We're Moving! - What should we buy/or not buy?

[Tattoosleeve]

Hey all,

We're moving shops in Feb/Mar. We'll be moving from a 2300 sq/ft facility to a 5000sq/ft facility. We'll be eating up a bunch of that extra space with a finishing table and a flatbed printer but would like to know what types of things other shops have purchased as far as shelves, floor racks, wall racks, cabinets, bins, equipment, tools etc.that you have added to your shop have made an impact on your daily efficiency, organization, staff moral, product quality or was just a better solution to something you were doing differently in the past?

Similarly what did you spend money on that you rarely use or didn't pan out the way you expected and you wouldn't do again?

Thanks in advance!

 

[henryz]

What type of work do you do or plan on doing?

 

[2B]

Make sure that the productions tables are PERFECTLY FLAT.

Vertical wall mounted (dustless) substrate cutter

 

[ProColorGraphics]

I love having a flat substrate rack. I couldn't find anyone local to build one, so I bought a 4' wide, 10' long and 10' high pallet rack and put 11 shelves on it. It is WAY over kill, but works great. Just wish I had the room to go 12' wide.

 

[Tattoosleeve]

What type of work do you do or plan on doing?

We are predominantly a substrate shop with the bulk of our work being ACP, coro, banners, sintra, decals, vehicle graphics and wraps. We have an FB550 on the wish list and are putting a deposit down on a Konsberg X24 next week. The Konsberg will bring our routing for gemini post mounted stuff in house along with opening up other avenues for product / services.

 

[Tattoosleeve]

I love having a flat substrate rack. I couldn't find anyone local to build one, so I bought a 4' wide, 10' long and 10' high pallet rack and put 11 shelves on it. It is WAY over kill, but works great. Just wish I had the room to go 12' wide.

I've been debating flat or vertical. What do you like about the flat rack over a vertical setup?

 

[Pixels Are Bad Mmmkay?]

Our RollsRoller table was a great investment. We laminate and mount all of our prints with it so it's literally the perfect production table and it can replace a laminator altogether.

 

[jfiscus]

I've been debating flat or vertical. What do you like about the flat rack over a vertical setup?

Vertical substrate racks make it easier to get substrates out, but the materials that CAN warp WILL warp on them since there is no pressure keeping them flat.

 

[Cory Marcin]

I agree with jfiscus.
We actually have both vertical and horizontal racks. We just built them ourselves using 4x4's and plywood. We keep our 'less likely to warp' substrates in the vertical rack and the more sensitive substrates on the horizontal. If you are buying a flatbed printer, warped substrates are going to cause all kinds of issues for you. Good Luck!

 

[ExecuPrintGS]

Pallet racking for our flat goods when we bought our flatbed printer was awesome, still one of the best organizational purchases we have made. Our Fletcher FSC is awesome, we use that daily.

 

[Tattoosleeve]

Ok, that totally makes sense on the flat racks.

 

[Tattoosleeve]

Are you using 12' substrate or would it just be nice to have more clearance when putting/pulling 10' sheets? I have room for 12' but don't necessarily want to use the space if I don't have to.

 

[Tattoosleeve]

I love having a flat substrate rack. I couldn't find anyone local to build one, so I bought a 4' wide, 10' long and 10' high pallet rack and put 11 shelves on it. It is WAY over kill, but works great. Just wish I had the room to go 12' wide.

Are you using 12' substrate or would it just be nice to have more clearance when putting/pulling 10' sheets? I have room for 12' but don't necessarily want to use the space if I don't have to.

 

[Gino]

We have both flat and vertical racks. We built them all and the dainty stuff goes on the flat rack and it's at the end of our roller tables, so from any level, the substrate flows our quite nicely, then we clean it and send it to print.

Another good thing is good lighting and plenty of it, if you don't have ample windows.

edit: Our racks are 5' x 10' with 8 shelves. Next to it, we have a 3' x 9' rack to hold large cut-offs I hate it when someone orders one 14" x 144" sign, but it happens. Ya need a place to go with that valuable property.​

 

[ProColorGraphics]

Are you using 12' substrate or would it just be nice to have more clearance when putting/pulling 10' sheets? I have room for 12' but don't necessarily want to use the space if I don't have to.

Some sheets come a hair over 10', so they won't fit in-between the beams. So they go on the very top. haha

 

[gnubler]

Thread revival, now it's my turn to move and set up shop. Eventually I'll build shelving to hold large sheets flat but for starters I'm needing a rolling substrate rack to hold and move around larger panels. Signworld has one I like, and Uline has a couple models as well. These are all around $500. Does anyone use anything like this and do they work for you?

 

[Boudica]

Thread revival, now it's my turn to move and set up shop. Eventually I'll build shelving to hold large sheets flat but for starters I'm needing a rolling substrate rack to hold and move around larger panels. Signworld has one I like, and Uline has a couple models as well. These are all around $500. Does anyone use anything like this and do they work for you?

View attachment 162494 View attachment 162495

We do. I LOVE it! Ours just has one rack/handle, but it's like the orange one.

 

[ChaseO]

I use a drywall cart. I added some 2x4's to extend it to make it where I can move 5x12s on it without too much flop.

 

[johnnysigns]

We have old wood A-frame carts that we use constantly. We do a lot of acrylic work too so having an anti-static air gun has proved immeasurably helpful.

 

[2B]

Thread revival, now it's my turn to move and set up shop. Eventually I'll build shelving to hold large sheets flat but for starters I'm needing a rolling substrate rack to hold and move around larger panels. Signworld has one I like, and Uline has a couple models as well. These are all around $500. Does anyone use anything like this and do they work for you?

View attachment 162494 View attachment 162495

We built our own cart, which looks a lot like the red one
It is loaded with substrate or I would take images

Used 2x2x3/8 angle iron for the frame, scrap MDO for the floor, welded sucker-rod on each end to create "trays" put oversized PVC pipe over the sucker-rod so the substrate slides in/out without damaging

Hindsight
* Should have made the wheels larger and locking
* Used a "slick" material on top of the MDO so the material slides more easily