" x 28" and are attached to a barn door with a good old fashion staple gun. I do about 250 of these per order 3 to 5 times a year, and I've got about 2 weeks to produce and deliver. Every single sign is unique, so silk screening or vinyl is not an option.

One solution I'm thinking of is to purchase a used Stylus Pro 7800 and modify it to use Sepiax inks and use a 14-ply poly-coated outdoor posterboard as the sign blank. This material is flexible and is approx .062 thick and, best of all, is inexpensive.

I'd like to try to set something up for well under $5K but can go a few $K higher if I must.

Does anyone have a setup like this that I could get an end product sample sign printed from?

Does anyone have any other suggestions?


Thanks All !!!!!
 
Mosh

Mosh

New Member
Get a used roland sp-300 (30" printer) and print them on banner material.
You can find those all day long for your price range.
 
M

Monsoon190

New Member
Hi Mosh,

The material needs to be something like 1/16" + thick posterboard or 1/8" + thick coroplast. Its just what's been used at these events for the last ump-teen-thousand years and people would freak if you suddenly handed them a "piece of cloth".

I used to print to roll material then mount it onto 14 ply chipboard, but when you have limited time to do that much mounting and zipping off excess with an x-acto, and you've done it for 10+ years, it can drive you f***ing nuts. This is why I'm trying to find another "print to simi-rigid material" solution..... load - print - deliver - forget
 
Tom Dalton

Tom Dalton

New Member
We sell 4mm coroplast panels cut to 22"x28".

See...
SignsDirect.com

Ask for a quote if ordering 200+ panels.

Also, if I were putting these on the sides of barn (and for only 3 weeks), I'd consider something even wimpier than coroplast. Something like the waxy paper card stock that is used to print "fold-over" political signs. Look at Stouse and their "all weather posters".

T

I've been making temporary outdoor signs for thoroughbred auctions on 4mm coroplast with an inkjet coating on an old Novajet 880 for over a decade now, but my coroplast vendor is no longer willing to provide this blank for me. Seems I've been his only customer for this sign blank for a while now and it's a disruption to his bread and butter runs of other material.

So now I need another way to produce these signs. The end product only needs to last about 2 weeks, outdoors, under an eve, winter or summer. They are 22" x 28" and are attached to a barn door with a good old fashion staple gun.
Click to expand...
 
M

Monsoon190

New Member
Hi Tom,

To clarify, the coroplast that I was buying had an inkjet receptive coating applied to one side. I only know of one place that was offering this. I became his only customer for this coated coroplast and I wasn't purchasing enough material from him to be cost effective anymore. He would have to drain down whatever coating solution he was using on other material to make small runs (comparatively) on full sheets of coroplast, then cut those down to 22 x 28, just for me. I understand his decision not to offer this anymore.

This is why I'm looking for a new printer/method/process what would allow me to print to something without an inkjet coating.

Beginning with my dad, we've been doing these signs for thoroughbred auctions for well over 50 years. They were originally hand lettered on 14 ply show card until I began printing them on roll material and mounting them on 14 ply chipboard. Registering the chipboard to the image and removing the excess with an x-acto became tedious. When Encad came out with their Novajet 880, I looked around for a rigid or semi-rigid board that would take regular water based ink and found the coated coroplast.

Now that I can no longer get the coated coroplast, the research begins all over again! The material that I have my sights set on is a poly-coated outdoor 14 ply poster board offered by Dick Blick. This would fit nicely with what the thoroughbred people are used to seeing their signs made out of and be much less expensive than the coated coroplast, letting me spend more on ink. The question becomes: will this go, without issue, through an epson stylus pro type printer.

Sorry for the winded response. I figure more info is always better than to little info.

If anyone's interested, you can see more of what I'm talking about at beallsigns.com
 
Gino

Gino

Premium Subscriber
If you have two weeks to produce these things, I would seriously think about a small cheap flatbed. Then you could print directly to Cor-X, shocard..... even plain offset paper stock.

We have a belt driven vacuum flatbed and could do these in a reasonable amount of time. Problem is fitting something into one's schedule. If this is all you do, then no problem, but a last minute job for 250 pieces, might cut it close for some guys.

Since your Dad is old school, a 22 x 28 was a natural size. You can get full 28" x 44" and do two up at a time. However, if you could change your size to 18" x 24" you could get 10 a sheet in Cor-X. You'd have them done and ready to go in two days.
 
M

Monsoon190

New Member
Isn't "small cheap flatbed" something like a triple oxymoron?

I know what you're saying though, and i search high and low for that deal of the century. this is a part-time thing for me.
 
Gino

Gino

Premium Subscriber
Nope, no oxymoronisms.

Then sub it out if ya can't find one...... or until you do find one.
 
B

Bkaupp

New Member
Although not really a solution in a new direction, there is a company, Ontario Specialty Coatings http://www.ontspct.com (despite the name, they appear to be in NY) that produces a coating you can buy and apply to a substrate, or can buy pre-coated material. We purchased it years ago and coated some coroplast to run through our 880 and it worked great, although I think using a sprayer to apply as they suggest would get better mileage then a foam roller. Due to space limitations in our store we didn't buy another pail, we just started outsourcing as we don't do a whole lot (we are primarily digital copy/print, plus some vinyl, banners, etc).
 
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M

Monsoon190

New Member
Hi Bkaupp,

Yup... Ontario Specialty Coatings... it's who I was getting my pre-coated coroplast from. They still sell the InkAid that you're speaking of. I've coated my own a few times when I was running low on my pre-coated stock. It proved to be a bit time consuming, plus I don't have the space to lay out a couple hundred boards while they dry.

Also, my 880 is all but shot. It's amazing the amount of 4-letter words I use when I do a run.
 
M

Monsoon190

New Member
I'm going to start a new thread in here with a different direction. I find I'm being discouraged, by individuals and information (and lack of information), away from Sepiax ink, and my volume and available space is not enough to justify a flatbed. I've started looking at Roland eco-solvent printers, and that's where my questions will begin in the new thread. I'll monitor this thread for any additional info on the EcoMax/Sepiax setup or UBER cheap, small footprint uv flatbeds.

I want to thank everyone for their input!
 
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