The Letterville BullBoard: Weeding Table?

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Posted by John Deaton (Member # 925) on :

What kind of weeding table do you use? Wood,laminated,metal,etc. WHat works best for cutting and trimming and weeding, and applying premask.

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John Deaton III
Deaton Signs&Grafix
109 N. Cumberland Ave.,Harlan, Ky. 40831 606-573-9101

johnd3rd@kih.net
http://www.angelfire.com/ky2/dsigns

Posted by Ian Wilson (Member # 177) on :

I have an old Draughting table with a 8'by 4' top fitted to it and a layer of self healing cutter mat on it it is great

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Ian Wilson
Signmaker Toowoomba City Council
Cnr Anzac Ave & Stephen st
Toowoomba Queensland Australia
may all your toubles be little ones
The man that never make a mistake never makes anything

Posted by Tony McDonald (Member # 1158) on :

I've got the same thing. I took a 4 x8 sheet of 3/4" plywood and put on a 2x6 frame with a shelf underneath for some supplies and toolbox. With a 4x8 cutting mat. Works great. It's about counter top high so it works good by standing or setting on a barstool. I took 2 eyebolts about 6" long, drilled 2 holes about 24" apart angled down on one end of the table so the eyes were about even with the table and put a 1" dowell rod through it with a couple fender washers and short sheetrock screws to hold the rod in, and that made a dandy tape holder and cost about 5 bucks. If you measure just right you can set the tension on the tape by tightening the screws. Liked the table so well I made a 16' the same way. Works great on those 20' banners and big stuff and it's strong enough to dance on.

Werks fer me.......

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When good things happen...that must be a sign!!
Tony McDonald
DBA-Ace Graphics & Printing
P.O. Box 91
Camdenton, MO. USA
(573) 346-6696
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<tony@brownbeverage.com>

Posted by Mike Pipes (Member # 1573) on :

I bought a 30" x 96" "buffet" table from Office Max that I use for taping, then I have another table but 60" long I use for weeding

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Mike Pipes
Digital Illusion Custom Graphics
Lake Havasu City, AZ
http://www.stickerpimp.com

Posted by Wayne Webb (Member # 1124) on :

Hey John,
I bought a 24''x12' moulded kitchen countertop with the built-in backstop(prevents x-acto knives and other junk from falling off between the counter and the wall) and set it on some cabinets. Has drawers and doors for storing all our junk.
We have a 24'' plotter so it works just fine for us.

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Wayne Webb
Webb Sign Studio,Inc.
creators of "woodesigns"
"autograph your work with excellence"
webbsignstudio@digitalexp.com

Posted by Ross Luckhurst (Member # 703) on :

John;

I bought an eight foot banquet table and mounted my Weber tape tool on one end. I had a piece of glass cut to the width of the table and slightly shorter to clear the clamps for the Weber. The exacto glides nicely on the glass top!

If i need to mask anything longer than 8 feet, I just slide the unmasked vinyl under the weber and let it dangle over the edge.
Then I mask the first 8 feet, then pull the unmasked portion up on to the table and continue masking till its done. Works great.

The only change I'm gonna make is to build some boxes to fit under the table legs to raise it up a bit, and save my back on those marathon weeding sessions.

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Ross Luckhurst
AKA Scolt on Chat
DIGISIGN
Woodstock, Ontario, Eh!
digisign@netcom.ca
Proud Letterhead Site Supporter!

Posted by Dave Draper (Member # 102) on :

Hi John,

We also have a 24 inch counter top x 10' which sits on some dresser drawers which are great for storing all the tools of the biz and extra vinyl cuts.

We have a Weber application tape machine bolted down to the left end of the counter and the system works extremely well.

Here is a picture:

Since I work from my home, and space is a concern, we mounted a 4 x 10 sheet of plywood
on the wall with hinges to make an easel.
Next we overlaid that plywood with a thin sheet of steel to make it magnetic sign receptive. To make it pretty, we covered it with 14" x 24" rectangles of different color vinyls that are close to vehicle colors.

Now we have a unit that serves 3 purposes and does not take up floor space.

1. its an easel to sit boards on to letter
2. its a color design tool to see what color combinations work well together for truck lettering.
3. its a weeding table, a verticle weeding table for the 30" and 48" inch vinyl we use.
We place the vinyl on the easel positioned with magnetic sign scraps. works great!

4. And unfortunately its turning into a message holder with post it notes all over it! That would be a good project for me to do today...clean off the post it notes, that is!

have fun!

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Go Get 'Em..... :)
AKA Raptorman on #Letterheads mIRC Chat
Draper The Signmaker
Bloomington Illinois USA

Proud 2-yr. $upporter of this Web Site (May 1999-May 2001)

Posted by Janette Balogh (Member # 192) on :

Hiya John,

Inside my studio, I have a 7'x3' table built from wood, with a formica top. I picked a grey granite-look formica so it doesn't show cut marks and scuffs as much. I have an accordian hinge on it that allows me to fold down 1 foot of the table when I want more space in my studio work room.
The whole thing is on wheels so it can be easily moved around. There is a shelf underneath where I have big translucent plastic drawers full of "stuff". Paper, drawing utensils, tape, and drops of vinyl.
You can get the drawers at Target.

I also have two 4'x 8' painted wood tables outside, and one of the same inside my shop. All three of these tables have a shelf underneath them and are on wheels also. The 4'x8' table inside my shop also has plastic drawers where I keep more "stuff" like hardware, roller covers, stir stix, rags, tools etc.

All 4 of these tables have served me well for multi purposes. Those wheels are definately a plus! Get the good wheels too, worth the extra expense.

Nettie

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"When Love and Skill Work Together ... Expect a Masterpiece"

Janette Balogh
Sign Studio
in Sunny Florida
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Posted by Rick Sacks (Member # 379) on :

I had a connection for 4x8 sheets of the OLFA type cutting mats, but that company no longer sells the blanks. They're one of the companies that cut them into the 2x3 sheets with all the lines printed on them. This type mat seems way far superior to the white polyetheline mats available.It came in a rough size and you mount it on the table and trim it with a router.

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The SignShop
Mendocino, California
"Where the Redwoods meet the Surf"

Posted by Larry Elliott (Member # 263) on :

I have a 24x36 vacumn table mounted on a 45 degree angle so you can stand or sit and weed in a comfortable position, an old Hoover vac in the paint store room with a long hose run through the wall to the table. We apply transfer tape on a 4x8 table with an old butcher paper type dispenser to hold the tape roll, table top is covered with heavy sandblast mask for a soft cutting mat. Simple tools for simple people but it works great. I've seen others wrestle with a piece of vinyl by holding it down with one hand and trying to weed it with the other, works OK until you need both hands to unstick a mess up. Vacumn tables are fairly easy to build and not real expensive to buy, either way they're worth a ton in saving time. Since the advance in digital film-making not many people still use large format copy cameras, the vacumn platen from these units can be bought pretty cheap complete with the vac pump.

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Larry

Elliott Design
McLemoresville, Tn.

If you can't find the time to do it right,
where gonna find the time to do it over?

Posted by Christian Slager (Member # 1074) on :

ive got 2 4 1/2' x8 foot tables pushed together to make a 4 1/2 by 16 footer.
its got a pebbly grey formica top. doesnt show dirt or paper schnibbles.
love it for all those big plywood and banner orders.
crisco

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Christian S.
Budget Signs & Graphics
In sunny Florida
vinylman777@juno.com
ICQ# 41812133

Posted by Mark Fair Signs (Member # 289) on :

hey john,
i use my 4' x 20' plywood easel.
i also use a pair of "art scissors" (long blades)instead of an exacto knife to slice up copy with. (no cut marks )

mark

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Mark Fair

Mark Fair Signs
http://www.markfair.com

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2162 Mt. Meigs Road
Montgomery, Alabama 36107
334-262-4449

mark@markfair.com

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Posted by Robert Thomas (Member # 1356) on :

For a cutting surface try 3/8" D/F primed mdo. It's pretty hard & after 6 mo. to a year you can flip it over & use the other side.

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Robert Thomas Creative Signs In Beautiful Naples, Fl.

Posted by Pierre St.Marie (Member # 1462) on :

Weeding table, (we call it stripping) is 4' by 20' sheet metal. Masking tape hold great and we can cut on it forever without damaging the surface. Vacumn table is 4'x8' combo. Acrylic surface, vacumn holes and it's filled with 6' flourescent lights. Allows both vacumn and backlighting for inseting multiple colors.

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St.Marie Graphics
& Makin' Tracks Sound Studio
Kalispell, Montana
stmariegraphics@centurytel.net http://www.stmariegraphics.com
800 735-8026
We're chiseling every day of the week! :^)

Posted by Donna in BC (Member # 130) on :

My weeding and cutting table are both framed with 4x4's and built out of plywood tops, topped with glass.

Cutting table is 36" x 14 feet. Weeding table is 4'x 8'. The weeding table is just high enough to store all my file cabinets under.

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Graphic Impact
located in BC Canada
gisigns@sprint.ca

Posted by Bob Darnell (Member # 27) on :

Where I work we have two weeding tables: 4' x 20' and 5' x 30', and across from each are two light boxes - 4' x 20' and 4' x 25' which sometimes get used as weeding tables too. I'm not sure what laminate they used the last time, but it's not very good. It's very hard, so it doesn't damage easily, but we run through a lot of knife blades too.

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Bob Darnell
London, Ontario, Canada
_______________________
bob.darnell@home.com
Online Portfolio available at: www.members.home.net/bob.darnell

[This message has been edited by Bob Darnell (edited September 02, 2000).]

Posted by Mike Pipes (Member # 1573) on :

Donna, can you actually *reach* the rolls on that top shelf? =) I'm no munchkin but even I would have a tough time reachin up and actually grabbin' onto a roll way up there! =)

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Mike Pipes
Digital Illusion Custom Graphics
Lake Havasu City, AZ
http://www.stickerpimp.com

Posted by Donna in BC (Member # 130) on :

Of course I can reach them Mike. I usually throw something up there like at the carnivals and hope the color I want will eventually fall down. (the cleanup afterwards is a real drag, but my aim is improving)

Ok, when I'm not too lazy, I drag out the dreaded footstool. When super lazy and feeling daredevilish with lots of bandaids on hand, I roll out my swivel computer chair.

(all stories strange but true)

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Graphic Impact
located in BC Canada
gisigns@sprint.ca

Posted by Rick Sacks (Member # 379) on :

On our olfa type matt, I use one of those pizza cutter style rotary knives. We have them with retractable blades and they really last a long time.

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The SignShop
Mendocino, California
"Where the Redwoods meet the Surf"

Posted by Steve Purcell (Member # 1140) on :

I've tried lexan, formica, varnished masonite, pvc, & glass. What I found works the best for me (and cheapest) is a sheet of 3/4" mdo, painted white & marked as desired, covered with a 4x8 sheet of 1/8" polyethelene (about $25).

I get about 18 months of cutting, then flip it & use the other side.

It's easy on the blades, also.

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Purcell Woodcarving & Signmaking
spurcell99@mediaone.net
Cape Cod, MA

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