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Custom Build Drying Rack for Digital Print Media |
Paul Faix, Signtrade, Australia |
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Space
One of the many limitations that any sign shop has. In order to produce signs effectively you need to have enough space and be highly organised.
All tools should have own place, added shelfs helping a lot to gain an extra storage space for your tools and work in progress.
Once you own a digital printer, you feel that you are running out of space very quickly. Just imagine printing 30-40 square meter of media a day. You can use the take up roll but it is not always the best solution as prints may not be dry enough to roll.
I have had the same problem. We were awarded with the job that involved printing 100m of media a day. I quickly realised that I would run out of space and I was forced to come up with the solution on how to store big amounts of prints.
In order to make it work I had to consider:
- accessibility to any print at the time
- quantity of prints that can be stored
- budget to build such system
- easy to use for anyone in the shop
Custom build drying rack for digital print media:
After a while I came up with the following system. A drying rack is built from curtain racks (widely available in retail shops) and clips with hooks that are inserted into the small plastic curtain holders.
All racks cost less than a $100 and a half-day of work. It can hold up to 50 prints of 3m max length each and up to 1300 mm wide media. The rack has 3 parallel rails. The middle rail is off centre to accommodate different widths of printed media.
Before building such a system, I would suggest to start with the hooks. You will need 150 hooks and clips. Buy heavy-duty ones as some media can be quite heavy. Afterwards get the rails with plastic holders with holes big enough to get the hook through.
You will also need few fittings to install rails onto the ceiling. When installing, bare in mind the maximum width of the media you are printing on. If for example the max printed width is 1300 mm, you want to install the end rails at 1400mm apart.
The middle rail can be installed at 60:40 distance - 840mm and 560mm.
The use is simple as well. You can store hooks in the box near the digital printer. As soon as the print is finished, you can clip the hooks on both ends of the print, cut the print from the printer and hook it on the drying rack.
I hope this economical solution will help you to save some space in the production area. The drying rack can also be used to store cut vinyl and small signs waiting for installation or customer pick up.
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