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UFB Fabrication

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Everything posted by UFB Fabrication

  1. Our newest Router is just installed and up and running. 84''x144'' 11 station tool changer with a water cooled spindle. We replaced a 60''x120'' 8 station carousel tool changer (to small). The new one is parked next to out 14 year old machine that is still running and making $. Funny we were talking about how scared we were that the machine would not get used enough to justify the cost. Now between 3 machines we have 100 hours a week in routing time and impossible to do what we do. The new machine is a step up again in speed and efficiency. Sorry if I sound like a sales rep for them but they have not given me so much as a tshirt ..... We have never been sorry about purchasing equipment, scared when looking at a string of zeros on the cost though. It might not work that way for everyone but buy it and spend time on growing your biz and dont look back.
  2. BTW the Ushio LED "bulbs" are dimmable? What type of dimmer is best?
  3. Congrats on the 13 years !!!!! How time flies when you are having fun.....
  4. Unless a company/exhibitor has unlimited budget for show marketing it has to have a measured ROI. As far as a show goes it has to have something to see as an attendee and without attendees you won't have exhibitors. Kind of a chicken or the egg thing. Anyway here is a flyer of our show in Feb. BTW I am pretty sure the Tri-State Sign Association will have a meet and greet directly after the show. We would love to see the Sign Syndicate members stop by.
  5. We are an approved Signcomp fabricator. We have always ordered straight from Signcomp. The problem is we always had was waiting for the supply house to approve the order. Great company to work with.
  6. We use Mathews. On a second note since its so much work to sand the edges and have them decent we switched to acrylic. A bit more money for matl but almost no prep labor
  7. I think it does not make a difference what continent its made on its how its made. This will include materials used eng. ,assy. methods and QC. I am not a fan of much not made in the states but I know the the good old USA can put out crap as well. I am no fan of China but to generalize is not always accurate.
  8. I do know shops that have Gerber and they also seem to like them. I only worry that Gerber came into the sign Biz like a lion with cutting edge technology 10-20 years ago and has not made any move forward since and everyone else has passed them by. On a second note none of these brands and others will not run without need of service. IMHO that is the key a 100 grand machine sitting is useless. I want parts the next day or the software glitch fixed in almost real time.
  9. I agree with the exception of get a 6' table. We end up cutting a fair amount of work for other shops that cant go above 4 or 5 feet wide. If you want to wait until Jan we are selling one of our older 5x10 Multicams to upgrade to a new 7x12 Multicam Apex
  10. I guess you got the same email special as me
  11. We just ordered our 4th Multicam. 84x144 bed with tool changer and so on. Just under a 100k with vacuum pump. All of our machines are Multicam. Was at another big shop a few weeks ago and they have 6. Ours run 8+ hours a day. Anything less is a hobby machine. By the best and only cry once.
  12. My customer lost a channel letter job to a company that did not pull any permits. The sign that went up was on a building directly adjacent to city hall where the inspectors showed up to work. My guy complained and they did nothing. Government at its finest...SMH
  13. Does the forum have a way to block forum members?
  14. Non Illum here for us. We dont have retail customers and are back in a industrial court and trying to stay low key. Expanding again soon and hope to do the whole corporate thing with flags in the front yard and helipad :-)
  15. Sall Pat Crocker Eng. does a ton of work for sign companies. He also understands signs and does not go overboard with complications. decent price as well. http://www.crockerengineers.com/
  16. Okie Dokie boys and girls, when describing aluminum faces with the letters cut out and backed up with plex is the proper term "routed" or "routered" ? Or is it a regional thing?
  17. We are seeking a CNC programmer. our CNC routers and channel letter bender, plotter, printer and more. We are one of the largest shops in the region and are continually growing. We are in St. Louis County . Experienced only apply. Send resume attention Steve Amrein to samrein@ufbfab.com
  18. I havent had to deal with cranes in 15-20 years but I thought that aerial equip had to be inspected by a 3rd party. Either poor install. improper bolt sizing or severe rust. All preventable.
  19. We have had multiple machines and still use the old ones in a emergency. We bought our from International Welding Technologies in Jersey. It works far better than any other brand we have owned. Better weld with the least amount of work on the face. They also have good pricing on consumables.
  20. Great article, well thought out and written. I agree on the shipping portion as neon is always a issue in shipping. Also the amount of qualified neon shops has diminished by 80+ % or more. I also think as time goes on fewer shops will be able to diagnose and repair neon fluorescent and HID signs. Eventually it will be so bad that some towns wont have a way to service anything but LED's. As we have spoken about before I have wondered if light degradation and the importance is a huge issue. Not that it fixes the problem but likely most storefront shops wont survive 5 years, will have moved or have rebranded. Lastly I agree wholeheartedly about trade mags and associations. Harder to stand up to your friends then enemies.
  21. I dont think they ever respond to any criticism or request for correction from the unwashed dirty masses from on the high.....
  22. About 10 years ago we contacted Wade @ SOT about doing a artical for the mag. After initial discussion we were given a go to start the article. We took pics and did a nice job giving a tutorial of how the sign was built giving out tips. We then got the text to fit their criteria and had the pics cropped and fixed to go with the article. This sign BTW is the one in my avatar which is on a landmark building and the sign is a landmark. Even on the opening had the mayor and local news along with a hundred or so people to see the sign fire up. Anyway the gave excuse after excuse as months went by until finally they said the sign had been up so long the article was no longer relevant. At the time It kinda made sense until I spoke with one of my colleagues who had a sign up before ours and a articles after our wasnt relevant. Turns out he used LEDS that so happened to be a big advertiser and who also had submitted the project. Hmmmm. I do have to give SS a Jab as one of the members asked about a CNC letter bender. A few folks including myself answered only to be rebutted by one of SS advertisers and basically turned into a advertisement for his product.........
  23. I look at this another way. To many hacks are still touching neon. Eventually those with the skills to build and service it we will be the only ones working on it and actually able to charge what its worth.
  24. We also silicone every LED on both sides as its possible for the vhb tape to fail. We caulk the seams between the returns and backs for both clinched or welded letters. On a side note LED's that have the "circuit board" look always look cheap to me and not really a sign component. Lastly when this fails how do the get warranty replacements? I know of a company no longer in business that did a massive change over and 3 months later it had over a 80 percent failure rate. When it was time to start getting warranty and replacements the company did nothing leaving him to replace it all 600+k worth out of pocket. Kind of like buying a rolex out of a guys trunk at the gas station. I only buy LED's and electric parts from someone who can and will either replace or will be writing checks to fix the problem. Just like the allanson trans thread I dont give a rip about the transformer cost I acre about the service call cost and my rep as a wholesale builder.
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