Big Prints Happening at OSC

Canon Oce Arizona 480GT Flatbed Printer

The signage game at Office Sign Company stepped up two years ago when we were graced with the presence of the Canon Oce Arizona 480GT Flatbed Printer. For the remainder of this article, we’ll be calling this beast of a machine (pictured at right) The Flatbed. If you read that term as “flatbread,” you’re not the first. It’s a common slip up here, too.

We may throw a lot of large, techy signage terms your way throughout this blog, but read on. We’re simply educating you on some hidden treasures we offer, like our amazing ability to print high definition (HD) images on metal– thanks to this machine!

With the help of our production manager, Jamey, allow us to walk you through the process and the capabilities of this flatbed printer which is used daily at our production headquarters.

The Process

While scrolling through our sister company’s site, FargoStuff, you come across a photo of Beartooth Pass. While reading the details of the print, you notice there are more options available to print it on than the white foamcore, defaulted photo. The birchwood print catches your eye, but the silver poly-metal print seems a bit more enticing.

Silver, Poly-Metal Print of Beartooth Pass

After a little thought and a lot of interest, silver poly-metal it is! The Beartooth Pass photo is beautiful, but maybe you want your own photo to display on this metal print. Did we mention you can upload your own photos to be proofed? You bet. Big prints are happening.

Once this silver poly-metal print order is placed, it gets sent from our ever-so-friendly Customer Service department to our Art Department for the proofing process. Quality is the name of the game here, and The Flatbed won’t receive your order until everything is approved.

Jennifer – Art Department

The proof is good to go! Then it’s sent to our production headquarters where The Flatbed
calls home. The approved proof is sent to Nick, our Production Printer, who then sets the file up for print with a proper sketch attached.

Nick- from OSC

“Once the file is ready for printing we have to determine if it needs to be cut out or not. If it needs to be cut then we set up the print in our ProCut software so the print can be brought to our routing department and cut out on our Zund cutter after printing is completed,” says Jamey, Production Manager. We promised you large signage terms, did we not?

“The good thing about our flatbed printer is once the print is finished it is pretty much dry to the touch. You can take it and install it right away. There is no outgassing [bubbling] process that you need like you do with a solvent type print.”

The length of the printing process depends on the image being printed. If the image is being printed on the HD setting, that of course will take a bit longer than a normal print. A 4’8’ panel printed on a normal setting, for example, would take around 15 minutes to print. The same size panel printed on the HD setting, however, would take an hour or more.

Once everything is said and done, the project is brought to our Assembly Department for final quality check, and then it’s sent to Shipping to be sent to the customer. Sometimes, there may be a crate building process involved before it’s shipped, to ensure your print is received in the quality we left it in.

Ultimately, this printer is a crowd-pleaser with its ability to print on a wide variety of materials to offer to our customers. Setup times can take a while depending on how complex the project is, and it is limited to products shorter than 2 inches. The flatbed is updated regularly with maintenance needs, which at times can be a costly manner. It’s a high maintenance machine that produces high quality products. Everything that goes into this flatbed makes everything that it produces all the more appreciated.

“It gives us the opportunity to print on multiple substrates and materials and that’s what makes it fun. We are always willing to try a new product to print on to see if we can do it. Then we get a new item added to our vast array of products we already offer,” says Jamey.

Jamey – Production Manager

The Materials

Metal has been a crowd favorite in the signage industry, and continues to trend! Which is why we’re excited to explain our flatbed capabilities to our readers. The metal we use for these HD images we’ve been raving about is a called poly-metal, with quite a few names to it. It’s known as DiBond, Bebond, Alumalite, and Omegabond to name a few. Again with the signage terms – we’re just trying to advance your vocabulary.

This poly-metal is pretty popular here at Office Sign Company. We use it as a back for Polymetal panel with dimensional lettering, pictured below, and much more.

The thickness of this material ranges from 1/8 inch to 1/4 inch, available in a brushed silver, white, and some brushed gold! If you’re looking for something else, we can get this material in a few basic colors, too. The interesting feature of the brushed silver is the transparency. The texture will come through on the print, and you’ll see the silver tint under the photo – giving it a more industrial look. If that’s not your style, we can also print a white layer under the print so that the brushed texture and silver tint won’t show through, giving you a solid print.

The most common size we see here would be around 3×3 feet, or smaller. The largest print our flatbed is capable of is a 4×8 foot, full-sized panel. However, when we need to roll out the big prints, we do have a Rolad Inkjet printer that is capable of producing a 5×10 foot panel!

Mounting and Cost

As mentioned earlier, everything depends on the image ordered. The cost, the time, and the mounting! As for mounting, this poly-metal material is very thin and can’t be used for a stud mounted application. A little advice from the guy who knows best, (Jamey) “your best options would be screws, screw caps, stand offs, or a hanger adhered to the back that is not visible from the face, and hangs like a picture.” This is more effective than fastening the metal to the wall.

The cost will directly correlate to four things: the square footage of the print, the inks used, the labor to create the sign, and hardware items (for mounting purposes).

Admiration

Now, your order has been shipped, received, and placed above your mantel for all to admire – thanks to the flatbed and the talented departments at OSC. As always, we love receiving feedback about what you ordered. If you love it, share it! If there are any other processes or machines you may be curious about, feel free to send a request our way and we will be happy to explain our services to you. Big prints are happening at this signage company, and we want to keep you in the loop. Cheers!