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Mine had to be the white ink on the Mimaki.
My greatest disappointment was the new Encad Vinyl Jet printer.
-------------------- Glenn Thompson Tell-Tale Signs Williams Lake, BC sign@telus.net (250)398-7446 Posts: 201 | From: Williams Lake, BC | Registered: Dec 2000
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My favourite had to be all the Eastern Rim Solvent Inkjet printers----almost a dozen of 'em. Half them ran for a while then quit, others puked ink all over the floor. Lots of them had SHOP-VACs hooked up to them or used on them to clean the print heads out.
Perhaps a tie for my favourite thing was Gerber's new EDGE Foils, along with their Gerber Gauge option for telling you how much is left on the foil----but hey, I'm biased, right???
quote: Mine had to be the white ink on the Mimaki.
Mike: Who was the manufacture for the white ink? Pat
-------------------- Pat Phipps Custom Trophy & Design Glenn Dale. MD ______________________ _ "A Man Don't Learn A Lesson Less It Costs Him Blood or Money " Posts: 78 | From: Glenn Dale, Maryland | Registered: Feb 2003
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The SignFoam booth was a colorful carnival of sculpted signs and letters and examples of clever and interesting effects for sign making.
I have a job in the shop now making 13 HDU ovals 3'x4' with incised letters. I bought Precision Board #15 and their $22/gallon (U.S.) FSC-88 primer because they told me their primer has "80% solids, whereas the SignFoam primer has 20% solids" - better for filling the rough texture. And it has worked out well, but its alot of coating and sanding. At the ISA show the SignFoam rep heard that story and responded (paraphrasing)"SignFoam3 is so smooth already, that FSC-88 wouldn't bond well to it- the solids are too large for the pores". They gave me a sample of their $50/gallon primer and it is very different, very smooth. I used it yesterday and I like how it applies and sands. The finish enamel coat is always the final test, though.
At the West Systems booth the guy showed me all kinds of nifty things to use that epoxy for. One of the more interesting was to laminate 2 pieces 1" HDU to make a 2" piece that will NEVER warp and be stiff as a board (and you can embed mounting rods through the middle). And mixing copper powder into it to make a beautiful, tough copper finish that will patina.
The ShopBot booth quoted us about $13,000 for their 4'x4' CNC router. That price included a surprisingly quiet 6hp vacuum hold down (most others have 10hp) and a 5hp Perske router. Looked like a good deal for the money. And I can buy new gear rails to expand it to an 8' table if I want. The accompanying software was pretty basic stuff. Being a Flexi user, I'll use EnRoute. I contacted Letterhead Ernie Balch, Mr. CNC, for advice and he has been very helpful - thanks again, Ernie.
One booth (I forget the manufacturer) had a space-saving wall mounted CNC router! That was interesting.
The Sign of the Times had about 30-40 books on signmaking available to peruse. Even couches to sit and look through them. Could have spent more time there.
Gerber wants about $23,000 for their Edge 2. I can buy a nice new truck for that! It just seems overpriced to me, but I understand people are making money with it. For now, I subscribe to the "job it out till the customer base is there" theory, or until a COMPETENT competitor shows up with a better price.
We spent 16 hours on the floor and never saw every booth!
-------------------- Mark Casey Casey Sign Co., Inc. Berkley, MI Posts: 76 | From: Berkley, MI, USA | Registered: Mar 1999
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