best materials for cheap customer.

[knight_toolworks]

I get a lot of them. I am cutting a outdoor hanging sign the face will be 1/2" mdo he wanted 1/2" acrylic letters till they saw the 90.00 cost of materials. I am trying to think of another material for the letters. they are only 4" tall so they are not large but I would think mdo would be a pain with such small letters and the voids. I have lots of 1/8" dibond and acrylic on hand. I could do them out of 1/2" apple ply too. I don't think 1/2" sintra will work because of movement?

[COBOB]

That sounds like an MDF customer to me.

[knight_toolworks]

I guess it would work if properly primed and painted too. wish he would settle on 1/8" material dibond would be so much better.

[signsbyjay]

Competitors business card!

[knight_toolworks]

Competitors business card!
(G) most of my sign work is just cutting out the parts. I seldom assemble and or paint them. so material is not critical. but I do want it to work well and be easy to assemble and paint and for it to last. I can do the job out of my scrap but for the 1/2" acrylic.
too bad I just used the last chunk of 1/4" dibond. can you get away with sintra since the letters are so thin? if they are siliconed to the board?

[RossMosh]

You can get quite a bit of Corian for free if you can find someone who does a lot of counter tops. You'd be amazed by how much stuff these guys throw out. Some of the "waste" are just sink cut outs. Some are 20x100 pieces. It might be worth contacting a few local shops to see if you can work out an arrangement.

You can cut, engrave, paint, and sand this material fairly easily.

[knight_toolworks]

I am not good at going out and scounging. Plus withoit a car it is a pain to haul it. but it is a good idea.

[zeykr]

Can you get 1/2" extira? Might do the background and letters both from it.

Downside is weight.

[letterman7]

With customers like that you won't win with anything you do. A 4" tall letter made with 1/2" material is going to look ridiculous - stay 1/4" or under. Who is assembling the thing? Why couldn't you simply mill a piece of 3/4" pvc to have the letters stand proud of the background and paint the letters? Why do they need to be separate?

[joewino]

Sadly, if you do this job with cheap materials, the next one is going to want something even cheaper. It's a downward spiral.

My advice would be to produce the highest quality sign you can possibly make and let your competitors go broke trying to satisfy cheap clients.

What kind of reputation do you want? Ten years from now what kind of signs to you want to be making? The only way you can get there is to begin today to make what you want to do ten years from now.

[knight_toolworks]

I don't for the most part sell finished signs. when I do I do it right. but most of the time a customer drops off the material and I cut it out. they will be gluing the letters on painting it hanging it.
but I did talk them into dibond for the letters.
I give them my recommendations on material and ease of use. but since most of the time I don't provide a finished product I am not responsible for how they do it. but most of the time they listen to me and do it right. They tend to come back when it does not work and we do it right the next time.

[knight_toolworks]

With customers like that you won't win with anything you do. A 4" tall letter made with 1/2" material is going to look ridiculous - stay 1/4" or under. Who is assembling the thing? Why couldn't you simply mill a piece of 3/4" pvc to have the letters stand proud of the background and paint the letters? Why do they need to be separate?
he seems happy with the mdo background and dibond letters. thats what I suggested in the first place. this is a two sided sign but rasing letters is a slow process and 3/4" acrylic is so expensive. the customer blanched at using 1/2" for the letters.

[dakers]

you can get really nice injection molded plastic letters at signletters.com
have lots of fonts and sizes available. a good option sometimes for some things pending the situation.

[knight_toolworks]

so here is what I made them. forgot a picture of the dibond letters but I just cut this out of some scrap mdo then ran a bit on the inside of the letters both sides to mark where they go.
http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s266/knighttoolworks/posting/85285BDF.jpg
http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s266/knighttoolworks/posting/D042A075.jpg