posted
I've been going through all my vinyl remnants and trying to determine which ones to keep and which ones to pitch into the dumpster. I'm the kind of person who hates to throw away anything that may one day be useful. (After all, I paid for this stuff!) It's so hard to decide which ones go and which ones to keep.
So anyway, this little excercise got me wondering what others might use as a benchmark or "usability factor" when unrolling some usable, yet bothersome, strip of vinyl. Do you keep oddball colors, just in case? Do you keep only pieces that are a certain size and have a predetermined amount of usable area? Maybe certain colors that only one particular account requires? Of course, another thing to consider is time: the single most expensive component in anyone's shop. Are you willing to spend 5 minutes or so of shop time going through the remnants (at $75/hour or whatever) to save a few cents worth of vinyl?
Also, what about the environmental impact of throwing all this paper and plastic into the landfill? Is that possibly a factor in your decision?
(All this weighing of factors makes my head hurt.)
-------------------- Brian Oliver Paxton Signs Fort Collins, CO paxton@peakpeak.com www.paxtonsignsofcolorado.com Posts: 237 | From: ft. collins, colorado,usa | Registered: Mar 2001
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posted
I used to feel the same way. I was a real packrat. I had several large boxes of used vinyl rolls.
Like you said, "I paid for this stuff."
I eventually had to change my way of thinking and tell my self, "I didn't pay for this, my customer did."
As in any business, the customer must pay for everything. Materials, overhead, taxes, labor -- EVERYTHING.
When that realization came to me, it became much easier to dispose of stuff. The policy in my shop is -- if it isn't used within 30 days, it goes in the trash.
As for the land fills and such, I really don't worry about it that much. The elites that tell us we should be using plastic grocery bags instead of paper grocery bags were the same ones telling us the complete opposite 30 years ago. Remember in 1972 when Nixon was telling us on the television how the world only had a 30 year supply of oil left. Simple fact is none of us know half as much as we think we know.
Necessity has always been the mother of invention. What we consider a real dilemma today, all things considered, will prove to be either wrong or someone will have found a solution.
Throwing away vinyl and silicone-impregnated paper is much better than throwing away those emptied cans of OneShot and mineral spirits.
posted
My wife made me adhere to only one rule to curing my similar problem... "If I hadn't touched it in one year, toss it!"
-------------------- AirbrushBobby.com Clearwater, FL The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing.1Cor1:18 “The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord”Rom6:23 Posts: 505 | From: Clearwater Florida USA | Registered: Feb 1999
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posted
I have a large box I put smaller stuff in & I have a local middle school teacher who comes by once every couple months & picks up the box & brings me a new box. The kids use it for projects & school signs.
-------------------- Ronnie Conrad Augusta,Ga Posts: 374 | From: Augusta,Ga. | Registered: Aug 2000
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posted
Like Ronnie ours goes to the school kids for projects. Misty has a daughter and we send it to her school every so often. Scraps are nice to have around but not in abundance. The other day one of our local ladies showed up with a brown paper bag. Inside she had a small wooden bi-plane model that she had made and painted for a child. She has written several books, one of which is called, " The Early Days in Jackon Hole." In it there is a picture of the first aeroplane to land in Jackson. She modeled her plane after this one. She wanted some vinyl numbers, "60X" to put on the plane. She said she would have painted them herself but her hands shake now when she does find work. To make a long story short, I ran the numbers for her and didn't charge her. Took 10 minutes total and I sure was glad to have some scrap!
posted
NO WAY...Scraps are money. I do alot of racing kart lettering. I do them right out of the scrap pile. Seems like free money. And if it is useable it's not scrap, it's material.
-------------------- Rob Larkham Rob Larkham Signs & Lettering 21 Middlefield Road Chester, MA. 01011
413-354-0287 Posts: 517 | From: Chester, MA | Registered: May 2001
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quote: Throwing away vinyl and silicone-impregnated paper is much better than throwing away those emptied cans of OneShot and mineral spirits.
That's what the EPA wants you to think!
I now have 3-4 times the waste in an average week than when I did more painting, but that's a post for another time.
As far as scraps go if it's shorter than 24" it goes, after a year it goes no mater what. Lately I have been giving my scraps to the church to distribute between functions and preschool.
-------------------- Bob Rochon Creative Signworks Millbury, MA 508-865-7330
"Life is Like an Echo, what you put out, comes back to you." Posts: 5149 | From: Millbury, Mass. U.S. | Registered: Nov 1998
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posted
Diane is right, the schools are just clamoring for any kind of art supplies. Unfortunately, art programs dont usually get the budget they deserve and every little bit helps.
we sometimes will put together little packages of vinyl scraps and magnet scraps to give to customers who happen to have a child with them when they come in. Kids love to make refrigerator art and what better way to display it than with their own refrigerator magnets?!(I usually put my daughter to this task when she has to come in the shop with me, keeps her busy)
As for the rest of our scrapage, we use some big rubbermaid bins to sort them out by color and about once a week roll up the scraps, label with size and toss in the appropriate bin. It takes about 10 minutes a week and comes in handy when we've just cut almost a whole job and only need one last little piece.
posted
i'm not a "high volume" shop, but here's how i organize my scraps:
if its less than 6" wide, i save an 11" piece and chuck the rest. The 11" piece gets the color/mfgr marked on and gets filed as a sample -- that way i have pieces big enough to show a customer (instead of relying on the swatch books with the little 1/4" color bars).
if it is more than 6" wide, i roll it up and put it inside the tube (roll) of the same material. if i need to cut just a word then i look at the scraps first.
its too much trouble to handle anything smaller than 6", and i've never had any big striping jobs.
if i get more scraps than will fit in the tube? well, it hasn't happened yet. i guess i'll find a school to give it to.
-------------------- :: Scooter Marriner :: :: Coyote Signs :: :: Oakland, CA :: :: still a beginner :: :: Posts: 1356 | From: Oakland (and San Francisco) | Registered: Mar 2001
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posted
I keep all my scraps of vinyl, corplast and so on. I have 2 boxes, one for each kid. When the box gets full they take it to their teacher. The teacher really loves it and they share with the other teachers so even more kids get use of them.
I also save mess up's, like vinyl that the cutter screws up or that I screw up weeding. Also on some projects I cut extra stuff, just in case of a mess up somewhere. If I don't use it it goes in the boxes.
The teachers/kids really like to get stuff that is already cut into lettering and they can take each letter off and make whatever words( like the student names) that they want.
If my kids want to make some project they get into their box first.
-------------------- Troy "Metalleg" Haas 626 Kingswood Dr Evansville,In 47715 Posts: 1100 | From: Evansville,Indiana, USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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