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What is the stupidest thing you did at the shop?

A

AznSensation

New Member
I thought I throw this fun topic today.
For me... I cut a 24"x36" aluminum and slapped some vinyl onto it. I get a call from my customer saying that he will come in 10 minutes. So I go back to pack the aluminum nicely... but then I see a huge mistake. I slapped on white vinyl on white aluminum... when it should've been red vinyl on white aluminum.
So embarrassing... lol

if you have a story.. please do share :)
 
J

joeshaul

New Member
Poured some soda into the soda bottle's cap instead of into the cup it was supposed to go into right near my shop computer once. Just a couple of minutes ago I was cleaning up some crap I was just cut, couldn't figure out why the broom wasn't sweeping up well, had the dustpan upside down... I hate summer.
 
Flame

Flame

New Member
Took a 48" x 3" plastic tube that used to hold banner material, duct tape one end of it, poke a hole 5" away from the duct taped end, stuff in a buddys cop' can all the way to about a few inches of the hole, stick a torch in the hole and just sit there for about 15 seconds, building up the inside full of mapp gas................ and ignition.

That thing would blow holes in the wall. :) :) :)
 
Jester1167

Jester1167

Premium Subscriber
Stupid/Scariest at the time and pretty damn funny now:

We were removing reflective decals and installing digital prints for a fleet of Sysco trrailers. We heated the crap out of the reflective with torches and getting about 75% of the adhesive off with the vinyl. That was the best we could do with the old reflective. So we had to use Zep citrus based degreaser to soften and remove the adhesive; as we all know, it's messy and time consuming. I got tired of waiting for the adhesive to soften up, so I decided we try removing a section, apply Zep and remove the next section. Worked great on the first trailer. Second trailer we slopped on more Zep. I figured more is better, right? Wrong!!! We, er I mean, I caught that back door on fire. Nothing in site to put it out. Not sure if the solvents burned off in 15 seconds or if I blew it out. It seemed longer than that at the time and I about fell of the scaffold from hyperventilating. I got lucky. No one but us saw it and he black soot wiped off and all ended well.

It's funny now, but at the time I had visions of a lost customer and a weeks worth of profit down the drain.

Moral of the story: Read labels, think things through before you act, and if your going to use open flames you might want to carry a fire extinguisher and keep it close.
 
Vanishingstar05

Vanishingstar05

New Member
I was cutting vinyl for a 2- 16' x 3' face for Title Cash... I stuck the vinyl to the face and got all finished with the sign. I set it laying up against the wall in the shop. It sat there for about 3 weeks until the sign was ready to be completely installed. (mind you, it was right across from where my desk was in full view, and my boss and the installer walked right past it multiple times a day). My boss came out of his office, stopped in his tracks and said " you didn't, did you?" The sign read "Cash Title". They were both like that. oops.
:banghead:
 
Mosh

Mosh

New Member
Used a red reg to eradicate color off a cooley awning. It turned the white to pink and would not come out $500 mistake.
 
washingtonsignguy

washingtonsignguy

New Member
jhilldesigns said:
applied graphics to the protective sheet of lexan...
Click to expand...

Done that one too, except to dibond. At least it peeled off easily. The other day i printed up 40 directional d/s coro signs with the arrows pointing opposite ways. That one made me mad, cause i didnt notice till the customer was looking them over. I hung one in my shop for a reminder.
 
Arlo Kalon 2.0

Arlo Kalon 2.0

New Member
I hand lettered 2 4x4 sign that were directionals to a country club golf event. I layed out the signs with arrows on full 4x8 sheet, intending to cut it in half after it was lettered. I cut it and took it out into the country and installed it. Several days later I got phone call from incredibly irate country club manager. What I never noticed was when laying out signs on full 4x8 sheet the arrows pointed different directions when it was cut in half and applied to both sides of poles. It seems there were LOTS of old people in Cadillacs getting lost on county roads going through cornfields after making wrong turn per my signs directions.
 
Sign_Boy

Sign_Boy

New Member
This one requires a diagram hahahahaha.

So years ago I was working at this one shop.
We were lettering 4 x 8 MDO or RTG whatever you want to call it.
Well I got a bright idea.
I stood between the two shop tables (about 10" - 12" max between them) and tried to lay the 4 x 8 down.
It was going well until I got stuck.
The board wedged me between the tables - my coworkers laughed for about 5 minutes before the helped me out.

It was kind of funny.

I use to take the ball out of one our sales guys mouse - he would sit down to work and his mouse wouldn't work. He always rebooted his system. You would think he would have checked the mouse first. The kicker is I always put the ball on a shelf right in front of him.
 

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300mphGraphics

300mphGraphics

New Member
Cut wind slits (I know, I know) in a highway banner without double checking thoroughly what was under it. I knew there were old paper templates there, but didn't know there was another cut vinyl and window perf job under that. Got nice half circles in them now.
 
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