Help need feedback

[jay]

I just had a horrible thought. I am about to move my Bot to a new location in the shop to cut down on some of the noise. It is a new room just built approx. 11ft wide by 16ft long with an eleven foot ceiling. Hmm. What happens if I have a large sign to cut?

On average what are the sizes of the sign you people are cutting? At present I have not had to cut anything larger than a 4 x 8 panel but . . .

Love to hear from you. Jay Pollard, Thingswood.

[kerrazy]

Just do it in sections.

Dale
How is going anyhow?

[jay]

We have been really busy since Camp Canada. Almost up-to-date. All the crafters want their stuff so they can get it painted up for their Christmas sales.

Re: Signs
That's what I thought as well, of but what if I am doing one of my horizontally laminated Redwood signs that maybe longer than say 10ft (I am leaving 2ft clearence to the wall). That is why I was asking what size signs others have had on average.

[rgbrown@itexas.net]

Jay,

If you have "room" for 10 foot of sign, it might be possible to "reverse" the sign with proper indexing and cut 20 feet. This would assume you have the room to stick the additional part of the sign "out the door".

One could also "section" the sign using elements of the sign for breaks and other things to build projects limited ONLY by your skills and imagination.

Ron

[jay]

Well, Ron the room is only 16ft long with the door directly in front of where the machine will go. So, if I have a narrow sign or section 32 inches or less wide, I could stick it out the door for an additional 3 feet, then there is another brick wall.

On average what size are most of your signs? I know they vary but average size?

[pappy]

Jay, if I might, I'd like to ask a question.
If you have a 32 inch door at the end of your machine and then 3 feet to a brick wall.....
how big of a sign can you maneuver through that opening?

[rgbrown@itexas.net]

The Bot I built had an 18' X 4' cutting area. My work is/was so varied I never thought of "average".

My shop had plenty of room to manuver but handling sheet material was never "easy". I don't think I would like working where I had to manuver, load and unload through a 2.66 foot wide door. But, when one has no choice, they do what they must.

Ron

[artisan]

Why don't you change the door? A pair of 3' overlapping steel doors or a rollup door would solve your problem....D

[rookie432]

Jay,

A 4x8 carved wood sign in one piece should start at around $1600 and that is very low end. If your clients have deeper pockets for larger signs I would consider sections. If your design is set up right you should be able to hide a seam pretty easy. Remember you have a precise enough machine to accomodate this. Seems more logical to work within the parameters of your space than to change your space too much.
If you price right and have good designs you will find that the majority of your signs will be 3'x5' 4x6 and 4x8.
16' and 18' signs are rare and I would do these in sections anyway to help with installation and reduce warpage.
Hope this helps.

good luck
Bill

[jay]

Doug, With the sign standing on it's edge (the panel thickness side) and if the sign was wider than 32 inches the total length that can be manuvered into the shop would be 16 feet but I would only be able to cut a total lenght of 10 feet (as the machine is 2 feet from the back wall)than have to turn the sign around, tile and turn my drawing and re-establish a new 0,0.

Thankfully the brick wall I mentioned ends just on the other side of the door, so it is not too difficult to angle things into the shop from outside. Example, I was able to move an asembled shelving unit (on its side) 12 inches wide by 9 feet tall out through the door with no major problems.

What I am really looking for is on average what size are most guys finding people want for their signs.