What’s it cost to produce this 26-by-40-in. sign?
Digital printing and cut vinyl film combine to get the job done
By Michael James
Posted on Monday, April 30th, 2018
Materials:
Substrate: $19.33
Cast metallic gold vinyl (4 ft. x 15 in.): $5.71
Cast white vinyl (4 ft. x 15 in.): $5.01
Removable white vinyl (8 ft. x 15 in.): $5.57
Gerber EDGE foils (black and UV 3 ft. each): $3.72
Application tape: $2.29
Jig saw blade: $4.39
Total materials: $46.02
Labor:
Design and communicate with client: 60 minutes
Cut out substrate: 45 minutes
Cut, print and apply graphics: 45 minutes
Total time: 2 1/2 hours
Our local newspaper needed a new sign for the exterior of their office. To stay within their budget, I chose to use 3mm aluminum composite material for the sign panel, which was 26-by-40-in. overall. Instead of using cut vinyl for the graphics, I decided to use a wide format print mounted to ACM.
I did a design for them to review. After the customer approved it, I began production. Our shop is in a rural area and resources such as CNC services are limited, so I used a jig saw to cut the design.
