Express SignCraft, San Jose

CNC Router Cuts Time for Large Exterior
Sign Projects from Months to Weeks

Express Signcraft, San Jose, California, produces a wide range of interior and exterior signage but specializes in large exterior projects for apartment complexes, office buildings, shopping centers, medical centers, etc. These projects typically demand very high levels of quality and also require highly competitive pricing and delivery times. In the past, using power tools such as table saws and power routers, it typically took several months for Express Signcraft's 8-person staff to cut out the letters, faces, blanks and other components required for a typical large exterior signage project.

Recently, the company invested in a computer numerical control (CNC) router that automatically cuts out sign components to higher levels of accuracy in a fraction of the time. The result is that Express Signcraft can now complete a similar project in a few weeks. The ability to produce a better product in less time has helped Express Signcraft substantially increase its business to the point where it is now one of the largest sign producers in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Specializing in larger projects
"We manufacture custom exterior signage used in an array of facilities," said Miles Stapleton, President of Express Signcraft. "From planning and design development to manufacturing and installation, our objective is to deliver unique, creative, cohesive applications and functional signage solutions." Many of Express Signcraft's customers are local developers that need large quantities of professional looking signage. A typical project might involve producing a 100 signs for an office or residential complex including monument signs that are mounted on the ground and sometimes affixed to a base or pedestal, building identification signs that are attached to buildings, building and unit numbering signs and Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) signs. The company also takes on many smaller exterior and interior sign projects.

These signs are typically built by cutting individual letters from aluminum or vinyl and mounting them to an aluminum or acrylic or polyvinyl chloride (PVC) rectangle called a blank. Many of the signs produced by the company simply consist of letters that are cut from aluminum or plastic and mounted directly to a building face. The company also produces channel letters in which a lighting source such as LED's are placed into the outline of a letter. Reverse channel letters are a variation of channel letters in which the letter is spaced off the wall and neon shines out the back of the letter so that a halo is formed around the letter.

In the traditional approach, skilled workers cut out the letters of the sign using a jigsaw or table router and then finish any rough edges using files and sandpaper. The quality of the job depends on the skill and experience of the person operating the machine. The best operators are able to produce an extremely nice product, but the time required to do the job is high. It generally takes about 45 minutes to produce a 10" letter by hand or two hours to produce a 36" letter. "I have built many signs myself using the manual approach, but it just takes too long to remain competitive in today's economy," said Gus Ortiz, Production Manager for Express Signcraft. "The manual approach also presents considerable risk for error so each letter had to be checked and double-checked to make sure it met our quality standards."

Moving to CNC technology
Then Stapleton and Ortiz heard about Techno's new low-cost LC series CNC routing system. This router provides a number of critical features that allow it to deliver accuracy to a level that has previously only been available from machines at a much higher cost. Ball screws are provided on all three axes, offering smooth motion, a high level of accuracy and repeatability, and minimal maintenance. A closed loop servo control system provides constant position feedback, higher power, and smooth continuous motion that eliminates the possibility of losing position in the middle of a part. The LC series router includes a heavy steel ground stress-relieved base and an aluminum T-Slot table that can be easily converted to a vacuum table by installing the Techno vacuum table accessory kit. Despite possessing these features, the LC series routers are available at less than half the price of CNC routers previously targeted at the sign market.

"Although we liked the technology offered by the Techno routers, we made the decision to buy it based on the support provided by the company," Stapleton said. "Techno sent an applications engineer to our facility to help set up the router and teach us how to use it. For example, the applications engineer showed us how to set up a spoil board on the vacuum table of the router that can be cut into without damaging the router yet enables air passage to hold the workpiece to the table. He also showed us how the Techno router can cut many different types of materials including, plastics, nonferrous metals and wood. Finally, he showed us how we could use software that we were already familiar with to design the signs and convert the designs into the G-code format used to guide the Techno machine."

Automating the signmaking process
Stapleton and Ortiz design signs in Adobe Illustrator®. They transfer the design files into EnRoute CNC programming software which produces the CNC programs that drive the Techno router. They use the router to produce letter, blanks, faces and all the other sign components. "We design the sign, produce the program, press the start button and walk away while the router produces all the parts of the sign," Ortiz said. The result is that the company executives are able to devote much more of their time to design, sales, finance and human resources activities that contribute to growing the business. The router produces letters and other specialized shapes that are more accurate than can be produced by the most experienced craftsmen. The Techno router has also eliminated much of the time that used to have to be spent checking employees' work because it perfectly duplicates the design.

















The first project that Express Signcraft used the new router on involved producing monument signs, building identification signs, building numbers and office numbers for a large office complex. "It was apparent right from the start that the CNC router is much faster and produces a better quality product than traditional hand tools," Stapleton said. "This project would have taken several months using our traditional methods but we did it in less than a month with the CNC router. The savings that we achieved on this project paid for a substantial portion of the router and made it clear that we had made a wise purchase."

Producing large projects in a fraction of the time
Ortiz points out that the CNC router is not the right tool for every job. "We cut vinyl letters on a standard sign plotter," he said. "We use a small table router to cut Braille letters. We use a small laser cutter to cut tactile letters for ADA compliant signs. But switching from manual to CNC production has increased both the quality and productivity of the majority of our work. We can now produce the 50 to 200 signs that might be required for a large project in a fraction of the time that was required in the past. This means that we can offer pricing and delivery times that are in most cases better than what our competitors can provide."

"The result is that we now consistently win large projects," Stapleton concluded. "For example, we produced a 36" tall logo and 20" flat cut acrylic letters for Axial Industries. We built and installed 3D letters for the exterior of Winbond's building and a matching monument sign for their San Jose location. We built a custom 7' tall aluminum monument for Adapt Corporation. Everything comes out exactly the same size, exactly the same shape, exactly the same edge finish. The developers in town know us and have confidence that we can produce a high-quality job in less time at a very competitive price. So they have been giving us job after job. The result is that since we purchased the Techno router both the revenues and profits of this company have substantially increased."