Here's another one. I have a shop thats 25 x 75 it is mainly all open floor space with a dividing wall for the office/design part. How "clean" does the edge environment have to be. I have dust and saw dust all over all the time, so should I build an enclosed area to put the edge unit in. Just wondered how "clean" the area of operation has to be to produce undamaged prints.
Probably a stupid quesion, but wanted to see the replies.
Thanks again,
Posted by Glenn Taylor (Member # 162) on :
The printhead is a sensitive piece of equipment. If you are cutting and sanding in the same room, you are asking for a lot of headaches. I'd recommend building a small room. Also, I would put in a small window air conditioning unit. This will help control humidity, plus provide a positive air pressure so that when you open the door, it will help keep dust from coming in.
Posted by Steve Purcell (Member # 1140) on :
My shop is much the same as yours. I won't even keep my edge there.
Building a dust free room and keeping it that way sounds a lot easier than it actually is. Even the smallest speck of dust will ****up an edge print, costing $$$ and frustration.
I built a lab in my basement for the printing.
Posted by Henry Barker (Member # 174) on :
Hey Chuck,
Maybe you'd be better off with a CNC router!
I have been thinking for a long time about an Edge, still don't have enough regular work for one. I buy time from a company that has 3 and just supplies other sign co's with GA/Omega software.
This is a very dusty enviroment! We built the office here 7 yaers ago to keep the plotters and computers dust free, but everything is covered in it in here....so it didn't really work for me, I think I will end up with a router before an Edge.
Steve where's that picture!
Posted by Steve Burke (Member # 2674) on :
Hey Chuck! Congrats on your investment!!
I recommend no carpet if your heels can take it- you create a lot of static with it, and cleaning carpet has been scientifically proven to create more dust than it eliminates (hence my unwillingness to clean at home ).
keep a shroud of plastic over the Edge when it is sleeping (hopefully not too much!!). The bag it comes in is OK.
anybody caught eating or drinking while Edging should be shot on sight. Peanut Butter is not an edge foil color, nor is Coffee! I am being over-cautious with this, but it never hurts to at least have clean hands when touching the vinyl...
Keep edge materials off of the floor- on a shelf or rack. That includes foils. BTW keep foils in the box or the Edge, nowhere else. They aren't too static-prone, but leaving them out just increases your bad luck.
let me know if you have any udder questions...
Posted by Bob Gilliland (Member # 28) on :
Chuck,
Let's make it a nice five for five. A clean environment is very advisable from a productivity and PM standpoint. The majority of the shops that I have interfaced with that have experienced ongoing print quality issues (about three of them) have provided some of the most, shall we say, “sanitarily challenged” surroundings for the machine, substrates, and foils. It’s a great machine but it does have some limits.
Guess we just made the “cost to acquire” go up a few bucks to include a some 2 x 4’s and drywall. Sorry! Posted by VICTORGEORGIOU (Member # 474) on :
Chuck, you get the point about cleanliness. A little room without special ventilation won't do the job because you will carry in the dust with your feet and with air movement while the door is open. If you use an air conditioner for positive pressure, it has to be set to the outside air setting.
Our shop was always so dusty, we set up the Edge in an entirely separate part of the building. If you can maintain a professional office level of cleanliness, nothing spectacular, you will have very few if any problems with dust. Vic G
Posted by Doug Allan (Member # 2247) on :
My shop is 25' x 30' with a second & third floor loft I've built gradually over the last 5 years. Until Nov. of 2000, my air conditioning was a 12' wide roll door & all my vinyl had a thick layer of dust on it. I built this 12' x 20' office the month before mt Edge arrived. It still gets dust but with the AC & a little care it is easily 10 times cleaner, & more comfortable. My prints are always acceptable except the greasy paw prints on the beggining of the roll after lunch now & then.
Posted this before so might as well link to it again for this thread. My Clean room:
Here's my other favorite shop pic...
[ May 02, 2002, 06:47 AM: Message edited by: Doug Allan ]
Posted by Chuck Gallagher (Member # 69) on :
Thanks you guys! Yep the cost to start up just went up. This building has no central heat and air. Just a hanging blow furnance. (It is Cabool you know. Just a little old town) So, even if I section off a room 10 x 10 it still won't have any outside air flow from outside. Just the outside air from the rest of the room. I'm wondering just how clean it will be? Hmmm....
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