Premask Systems?

I'm currently doing all of my pre-masking by hand with no premaskm system and it is becoming a pain in the a$. I have been looking for a premask system that is relatively reasonably priced, i know signwarehouse has a few but i can't see paying $250 for one right now. Its just really hard for me since i'm a one man show to keep things wrinkle free.

I'm thinking about making my own, anybody ever tackle this? Is it hard? Any pictures/plans? Or does anybody know where i can get one for a reasonable price?


Thanks!

One of the dudes on here posted how to make one with old tint tubes a while back..... I made one and it works AWESOME!.....

Let me see if I can get some pics....

Fantastic! Ill have to look through some of the older posts! Pictures would be greatly appreciated! Thanks so much!!

This one is a little crude... but it works GREAT!.... It is made w/ a touch of plywood and a couple 24" tint tubes and ends..... I also made a nicer one w/ 40" tubes for larger premask....

Here are a couple shots of the unit...



and




I cut some holes on the back side to allow for a quick clamp to keep it from tipping over on long pulls



Just run the premask between the 2 tubes and pull.... I just finished 4 2'x15' signs with this baby last weekend... I don't know where i'd be without it sometimes....



I can't remember who posted this on here first... but props to them! so I guess i'll say 'Thanks Tintdude.com'

I built a 24" one of these: bigsqueegee.com

sweet
thats a good idea.
ive been thinking about something like this.
looks good
you should get a patent for it
thats cool

Awesome! Thanks so much! My only question is, do the tint tubes you used spin? Or are they stationary? And where did you get the ends for them? Ive never seen ones like that before!

the ends come from the roll of film ( tint)
from what it looks like it would probably be best to leave alittle clearance maybe about 1/4 in or so, just my

Oh okay, i've never worked with tint, im strictly vinyl, and the ends that have come on any of my rolls are just simple round plastic pieces that slide into the ends of the tubes, they dont have the square part that those ones do. Unless the piece im lookin at isnt the end and somethin else?

I spoke too soon and did some more re-searchin, and those are the tint tube ends, i wonder if i can buy those somewhere so i can make my own dispenser? Since i don't work with tint i dont have any.

Just smoke on over to your local tint shop... I'm sure if they don't give you some for free you can jump in their dumpster and snag a few... they come with every roll of film

and yes... the tubes spin with a little resistance (just enough)...

I made my own using some plexiglass, some gorilla glue, and some felt.

If you watch the vids on the link I posted you'll see how well it works.

I can mask something 78" long in about 7 seconds with no bubbles or wrinkles.

Dan.. wtf do you have going there ???

looks like 2 pieces of plexi same size glued togeather (yes/no?)

first question - why not use 1 thicker piece ?

and is the idea to start the pre-mask and use your squegee to 'push' the material off the roll and down on the material ???

What you have going there looks to be pretty slick

I couldn't find acrylic or plexi sheets thick enough. My original design took four layers, but I realized it's the glue that actually gives it strength. So two layers were more than enough on the second design.

Also, the edge is offset by about 1/2" so it's only 1 layer thick at the edge. Then I wrap it in felt used for door gaskets.

Yeah, watch the video from the website I posted and you'll see how it works.

I might be buying a 56" version soon instead of building one. But my 24" works great.

Just start it, then push it with the squeegee and it unrolls it and squeegees it down all at once and very TIGHT! So tight the ends lift off the table a little bit because the masking is on there so tightly.

I was just watching a couple videos.... looks like I will be at the plastic shop tomorrow

Thanks Dan!

If u have any signboad (pvc 6mm or 10mm) around , that will work . That's what the big squegee is made from.

and if you can go to your local stereo shop and snag some speaker box carpet, it does the trick and a piece that size they will usually give you for free. i used what gto said with the carpet and it works awesome.

I like useing felt ,i got from wal-mart. It last longer than the carpet does. But the carpet works good too.

I think we have some 6mm sintra material around here.... I was going to try some 3/8" abs.... or maybe 3/8" lexan.....

& trying the moleskin felt we use for door sweeps

but if pvc works.. even better!

Mine is just 2 2x4's with a piece of dowl in between. Worked great for years.

I have a design for one that would seriously take over te industry, I just have no idea how or the money to develope it. If anyone is interested in developing it, we could work something out.

Thanks for the help and info! Wasn't able to get either of the two local tint shops to donate the pieces i needed, and i came across this..
http://www.signsupply.com/Only_Ordway/curr...spenser_OAO.asp

essentially its the same thing, except lower to the table so i figured instead of lookin for the right ends and buying plywood and my time to make it ill just buy this and hope for the best. I can always go back to lookin for those pieces if this one doesn't work out.

this dude has another set up too....looks not bad.

premask holder