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Anybody know a a supplier that will cut alumacore or alumalite to size. Oh, and which of these are the better product. I want 2x5 or 2x4 to stand upright and be held on to ez up poles using velcro.
-------------------- George Perkins Millington,TN. goatwell@bigriver.net
"I started out with nothing and still have most of it left"
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dont think so......4 X 8 and you can cut what you need. GRIMCO is the only supplier here now.....i cut it with circular saw.......file the edges.....i cut. as for alumi-LITE better to get the alumi-CORE..not much price saving on the lite..
-------------------- joe pribish-A SIGN MINT 2811 longleaf Dr. pensacola, fl 32526 850-637-1519 BEWARE THE TRUTH.....YOU MAY NOT LIKE WHAT YOU FIND Posts: 11582 | From: pensacola, fl. usa | Registered: Nov 1998
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N. Glantz & son, inc. 816-483-2100 cuts it. Panel saw and some edge sanding necessary. The Kansas City office does excellent and exact cuts.
-------------------- Preston McCall 112 Rim Road Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501 text: 5056607370 Posts: 1552 | From: Santa Fe, New Mexico | Registered: Nov 1998
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posted
Sounds like a great offer to me... Only 4 hours each way, some free cutting and quite possibly a few beers and laughs!!!
Go for it George!!!
-------------------- Dave Grundy retired in Chelem,Yucatan,Mexico/Hensall,Ontario,Canada 1-519-262-3651 Canada 011-52-1-999-102-2923 Mexico cell 1-226-785-8957 Canada/Mexico home
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I found this company in Memphis, I'm sure that you know of them already...http://www.advanced-plastics.com/catalogs/API%20Thermo%20Line%20Card%20081107.pdf
-------------------- Rick Heller Ohio Technical College 1374 E. 51st Street Cleveland, OH 44103 IOAFS Posts: 210 | From: Cleveland, OH | Registered: Nov 2001
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Both companies have a five-year warranty on the panels (Alumalite has an additional ten-year "colorfast warranty" on the faces).
Both companies use aluminum that is painted with a polyester-based paint. Nudo specifies their aluminum skins as .013". Laminators does not spec their aluminum face thickness in their product descriptions on their website, but I found this page from someone else's site that lists their aluminum faces as .012".
-------------------- 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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i was under the impression the differance in the 2 was.......... ALUMILITE........has a single side with powder coated aluminum and some kinda other product on the other side. ALUMICORE............is BOTH sides aluminum. was for jobs where you only needed 1 good side......ALUMILITE.
-------------------- joe pribish-A SIGN MINT 2811 longleaf Dr. pensacola, fl 32526 850-637-1519 BEWARE THE TRUTH.....YOU MAY NOT LIKE WHAT YOU FIND Posts: 11582 | From: pensacola, fl. usa | Registered: Nov 1998
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Joe, The product brochure from Laminators Inc, says that their single-sided version of Alumalite is called Econolite. It has a cheap backer, like you mention. Having said that, I have a down-loaded pdf sheet that describes both Alumalite and Econolite as "double-sided," but I think it is a typo.
AlumaCorr is made by Nudo, not Laminators, and I think it only comes double-sided.
I am not in the shop much any more and don't keep up with what is off-loaded from the trucks and I don't order our sheet goods. Those of you who use these products every day know what you're getting, regardless of what a brochure says.
AlumaCorr and Alumalite look very similar to me. Of course, the glue specs could vary and that would affect longevity. Both companies say the aluminum is coated with a polyester paint. I know for a fact that Nudo does not paint their own aluminum. They buy it prepainted, ready to laminate. My guess is that Laminators Inc does the same.
The aluminum is probably not powder-coated, but rather roller-coated with high production machinery that cleans, paints and bakes the sheeting all in one continuous operation. The unfinished aluminum is fed into the machine from a coil and then taken up finish-painted in a coil at the end. Some of this is done off shore. Here is an illustration from the National Coil Coating Association:
-------------------- 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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brad, thanks for explaining. ECONOLITE is single sided. my boo boo. as for the mill that does the coating....i worked at WEIRTON STEEL 54" roller mill and shipping dept))))) [IMG][/IMG]
-------------------- joe pribish-A SIGN MINT 2811 longleaf Dr. pensacola, fl 32526 850-637-1519 BEWARE THE TRUTH.....YOU MAY NOT LIKE WHAT YOU FIND Posts: 11582 | From: pensacola, fl. usa | Registered: Nov 1998
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posted
We cut max metal sold by Grimco with a utility knife all the time.Use a sharp blade and metal yard stick.Score it a couple times and it will break nice and straight. No mess with a saw
-------------------- Bill Wood Bill Wood, Sign Artist 3628 Ogburn Ave., NE Winston-Salem, NC 27105-3752 336-682-5820 Posts: 397 | From: Winston-Salem, NC | Registered: May 2006
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posted
Brad nailed it on all counts. I've used both and prefer Alumalite. Econolite is great for one sided signs but my suppliers only carry it in white.
The only other major difference is that Alumacore uses white coro in the center and Alumalite uses black. They did the last time I bought it anyway. If you have a Wensco near you they have their own label at a great price but it's the solid core. They also carry Alumalite and they will also cut panels.
-------------------- Dave Sherby "Sandman" SherWood Sign & Graphic Design Crystal Falls, MI 49920 906-875-6201 sherwoodsign@sbcglobal.net Posts: 5396 | From: Crystal Falls, MI USA | Registered: Apr 1999
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George, Depending on what kind of copy or graphics you're going to put on the signs....it might be a good thing to ask the supplier what kind of finish the particular material has.
Used to be, most of these panels were done in baked enamel......just about fine for any finish. Then, they started using powder coating, which is durable, but doesn't take paint, without good prep and light sanding. In the last couple of years, many of the panels I've gotten from Tubelite are coated with PVDF, which is short for a long, complicated name...that was originally intended for use on metal buildings, and was formulated so that "nothing sticks to it"...like leaves, yard debris, etc. Well, some of our materials...like paint...don't want to stick to it either. It's pretty durable; but ask whoever you get it from, if there are any special steps or processes you maight have to deal with.
-------------------- Dale Feicke Grafix 714 East St. Mendenhall, MS 39114
"I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me." Posts: 2963 | From: Mendenhall, MS | Registered: Apr 1999
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probably too late here, George, but Alumalite in the 10mm/ .5" thickness is our choice for 4 x 8's between 2 posts. We have used it for many years and if it is in a rectangle we like to put a snap trim around the edges.
The 6mm / .25" thickness comes in a few colors. Alumalite has a corrugated core that resembles a diagonal or pyramid plastic repeating pattern core when you look at from the edge. Alumacore has a square repeating pattern, and as far as I know, that's the only difference.
When we cut a shape out of it and can't use a snap trim, I like to put some epoxy putty into the corners or edges that might dent otherwise.
It has good strength between 2 posts and shows much less warpage than mdo. We have been able to sand and paint it with acrylic paints with good results, but it is primarily made for vinyl graphics, I have a couple of panels painte with HoK that are doing just fine.
For a light weight panel that you may want to use with Velcro as a display panel, you may want to try Alupanel which is like DiBond but less expensive
All these products cut easy with carbide blades in panel saws, circular saws and also with metal blades in jig saws.
-------------------- Bill Diaz Diaz Sign Art Pontiac IL www.diazsignart.com Posts: 2107 | From: Pontiac, IL | Registered: Dec 2001
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