Wall Easel anyone?

[MAB SIGNS]

How many of you use a wall easel for vinyl application instead of or in addition to a table?

[Joseph Dunkle]

I use to apply my viyl flat on a table but I have been standing it up verticle recently and like that method better. It seems the vinyl has a lower chance of contamination doing it up off the table.

[Geary]

I worked in a sign shop area for a large exhibit company once that had three huge rolling/locking easels. Each were 4 ft. x 40 ft. and they all were built on a 30° angle (did that come out as a degree symbol?).

We had a roller on the ends of them that could hold 36" transferRite tape. Talk about massive amounts of speedy work .....wow! We kicked major butt at that place. There would be as many as 10 people doing nothing but weeding and applying vinyl to all kinds of display substrates for up to 16 hours or more a day just before a show would come to town.

We worked these easels in "stagecoach" fashion in this massive warehouse and because there was so much paper and tape trash that would accumulate so fast .....we just threw the stuff over the easels onto the big triangle area of the floor behind them. The piles of tape and paper on some days would stack up twenty feet!!! The forklift guys would come in and scoop up copious piles of sticky transfer tape and paper like these cool automotive pitchforks...and roll on out to 30 foot trash bins....while we detailed the floors clean every night.

Man....those were good O.T. checks!!! :tongue:

~G.

[mystysue]

We have a 4' by 24' easel in our back work room for doing banners on. Its great.. Im not sure at the angle it is set at.. but works great.. Its covered with this hard pressed cardboard stuff they use on movie sets to make walls with (Im not sure what its called) That we can stick the metal push pins in to keep the banners tight. Donno how we would do the long banners without.. If you have the space in your shop.. they are a great addition...

[mystysue]

okay.. i took a couple pictures today.. so you can see it..
We will be redoing the storage area under the easels as soon as we get a some free time (the past owner was not as neat as i like to be).. but.. Here it is now.. ..

[MAB SIGNS]

The easel I worked on when I first started in the sign biz looked similar and it was a 4'x16'. I like a wall easel for most applications but it seems the trend is for prep tables these days.

[Geary]

Ah, yes, Mistysue....that thing makes my back feel better just looking at it! :cool1: That's identical to the ones I've had in the past. I'm getting ready to put up similar in my new little garage shop here.

~Gear

[Joseph Dunkle]

Could Someone Please Possibly Post Some Plans For The Easel?

[Ruddbow]

Could Someone Please Possibly Post Some Plans For The Easel?

with a list of materials used. Also.....are these foldable?

[Jen Goodwin]

We have one, it's a collection spot for finished signs. :Big Laugh
(Okay...I use it on occasion and wouldn't be without it.)

[Geary]

Plans? Ha! We don't need no stinking plans! :tongue: LOL

Really...folks it's super easy. it's just one of those things you do by looking at it and then you add or take away details that fits your particular construction skills. It's all based on 4x8 sections, "tied" together to whatever length you want. Or, just use the one section, for you teensy garage space shops. :wink:

Here's a materials list of one of the many ways to build the basic frameworks:

1.) Sheets of plywood
2.) Angle iron
3.) 2x4s
4.) Nails, screws, hinges, wall anchors

Okay.....basically a section is comprised of two sheets of 4x8 material....a backer sheet and a top covering(discussed later)

The backer sheet can be made of regualar old 1/2" A/C plywood (you can get by with 3/8") then, attach 2" angle iron to the bottom for a "lip" to hold things (EVERYTHING!!!....yes, including finished signs Jen..hehe ) On the back of the top edge attach three strong hinges that you'll be, in turn, attaching to 2x4 material on the wall.

Snap a line at about "tippy toe" height on your wall. (Oh, remember you'll be standing about 2 feet back from the wall because of the slant of the easel.) This is where you'll attach those 2x4 pieces.....OR.....if you'd like, run the whole length with 2x4 material.....incorporating the wall anchors and existing wall studs (if possible) for this.

Hang your 4x8 section(s) on the the 2x4 material that is attached securely to the wall. Note * You'll need at least one extra pair of hands for this.

So, now.....you have a hanging section (or sections) on the wall just staring at you. Now what do you do? Well, first grab the bottom of your newly hung easel frame and get a feel for where you want to secure the angle.

Now, I have built these with and without storage racks. The storage racks are the preferred way....obviously. However, I have built easels that could "swing" at different angles....incorporating notched 1x6s attached to the floor. To do this you have to build an additional hinged-and-framed structure that "clicks" into the notches on the floor.

Either way, you guys get the basic picture.....figure it out from there. The way this works is..... you'll even figure out a better easel than I ever did. Have fun learning how to doing rest of it yourself. That's all I'm going to give you. :wink:

~Gear

[mystysue]

Ill get a few more pictures taken of mine today.. .. to give ya an idea how it is put together.. Its not fancy.. but it works..

[Mike Paul]

Here's a adjustable height easel I made years ago when I use to hand letter everything and liked to work at chest height. The sign holders can quickly slide in and out of any slot. It was a good size for the short side of the room and sections can be added relatively easy.

[OldPaint]

this is as simple as it gets.....4 2x4's, couple 2x2 cut and screwed to the back of the 2x4......4 big nails all at the same higth from the floor.....to hold up a sheet of 5/8 4x8 ft plywood. once you got the plywood where you want it...couple short screws to hold it to the 2x4......
http://216.77.188.54/coDataImages/p/Groups/145/145442/folders/238536/1918349Image018.jpg

[SignMan Sez]

I build mine with a 2" X 2" wooden frame with 2 upright supports (each one 32" in from either side), a straight piece of #2 pine 1" X 4" X 96" for the bottom ledge. I make 4 - 6" triangles out of scrap MDO and screw onto the back of the frame to keep it square. I've always used Homasote for the backboard (it's 1/2" thick and accepts push pins really good). Two 3" hinges mounted to a 2X4 mounted on the wall.

[robpruitt]

I just picked up a couple of these http://graphics.samsclub.com/images/products/0001764120206_L4.jpg
http://www.samsclub.com/shopping/navigate.do?catg=535&item=329601&prDeTab=2#A

They are fairly tall and at $199 they are really cheap for how well they are made. However; I had never seen the eisel setup. I really like your arrangement Mystysue. My back gets pretty sore when I work on some larger projects. I'm doing 50 vinyl real estate signs and my back has been feeling it.

[Billct2]

Sure, we have a 4'x16' easel on hinges on the wall, just wouldn't seem like a sign shop without one, but we mostly apply flat anyhow.

[Gino]

On one of our walls at the top, we ran several 2” x 6” stringers for 50’. At 4’ intervals, we attached a hinged 2” x 4” x 14’ at the top to the stringer. Each 2” x 4” had 1” holes drilled at a slightly angled up position 12” apart. We had many dowels that fit through the holes, against the back wall and that created whatever angle we wanted to work at for a particular project with a clamp. It could hold a 12’ x 52’ sign [billboard size], so we could hand paint them in-house. We needed a stage type set up to get to the top, but we were used to it. We tend to do a lot of things for sport complexes in out area and many of those signs are 8’ or 12’ by 48’.

Now that more and more of that type of production is less and less hand-painted, we don’t need to have an entire sign on an easel at one time. We’re putting these things on now, one board at a time. In fact we removed most of the easel about two years ago. We still have two small painters easels for hand painting a 4’ x 8’ or sandblasted work.

Good Luck.

[cwa]

One shop I worked at just slapped some 4x8 homosote(spl?) on the wall with
a 2"shelf on the bottom.
worked pretty well - for banners especially

[joe001]

What about a dual purpose setup.

A workbench that will convert into an easel by simply applying leverage. The worktop area will need to be placed on roller guides which will allow it to slide forward and drop, to form an easel.

If anyone can come up with a suitable design for this contraption then I am sure it will be popular.

"just do it!"

[OldPaint]

iam workin on a design for that in my mind right now.
i want to build a 4'x16' easel, that i can roll down the wall and then trun it into a 4'x16' table. when i build it ill take pics...

[signsbydale]

I built an easel when I first started in the sign business. I made it so it wold hing out from the wall and lay flat against the wall when I was not using it. I was made of new aluminum with a sheet of steel sheet on the face of it. I could hold things to it with magnets and it worked real well for car magnets.

It now spends most of the time folded up against the wall. Since I started working with the Big Squeegee, I do everything flat on a table. I tie one end of a banner down, line up the graphics and mount it in seconds. My back don't get tired because I don't have to lean over it for any length of time.

Mounting long graphics on an easel invites saging as gravity thends to pull the graphic a bit. I mostly had to cut it in strips and mount a lot of little pieces. Mounting on the flat is less of a fight and I mount it in one piece.

My brother tells me that he used the easels for many years because he did a lot of painting. As he got into vinyl he used them a lot less.

[OldPaint]

iam gona do a couple of garage door side rails, on the wall, the 4x16 will be 5/8 plywood with a 1x4 under frame,with a couple of garage door rollers attached to backside to fit in the rails... and ill makes some fold up legs from 2x4 and hinge them on the backside so when its an easel they will be used to stand out the easle...but when the backside of the 4x16 is let down(by boat winch & cable)these will become the table legs........

[Al Checca]

I was wondering if anyone else would be kind enough to share pictures of there easels with me. This just might be a project we are going to take on in the next few weeks.
Last shop I was at had one and they worked so much better than working off a table and much quicker too.