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What do you want?

BigfishDM

BigfishDM

Merchant Member
Looking for your insight on what you would love to see more of when it comes to market content. Do you guys want to know more about materials, applications, pricing strategies, marketing strategies, or things like lead generation? Would really enjoy your feedback as I am trying to build valuable content for the market we are in. I am starting my own vlog and looking to see what you guys are hungry for.

Thanks!
 
Gino

Gino

Premium Subscriber
I was just talking about this............. I could really get into some double pepperoni pizza and a large coke.

Seriously...... applications always intrigue me. What's possible today, wasn't even thought of a decade ago. Products and techniques are so forever changing, it's hard to keep up with it. That's my vote.
 
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equippaint

Active Member
Agree with gino. So many products and media out there and different applications. Examples, ideas, how to etc.
A table of media would be helpful too, with attributes, applications, life span, type ie pvc, major brand crossover equivelent etc. I shy away from anything not made by the majors because its hard to know what compares to what. We pretty much all know 3m as a base point.
 
2B

2B

Active Member
Materials - ideally with real-world results, especially private labels / unestablished

Techniques
* applications - Example we have found that when installing onto aluminum, you take a 3"x3" piece of magnet, tape it (with 4075 transfer tape) to the trailer and now you can you use your regular surface mags for vinyl positioning, and then move the mag to the area as needed

* tools - Using PVC, 12mm, on the work tables as the surface.
can plane smooth, soft enough if items are dropped on it, flip over if too damaged. cheap enough to replace regularly
we have an oversized seamless banner with large pole pockets on 4 sides, that we place on the bay floor, drive the customer's vehicle onto it and then place foam pool noodles inside the pole pockets
this keeps your shop clean & dry if you are waiting for a freshly washed vehicle to dry
 
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bannertime

Active Member
For me personally; I'd like a bunch of product category tests done.
  • sewn, vs regular banner tape, vs high bond tapes like killer red, vs heat welded banner finishing vs banner up type reinforcements.
  • side by side of promotional, intermediate, and cast products at like 6, 12, 24, 36 and 72 months. etc. for different brands
  • independent testing on high bond tapes and adhesives.
  • even reviews on products like keencuts, sawtrax, of things like liquid lam vs film.
Basically what this guy does, but for sign specific products.
 
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bug

New Member
- i would add when testing materials, also testing with different inks for example: eco solvent inks (original mutoh, roland, mimaki, vs 3rd party inks jetbest, bordeaux, ....), different uv inks, latex....
- then for applications, what would be best result or how to find better option... for example, i use eco solvent inks, i had to do light box, bought translucent vinyl in the end i just printed on white normal vinyl cause plexi was transparent and colors were much better when light box was on at night compared to translucent vinyl. Graphic was picture with some gold simulation gradient, maybe if it wold be differnet graphic, would be better to use translucent vinyl....
- there is a lot of questions this printer vs that ...., maybe to show and explain differences, objective way as possible
latex vs solvent
heat, speed, drying, changing materials, consumables, printing on different materials, temp., humidty influence, for example i changed every year 1 print head, since i change form mutoh ums, to 3rd party ink jetbest and humidity is 25-55%, sometimes till 70, didnt change it 4years, before i was in basement and i had a lot of humidity from 50-70%
- then there is also how to repair things on machines,...

bannertime said:
For me personally; I'd like a bunch of product category tests done.
  • sewn, vs regular banner tape, vs high bond tapes like killer red, vs heat welded banner finishing vs banner up type reinforcements.
  • side by side of promotional, intermediate, and cast products at like 6, 12, 24, 36 and 72 months. etc. for different brands
  • independent testing on high bond tapes and adhesives.
  • even reviews on products like keencuts, sawtrax, of things like liquid lam vs film.
Basically what this guy does, but for sign specific products.
Click to expand...
 
Signed Out

Signed Out

New Member
Various different inks, solvent/latex OEM/ 3rd party, printed then "baked" side by side under intense UV lamps to simulate sunlight and see which inks are more fade resistant, and also which color inks last longer than others. Same tests done side by side, laminated and unlaminated, and on various vinyls. Would really give a good idea on longevity.
 
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equippaint

Active Member
Testing products would take years, not really feasible. Most product testing is done in labs under accelerated simulated wear tests with specialized equipment. Doubt this will be in the capability of a distributor.
 
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bannertime

Active Member
equippaint said:
Testing products would take years, not really feasible. Most product testing is done in labs under accelerated simulated wear tests with specialized equipment. Doubt this will be in the capability of a distributor.
Click to expand...

I think the hardest part is just keeping up with it. A majority of us have been in business much longer than 6 years so it'd have been pretty easy for us to make some samples. 3M list IJ180 as has been around since the early 2000s. IJ35c has been around since at least 2013 according to their website too.

I keep meaning to do it myself, but well, I never have done it.
 
rydods

rydods

Member for quite some time.
I'd like to see more products geared more toward the 1 person production department. Rolls are heavy, so it would be nice to have a multi roll "feeder" behind each printer so you don't have to constantly change out media.
 
BigfishDM

BigfishDM

Merchant Member
bannertime said:
For me personally; I'd like a bunch of product category tests done.
  • sewn, vs regular banner tape, vs high bond tapes like killer red, vs heat welded banner finishing vs banner up type reinforcements.
  • side by side of promotional, intermediate, and cast products at like 6, 12, 24, 36 and 72 months. etc. for different brands
  • independent testing on high bond tapes and adhesives.
  • even reviews on products like keencuts, sawtrax, of things like liquid lam vs film.
Basically what this guy does, but for sign specific products.
Click to expand...

Well I spent a few hours on this guys site last night, lol he does some cool stuff!!! Thanks for sharing.
 
Signed Out

Signed Out

New Member
BigfishDM said:
What i


I am going to make some 63" Vinyl and see if I can get 63" matching lam. Would you guys prefer gloss or matte? I was thinking bubble-free grey back, or would straight permanent be fine for your applications?
Click to expand...

We'd be mounting with a laminator so need for bubble free, permanent adhesive is what we'd prefer. 3 grades, super cheap short term, 5 year calandered), 8 year cast.
 
BigfishDM

BigfishDM

Merchant Member
Signed Out said:
We'd be mounting with a laminator so need for bubble free, permanent adhesive is what we'd prefer. 3 grades, super cheap short term, 5 year calandered), 8 year cast.
Click to expand...

I gotcha, ok well if you could start with one, which one would you choose? I was thinking of starting with a 3-5 mid-grade vinyl.
 
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