The face of our business

Marketing our business is an important key to success. Marketing can take many forms and the more creative marketing is the more memorable it will be.

In our case we have a home based business. Our shop is three hundred and fifty feet off of the road while our house is next to the road. Local bylaws restrict the size of our sign to four feet square. So how do we market effectively? It’s simple.

We did an award winning 3D sign that was as big as we were allowed of course. But when we designed and built our new house we used every creative trick in the book to make it into a larger than life ‘SIGN’ that advertised what we do for a living. The house creatively shows the things we do in our shop. There were no bylaws to control what our house looked like.

Does it work? I KNOW it does. We are currently booked into 2016. To  suppress the daily stream of looky-loos onto the property we are installing an electronically controlled gate. A (dimensional of course) sign will offer a phone number to make an appointment if they want to come back.

-dan

Published with permission from precisionboard.blogspot.com. Source.

The importance of samples

I often get asked how we became successful in our business. The answer to that question isn’t short but if I had to answer concisely I would say the biggest reason would be the samples we display. While some of our samples are smaller copies of three-dimensional work we have done for customers, the bulk of the things you see on display are custom made – just for that purpose.

I have difficulty describing what we do but showing a sample of our wonderful 3D creations work like a charm.

The work we have on display not only shows what we can do but also is the kind of work we WANT to do in the future. From time to time we go through our displays, culling signs and 3D objects that no longer fit our vision. Some see it as brutal that we take down a piece and toss it in the dumpster but the importance of our display far outweigh any personal attachment we might harbour.

Recently our insurance company did a detailed audit of our workplace. They deemed it necessary that we provide further fireproofing in our welding area. A fireproof paint was the answer. It was the perfect excuse to clear everything from the shop, reorganize our work areas and then put the samples back up. It was time for a major cull once more.

The pepto bismol pink of the special paint was a little hard to take as it went on.

Thankfully the fire paint was an intermedial paint meaning we could top coat it with something a little more neutral.

The many 3D samples were thoroughly cleaned, and sorted, tossing samples of things that no longer were up to current standards. They are stacked in my library waiting for the painting to be done.

As we reinstall all of the samples once more you can bet we’ll save a little room for some new ones. Even though we are currently booked into 2016 I still strongly believe in continuing to invest in he future.
-dan

Published with permission from precisionboard.blogspot.com. Source.

Have You Checked Your HDU Pricing Lately?

They raised their prices, we lowered ours.

Just because our competitors pricing is higher, doesn’t mean it’s a better product! Precision Board Plus HDU is up to $90 less per sheet than any other HDU tooling board on the market.

Click here for your nearest distributor and find out your savings!

These craftsmen know quality:

Sign Solutions Wins USSC Award With Precision Board

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 KDF “Robots” Sign on Cover of Sign Builder Illustrated

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 Jon Sharp, Former Skunk Works Composite Engineer Shares Thoughts on Soft Tooling

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Hi-Perf. Composites Article Discusses Metal Vs. Soft Tooling

Much-respected composites publication Hi-Performance Composites featured Coastal Enterprises in their July issue. The article, written by Sarah Black, examines the cost-savings polyurethane foam blocks can provide for certain layup tooling applications, referencing the famous Nemesis Air Racing plane of which many parts were produced from Precision Board molds.

Also discussed:

  • Time-saving benefits of custom, pre-bonded Precision Board blocks
  • Why metal tooling can increase cost, weight and lead time
  • Reducing witness lines when bonding tooling board
  • Temperature ramp up/down procedures for PBLT (up to 200˚F) and PBHT (up to 300˚F)

See the article in its entirety here.

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Back on the bike

After more than two months out of the studio and away from the router I was back at my desk and programing some files and turned on the MultiCam once more. I quickly found out I was a little rusty with both the program and the machine.

EnRoute is a wonderful program that isn’t too difficult but like many things technical it requires that one does things in a certain order, paying attention the whole way through. As usual there were lots of things going on out in the studio and out in the yard as well. I found that with my being out of practice it till a few tries to get things right.

The point I am trying to make is that the complex files I love to play with takes practice and regular use to accomplish with ease.

I have no doubt that after creating a few more files in the next days I’ll have no problem designing and routing anything I can imagine. It’s like riding a bike I suppose. A few more laps and I’ll be up to first speed once more.

-dan

Published with permission from precisionboard.blogspot.com. Source.