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Cutting French cleats - Q's....
- Thread starter cmykpro
- Start date
CanuckSigns
Active Member
You could use a router mounted to a table with a fence, with a 45 degree bit
but table saw is the easiest way, if you are only needing to cut cleats, a $99 table saw will do the trick just fine, or a used one off craigslist.
but table saw is the easiest way, if you are only needing to cut cleats, a $99 table saw will do the trick just fine, or a used one off craigslist.
HIGHSPEEDGRAPHIX
Rog
break down and buy a table saw......you can find them on craiglist or pawn shops cheap instead of buying new.
d fleming
New Member
Exactly. You're in the sign business. Buy a tool.
Gino
Premium Subscriber
Excuse me if I'm wrong, but how can a sign business, boasting they do everything with over 30 employees in over a 50,000 square foot shop, not have a single saw ??
Essentially, you need a saw of various kinds in order to produce these signs you have advertised. If it's a matter of cost, I can appreciate that, but space or manpower-wise..... I appears you have that.
Essentially, you need a saw of various kinds in order to produce these signs you have advertised. If it's a matter of cost, I can appreciate that, but space or manpower-wise..... I appears you have that.
cmykpro
New Member
Excuse me if I'm wrong, but how can a sign business, boasting they do everything with over 30 employees in over a 50,000 square foot shop, not have a single saw ??
Essentially, you need a saw of various kinds in order to produce these signs you have advertised. If it's a matter of cost, I can appreciate that, but space or manpower-wise..... I appears you have that.
Who's boasting?
We have lots of saws, just no table saw. I have the space for one but it is not in an ideal part of the plant and I want to avoid having to walk to the other end of the building passing delicate jobs carrying pvc laced with shavings. It would be more efficient if there was a solution that was smaller scale which is why I asked the question. Personally I'd rather ask a question and see if someone has a better suggestion before I went the table saw route.
Whoever pissed in Gino's cheerios needs to stop, it's making him grumpy and condescending...
Who's boasting?
We have lots of saws, just no table saw. I have the space for one but it is not in an ideal part of the plant and I want to avoid having to walk to the other end of the building passing delicate jobs carrying pvc laced with shavings. It would be more efficient if there was a solution that was smaller scale which is why I asked the question. Personally I'd rather ask a question and see if someone has a better suggestion before I went the table saw route.
Whoever pissed in Gino's cheerios needs to stop, it's making him grumpy and condescending...
Maybe he, like probably at least a few others here are just amazed that you could grow your business to a size of needing 30 employees, call your shop a "plant" but can't easily produce one of the easiest and most frequently used installation methods in our industry. The word "boasting" is just a common phrase to describe you "having" what you have.
Now, if your question was "How can we cut french cleats out of PVC and not make a speck of dust or shavings?", then my answer would have been call your local CNC routing shop and have them make you a huge pile of them and clean them off before bringing them into the plant.
Gino
Premium Subscriber
Excuse me if I'm wrong, but how can a sign business, boasting they do everything with over 30 employees in over a 50,000 square foot shop, not have a single saw ??
Essentially, you need a saw of various kinds in order to produce these signs you have advertised. If it's a matter of cost, I can appreciate that, but space or manpower-wise..... I appears you have that.
Who's boasting?
We have lots of saws, just no table saw. I have the space for one but it is not in an ideal part of the plant and I want to avoid having to walk to the other end of the building passing delicate jobs carrying pvc laced with shavings. It would be more efficient if there was a solution that was smaller scale which is why I asked the question. Personally I'd rather ask a question and see if someone has a better suggestion before I went the table saw route.
Whoever pissed in Gino's cheerios needs to stop, it's making him grumpy and condescending...
As you can clearly see, I did say..... excuse me if I'm wrong, but I found it hard to believe someone who says they can do all the things your website says you can do and then talks about 30 some employees and 50,000 square feet.... well, not to have a fundamental tool in your shop is just peculiar. Perhaps a better assembly line effect or route of start to finish would be a better way of installing such a small unit, but to say you're going to spread pvc dust around is still odd at best. Personally, I've found it hard to almost impossible to find the best way of not tracking some dirt around a busy shop. You say..... Personally I'd rather ask a question and see if someone has a better suggestion before I..... Why even ask a question in which 100% of the posters have all said the same thing. Isn't/wasn't the answer obvious ?? Whoever pissed in my Cheerios missed, because I don't even eat them. Nothing condescending about something so clearly in front of you, but if you're second guessing yourself maybe you ought to re-think your set up. Evidently it needs some minor tweaks.
rfulford
New Member
We were cutting them on the CNC with a whiteside 1508 90º v groove bit. It worked great but lately we've been too busy to justify using the CNC for simple cleats. I was constantly needing a table saw and tired of running home or bringing mine in so I splurged on a bit more saw than I needed and a feather board.
cmykpro
New Member
Perhaps all party's should do their due diligence before making assumptions and realize that sign making is only a portion of our business. Oh but why bother with the facts when we can just jump in and critique someone else's livelihood from behind the safety of our keyboards...
Not that I have to justify myself but here is some background for you; We were founded 3 generations ago with humble roots in a very small office in Akron Ohio and as our name implies we did blueprints. Through trials and tribulation we grew into mono machine sales and followed the market into AEC. We still hold true to our engineering roots and sell allot of engineering wide format (mainly Oce). 10 years ago we hopped on board with Mutoh (oh the Toucan days) and dabbled in signage, banners, etc. The point is we do so much more printing than signage...
Last year we lost our building to a devastating fire and had to start over. We lost allot of equipment but most importantly no one was harmed. The fire did afford us an opportunity to start over and I invested heavily into color. I do not claim to be a master of signage as I learn new things every day. Yes we have allot of high end equipment but sometimes I do humbly fall into a spot where something that may be known for years by others is not by myself or my team. This would be the reason I'm on this forum, to learn from and share information. All this said I would kindly ask that some folks lighten up on here and not jump on the hater bandwagon.
cmykpro
New Member
I have considered this route as well but like you my CNC has too many other well paying jobs to sacrifice time to make cleats.
I guess I will just have to break down and buy the table saw. Since this will mainly be used for cleats does anyone have any suggestions for a decent saw? I don't woodwork so i'm not up on what the good manufacturers are these days.
cmykpro
New Member
Whoever pissed in my Cheerios missed, because I don't even eat them.
I'm sorry but i'm still laughing at this "comeback", all in good fun but absolutely hilarious.
No "hating" involved from this end. Just amazement along the same lines that Gino expressed. I don't know why he went through the trouble to look up the info about your company, but you asked and he answered. So did others.
In fact, I still like my answer the best. Call your local CNC routing shop and get a year's worth made cheaper and more precisely than a stupid table saw will ever make with no mess, no worker safety risk, no uneven cuts, no waste, etc...
Three generations in business, 50,000 sq. feet, 30 employees, a little "dabbling" in signs, but heavy investments in lots and lots of high end machinery. Well, that explains it perfectly. I'd keep the plant clean, farm out any and every type of work not compatible with my cleanliness standards and protect our equipment investment. Its when one of us tries to do everything or be everything to everyone, that we get distracted from what it is we do best.
In fact, I still like my answer the best. Call your local CNC routing shop and get a year's worth made cheaper and more precisely than a stupid table saw will ever make with no mess, no worker safety risk, no uneven cuts, no waste, etc...
Three generations in business, 50,000 sq. feet, 30 employees, a little "dabbling" in signs, but heavy investments in lots and lots of high end machinery. Well, that explains it perfectly. I'd keep the plant clean, farm out any and every type of work not compatible with my cleanliness standards and protect our equipment investment. Its when one of us tries to do everything or be everything to everyone, that we get distracted from what it is we do best.
cmykpro
New Member
Are you kidding me? Because I don't want to have pvc shavings in certain production areas i'm a clean nut? Obviously you have never been in a high end shop with positive pressure rooms...
Sigh, I give up. Carry on...
I
Gino
Premium Subscriber
That's the whole point. It's all in good fun. Some people just realize things a little too late. Nothing earth shattering about a table saw or a place to put it, not with your background. I'm not upset because you asked what is basically considered a question for a noobie, but turns out you are one afterall. Sorry to hear about your fire and especially glad no one was hurt. Not sure if your website is up-to-date, but I did do my due diligence and checked quite a bit out before answering you. How else, would I have known what I did ?? Certainly not by your Opening Post or your profile. Nope, I do my homework and that's when nothing added up.
If I may, what are you cutting ?? Just cutting them down to size or actually putting the angled matching grooves on the back..... or both ?? This would determine what tool to go after, but the chop saw Marlene pictured would be a consideration, but I'd get something better than a home model Craftsman. Look into Makita, Milwaukee or DeWalt. You'll need amps. The more amps, the more control you'll have in the end.
cmykpro
New Member
I will agree to disagree about the noobie part. Maybe in some aspects but I feel like I have a fairly good grasp on my customers needs as the equipment I invested into has been working out well.
Moving on,
I am making the cleats from scratch on PVC (thickness varies). I have one customer who insists we run full length 8' cleats on their 4'x8' prints so I do have length concerns in being able to slide it along the fence safely. I need to figure out the saw that would best accommodate me and then do the math on whether or not the cost of the saw is worth it vs. just having them cut down from scratch elsewhere. I worry about my employees and not sure I want to add another safety hazard to the mix.
rfulford
New Member
I wanted to do more than just cleats so I went with a Delta 36-725. If you are willing to go with a used saw, I have been very happy with my Ryobi BT3100 that I bought for $120 a few years ago. A lot of people like the dewalts but I could not make myself like the rack and pinion fence adjustment. When it comes to table saws, its all about personal preference.
Now a strong word of caution, table saws are dangerous. Deciding to buy one is the easy part. You should spend a bit learning to operate the saw safely and come up with some type of training requirements for anyone who operates the saw. Investing in push blocks and feather boards will help keep all of your and your co-workers fingers.