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Don't throw rotten tomatoes my way, but I have to truthfully say, to date, it would have to be the Mac MONITOR. I've never seen clarity like this before on any computer. The brightness,tone and sharpness is incredible for photos. My new PC $300 LED screen looks like mud in comparison. I'm going to price out a Mac monitor for my PC dinosaurs downstairs.
But my now ancient Roland PNC 1000A plotter is still hummin' along like it's new. (knock on wood!) Gotta love that!
My mind wanders. And that's not a good thing, 'cause it's too small to be out there alone. Posts: 3129 | From: Tooele, UT | Registered: Mar 2005
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This is hard to answer. For the past couple weeks, every day I've had a "favorite tool of the day". One day last week it was the attachment for the panel saw to cut coro, another day it was the 12" clear plastic completely bendable ruler. I also don't know how I survived without a 2' T-square.
As for $ making equipment, it's hands-down the Edge.
And Jill, a friend that helped me get the house & shop ready for move-in day gives me a hard time about my lack of height. He calls the work platforms pigmy adapters. I'm gonna cut that out of vinyl & sneak it onto his.
-------------------- Chris Welker Wildfire Signs Indiana, Pa Posts: 4254 | From: Indiana, PA | Registered: Mar 2001
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quote:Originally posted by John Byrd: Gerber 4B. Bought it used in 1987 and it still is my go to for sandblast rubber and quick pounce patterns. Wish I had one of the old 30" 750s from those days for wider stuff.
My Makita plunge router from 1994. Same 3 1/4 HP motor as the 12" planer.
Overhead projector I bought in 1986 when I first went out on my own.
My Grumbacher 1 1/4" flat from 1984. Still the best brush I ever bought.
I bought a set of those flats called "truck writers". Them and the extra long script brushes were the best investment I ever made. I still use them but the 1" flat did eventually crows foot on me. And my old Gerber 4A is still used for pounce patterns, cutting scotchlite, and sandblast rubber.
-------------------- Drane Signs Sunshine Coast Nambour, Qld. dranesigns@bigpond.com Downunder "To err is human, but to really foul things up requires a computer" Posts: 965 | From: Nambour, Qld. Australia | Registered: Nov 1998
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With Winplot and Corel5, it was a flawlessly perfect machine.
Then the hard-drive died and new, memory hungry versions of corel came out and after 15 years--well, it was like losing an old friend.
-------------------- Michael Gene Adkins The Fontry 1576 S Hwy 59 Watts OK 74964 Posts: 845 | From: Watts, OK USA | Registered: Jun 1999
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Adobe Streamline 3.0 For a decade plus, I've used it to trace designs and it ran flawlessly through every version of Windows without needing updates, upgrades, drivers or any of the other junk we deal with today. Quick, clean...a rare program that does just one thing and does it well.
I can't get it to run on Windows 7, but I've set up an older computer with Vista JUST so I can keep it going. Rapid
-------------------- Ray Rheaume Rapidfire Design 543 Brushwood Road North Haverhill, NH 03774 rapidfiredesign@hotmail.com 603-787-6803
I like my paint shaken, not stirred. Posts: 5648 | From: North Haverhill, New Hampshire | Registered: Apr 2003
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Sweet Pig (my dog) in his own special way has been my favorite piece of equipment...he has provided companionship on some very long trips to install signs...and has sat by during those installations...patiently observing...making sure things were done right...then often has posed along side the finished sign for some pics...last year glaucoma took his vision...he has adapted well to his "blind dog protection vest"...and because he is blind he is unaware of the plastic hoop...since getting the vest Pig's nose is feeling alot better.
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WOW,, what a great idea. I am willing to wager that he has adapted an over came and uses that hoop as his sonar.
-------------------- Leaper of Tall buildings.. If you find my posts divisive or otherwise snarky please ignore them. If you do not know how then PM me about it and I will demonstrate. Posts: 5274 | From: Im a nowhere man | Registered: Jul 2001
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Especially my ZETA 30" friction/sprocket--it is the coolest design ever for a plotter. The ability to cut friction up to 30" as well as 15" and 30" sprocket feed is an act of sheer genius. Couldn't live without it.
Why no one makes a machine like this anymore is beyond me.
-------------------- Michael Gene Adkins The Fontry 1576 S Hwy 59 Watts OK 74964 Posts: 845 | From: Watts, OK USA | Registered: Jun 1999
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Lots of good equip....but I have to say my brushes & paint. The power was out for several days a while back & I had a horse parade wagon in the shop to letter...thought I couldn't do it since we didn't have power...silly me...I could hand letter it!...don' EVEN think you can get a day off that way! That job warrented hand lettering anyway.
-------------------- Lynda Yoder Wayne Yoder Signs & Designs 4735 List Rd Grass Lake, MI 5176884951 Posts: 154 | From: Grass Lake, MI | Registered: Feb 2007
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A 1942 Ford Business coupe that I bought in 1957. Dropped a 53 ab Merc block in it,bored .030 over, domed pistons, 5/8ths cam shaved heads reworked carb,relieved intake and exhaust, dropped front axle,5-50/15's front,8-50/15's rear (tires) and off to the races... What a fun car.
-------------------- Jack Wills Studio Design Works 1465 E.Hidalgo Circle Nye Beach / Newport, OR Posts: 2914 | From: Rocklin, CA. USA | Registered: Dec 1998
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Toss up: 1940's vintage French Masters 00 quill for office door gold backup, 1 1/2" Super Greyhound flat for trucks and banners, 4" Harrison double thick cutter for walls and bulletins. The technical equipment is fine but those really turned out a lot of finished product for a relatively small investment.
-------------------- Kent Smith Smith Sign Studio P.O.Box 2385, Estes Park, CO 80517-2385 kent@smithsignstudio.com Posts: 1025 | From: Estes Park, CO | Registered: Nov 1998
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My Nikon D80. It has provided me with countless hours of pleasure!
-------------------- “Did you ever stop to think, and forget to start again?” -Winnie the Pooh & A.A. Milne
Kelly Thorson Kel-T-Grafix 801 Main St. Holdfast, SK S0G 2H0 ktg@sasktel.net Posts: 5496 | From: Penzance, Saskatchewan | Registered: May 2002
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David,Ya had to be around in the 50's. Or ask Joey.
-------------------- Jack Wills Studio Design Works 1465 E.Hidalgo Circle Nye Beach / Newport, OR Posts: 2914 | From: Rocklin, CA. USA | Registered: Dec 1998
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My Langnickle Quills. I treated them better than my kids, lol. I got 20+ yrs out of them. They lasted until I started letting my apprentice use them in the shop. He didn't care for them like they were his own....sad.
-------------------- Terry Baird Baird Signs 3484 West Lake Rd. Canandaigua, NY 14424 Posts: 790 | From: Canandaigua, New York | Registered: Dec 2002
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Pump Jacks Similar to the setup in Tim Barrows' picture, but not as nice. Mine were made to climb square wood posts, foot-operated. It got kind of wiggly when you were near the top of 24-foot posts. And working them alone meant pumping one side for a ways, then walking downhill on the pick to the other jack to pump it up to the same height. I learned not to raise one side too high. But they were still a pleasure to use.
Heavy Knife Blade It looked like a number #11 Xacto blade, and fit the same handle, but was beefier. It might have been a #24 but I can't remember. We hand cut a fair amount of vinyl lettering in the years prior to the first computer cutters. We taped vinyl sheets down and then taped paper patterns on top of them, cutting through both paper and vinyl. Then weed and mask as usual. A rubbing provided a pattern for the next cutting if you needed a second reading of the same copy. But it was easy to break the tips off the blades. So when Mack Thompson of Fort Smith, Arkansas, discovered a heavier blade, he found he could cut through two layers of vinyl at the same time without breaking the end of the blade. And eventually, by taping everything down tightly, he could skillfully cut through four layers of vinyl at once, enough to letter two trucks. Obviously, the top three layers of vinyl were cut all the way through their backing papers. Masking had to be done carefully, and backing paper had to be pulled off letter by letter. When the first Gerber machine was acquired, no one missed the calloused fingers from bearing down on the knife handle.
Rope Ratchet It said on the package it was only for tie-down, "not for lifting." Lifting is mainly what I used it for. Tied to the top rung of an extension ladder, and by replacing the short rope in the package with a long one, the Rope Ratchet allowed me to install countless 4x8s and other lightweight signs onto walls by myself. During my other life, in Arkansas, I built two 10x20 highway bulletins. On the first one I had a helper. The second one I built by myself, using Rope Ratchets hooked to the top of the utility poles to haul up stringers and MDO. I also used a pair of Rope Ratchets to suspend my pick while I climbed the ladders to hook ladder jacks in place. I could set up my pick and ladders very quickly this way. The hardest part of building the bulletins was setting the 25-foot utility poles. I did this by pushing the bottom end of each pole off the back of my ladder rack, wedging it into the top of the hole in the ground, then slowly backing up, raising the pole with the back bar of the rack. Though I never had a pole come down on top of the cab, this was a foolish risk.
The Rope Ratchet has a one way pulley with a release mechanism. The inside walls of the pulley have treads to grip the rope. I used the Ratchets for lifting for many years and they only failed if I used the wrong rope. I learned to always match the rope that was in the package, which was solid-braided nylon. Never use hollow rope. And I never, ever walked under the load. Needless to say, I would be busted by OSHA if I were caught doing this today. Pick and ladders aren't even allowed in my area.
......
I can think of many other tools that were my favorites for awhile: A welding jig for making angle-iron frames; the already-mentioned 18-volt DeWalt hammer drill when it first came out, which I called my 5-pound beast; a boat winch bolted to the end of my bucket truck, turning it into a crude crane. Then there was this yellow calculator that would add and subtract in fractions. And I remember the first center-finding tape measure I had. I bought it through SignCraft Magazine. I thought it was so cool. Perhaps I'm easily impressed.
Brad in Kansas City
-------------------- Brad Ferguson See More Signs 7931 Wornall Rd Kansas City, MO 64111 signbrad@yahoo.com 816-739-7316 Posts: 1230 | From: Kansas City, MO, USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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""Good judgment comes from experience; and a lot of that comes from bad judgment" - Will Rogers Posts: 3484 | From: Beautiful Newaygo, Michigan | Registered: Mar 2003
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