sign shops typically outsource the fabrication of dimensional letters, but custom engraving laser-cuts them in-house and earns greater profits.
outsource certain processes.) The company also has two laser engravers: a Universal PLS4.60 with 45 watts of power and a table size of 18-by24 inches and a 75-watt Trotec Speedy 300 with a table size of 17-by-29 inches. According to Steve Shepherd, the laser engravers have helped them grow the business because they are now able to broaden their services. “If we could not do the job,” he says, “the customer would go somewhere else, and we would lose the work. The lasers helped us bridge that gap.” They generally use CorelDRAW software for the lasers and Adobe® Illustrator® for the design work. “We can use Word, Excel, or JPEG, TIFF, or EPS files,” says Steve. “The lasers do not care about file formats, and we can handle them all.”
PRojECts
complete sets of signage for several office buildings that were being refurbished. The building owners wanted a set of uniform, engraved signs with a pleasing appearance for all the buildings. “We laser-engraved signs for five of the six buildings, including fire evacuation route maps,” says Steve. They used a technique they have employed many times for commercial building signage. “For the maps, we painted the acrylic and then laser-en-
graved the paint away from the back and color-filled the legend and the routes,” he says. “This gave us a sign that people cannot scratch off, as well as a really nice looking sign.” The shop also used back engraving on mirrored acrylic to replace the old, polished stainless steel signs that had been silkscreened. “The method is to engrave what will be one color, take it out of the machine, paint it, let it dry, and put it back into
“If we could not do the job, the customer would go somewhere else, and we would lose the work. The lasers helped us bridge that gap.”
Paragon Place. The shop made use of its engravers on a recent job producing 42
Sign Builder Illustrated // April 2014
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