www.TK560.com

[jegner]

Well done! Thanks for sharing!

Jim

[Indigogyre]

I just wanted to say you did an Awesome job. It's pretty amazing how quickly you were able to put everything together and get such a great result! I hope the rest of the signs go even better for you.

Dean

[inventer]

crazyfool, thats so kool, bet your flyin on cloud 9 after seeing it up in lights, way to go guy, congrat's. Things aren't working out for me, so I'm going at it from another angle, crossing my fingers, again, thats so kool

[CrazyFool]

Thanks for the kind words guys. I really appreciate it. Still whacking away at the project. The contractor who is hanging my signs on the buildings has been very slow and it sapped some of my momentum but things are still progressing. I hope to have more completed sign photos for you soon. Until then...

A close up of the most complex mold and sticker. It takes about 40 minutes to apply this vinyl sticker...


Still chugging away. Some throwaways here but some keepers too...


In the foreground is a view of a template I am using to fit molds. I made a similar template for the contractor who is cutting the metal sign boxes that my molds will be glued into. The templates are to insure that my molds fit the contractor's metal boxes exactly. In the background are cardboard boxes full of completed molds waiting to be delivered to the contractor. At the top of the photo you can see where my brother screwed a wooden support beam onto the vacuforming machine and to the wall. That turned out to be a great idea. The machine was a bit wobbly during pulls but now it's rock steady...


This is the store that I hope we do next as it's right down the street from where I live and it would be a nice shot in the arm so see it (after it's done) every day. As you can tell, the temporary cardboard signs are difficult to keep from blowing off of the building in the wind and rain. Note the cardboard sign on the far right peeling off...


CF

P.S. You might notice a small table between the template table and the vacuforming machine. That table is where the stickers are applied to the finished plastic molds. Hopefully soon I can share some photos of stickers being applied, which is a process that is much easier said than done. The stickers are expensive and pays to get them right the first time. If you lose a sticker you've lost $30 to $50 bucks.

[ahillworks]

Thats so cool. All I got to do is test dying the plastic and then I launch my website on monday. Man its so cool to vacuum form.

[inventer]

Hey crazy, thats kool. Keep up the good work. I've been busy working and in a slump for vac-u-forming. Starting up again this weekend, new molds and see how these will sell. Keep us posted, it'd be so kool if you make up a video and post of yourself pulling and putting on stickers. Tony

[CrazyFool]

*** !!! VACUFORMED SIGN IN A TV COMMERCIAL !!! ***

The owners just had a TV commercial made. You can see it (and a quick shot of one of my signs) here...

Just click on 'gottalube'
http://fasttraxmedia.com/?p=Demos



Kinda cool to have your vacuformed signs up on buildings... and on TV. This is starting to feel surreal. But hey... WhoooHooo!!!

CF

PS I'm not sure why the Otto character came out 'yellow' in the commercial. They might correct that later.

[jegner]

Fun stuff! Thanks for sharing!

Jim

[CrazyFool]

Another store done, this one right down the street from me (injecting some much needed fun into the project). I am starting to get a bit bored with the redundancy "same sign different place" and am looking forward to what's next. Course, I'll have to figure out what's next first!



The odd looking checkered flag sign will probably be replaced. It's a remnant of the old signs.






Right now the white paint looks a tad bright, but the newness should wear off after a couple of rains. The contractor forgot to put white, metal circles in the o's and a's again. Will probably do that myself later. Grrr...

CF

P.S. I have to share something that irks me. My stuff just started playing on TV last week right? But already people close to me have forgotten about it and don't even mention it. I've been trying to keep a lid on my enthusiasm and not talk about things because I know that gets old fast. But you think people might be more supportive. I've never done anything like this before and neither has anyone I know. It makes me feel like saying, "Who cares what you ate for dinner last night! Can't we talk about something a little more exciting?"

[inventer]

Hey crazyfool, try not to let it get to you, pat yourself on the back. No one I know really cares about what I'm doing but me.

[CrazyFool]

inventer
Thanks man. I hear ya. We lose if we try to rely on other people to keep us pumped. That's really the road to nowhere. It just amazes me how quickly they forget. It truly is all about what they ate last night and watched on TV. Oh well. More opportunity for people like us who can glue two sticks together with tape and paste. We can sell them to the lazy people! They can whack themselves in the head with the sticks while they eat and watch TV. It's a goldmine!!!

[CrazyFool]

Another store done. This store just has one sign. The photos were taken after closing time and the guys forgot to turn the lights on for my new section of sign so that's why it might look a little odd.









CF

[Indigogyre]

Still looking good! Keep your spirits up and enjoy the progress that's being made.

In addition, keep your eyes open and perhaps spot a few signs that need to be remade and perhaps a new job opportunity. Dude, you have the start of a great portfolio! Your first project was a multi-store production run for an established business.

Start putting together a professional portfolio and also a job diary for lessons learned and things to alter for next time. It's always nice to be able to go back and review hard notes of jobs.

Dean

[CrazyFool]

Indigogyre,
Thanks man. I'll try to look on the bright side!

Project Update 08-29-2008
At the moment this sign project is on hold. The owners have been extremely busy so we haven't actually spoken about putting the project on hold but I think for budgetary reasons (of the business - not mine) we are pausing for possibly several weeks. I was really hoping to wrap this project up and move on to something new but that's life. It's never neat and tidy. I've heard that everyone is very happy with the signs so that's great. At least one person I know actually saw the commercial on TV last week, so that's cool too. Signs for 3 stores (out of a possible 7) have been completed now.

*** NEW PROJECT ***
I'm not waiting for the vacuforming sign project to officially end before moving on to my next 'big thing'. I want to keep the momentum going if you know what I mean. The older I get the more aware I've become of just how quickly a few months can slip by without accomplishing anything. And those months can rapidly morph into years. Before you know it it's been 10 years since you decided to 'draw that comic book' and you still haven't written the story. So I'm going to keep the fire stoked by taking a shot at making a product of my own design that I can immediately begin selling on eBay. (By 'immediately' I mean as soon as possible - hopefully within 90 days or less.) I haven't settled on what the object will be yet, but it will not be made with vacuforming. It will be an object made mostly of plastic that I will sculpt in a 3D software program first and then sculpt in real life on a 'rapid prototyping' machine called a Roland MDX-40. If you would like to follow my progress I plan to document the entire project at:

Forum Index -> Injection Molding & Other Technology -> Anyone interested in my Roland MDX-40 milling machine story?
http://www.tk560.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=1084



Thanks for looking. Any and all comments (positive or negative) are always welcome.

CF

[CrazyFool]

The auto lube store owners just ordered 3 more signs. Yikes. Hope I can remember how to do this! Even though it's only been a few weeks since the last sign it feels like forever.

CF