No matter how many times you have done something, there is always a better, faster or safer way to do it that you may have never considered. That certainly is true for me, and I am always open minded about new ideas, either my own or shared with me by another sign maker. For this month’s Shop Talk, we’ll look at a few simple ways to improve letter install jobs that are a common occurrence in our commercial sign business.

 

A few months ago, I had a simple project to apply some vinyl lettering to both sides of a lighted tenant sign about 12 or 15 feet off the ground. The job could easily be done off an extension ladder, but the ground below dropped off at a significant angle. I thought ahead and made a very simple “ladder leveler,” something I had not seen or tried before but it sure did work well. For the letter install job in this article, the situation was much the same. I would be working off an extension ladder over a sidewalk that sloped downhill quite a bit.

 

Letter installs are a mainstay of the types of sign work we do, and we are always looking for ways to do these jobs faster, easier and safer.	Sometimes I find myself having to work off an extension ladder on uneven ground or pavement, and because necessity is the mother of invention, have put together a “ladder-leveler” from a few pieces of plywood, angle iron and four C-clamps.
The angle strips are bolted to a platform made from two sheets of ½” thick plywood screwed together to make a 1” thick deck, and the plywood end pieces are adjustable and held in place by four clamps.	My weight does not faze it at all.

So, let’s look at this simple device and put the idea out there for anyone who might have a similar need. Of course, this is not an OSHA approved device, but when firmly clamped together, the platform is very stable and not the least bit prone to shift or move. It is merely a platform made of ½" plywood doubled to make the deck 1" thick with two pieces of angle bolted at two opposite edges, and two more pieces of ½" thick plywood and four C-clamps. 

 

The photos show how simple this thing is, but it will level the ground or paved surface in both directions up to 30 degrees or so, and using a level can be adjusted perfectly in a couple of minutes, nothing to it. As long as the clamps are snuggly tightened, this homemade “ladder leveler” works perfectly safely and costs next to nothing to make.

 

Another idea I tried on this job was one shared with me by Tim Hays of Hays Sign in Arkansas City, Kan. This is a drilling guide to make drilling straight and accurate holes in uneven surfaces, like rock and some brick easier. I made mine from scraps of ½" thick plywood and a couple of small pieces of 1/8" thick steel flatbar. The photos show how simple this device is, which took me about 30 minutes to make. 

 

Now this slanted sidewalk is as level as can be.	This hole drilling guide tool especially suited for surfaces even rougher than brick was shared with me by Tim Hays, a signmaker from Kansas.
It is made from scrap plywood and two pieces of flatbar and can be put together in about 30 minutes.	The critical hole, just slightly over the diameter of our hammer drill bit, is drilled on a drill press through the top plate, plywood, and bottom side plate, making a true 90 degree bore.

The critical hole, which goes through the center of the device and will guide our drill bit, is bored on a drill press through the steel front plate, the plywood, and through a steel back plate on the flip side of the guide, and this way it is drilled at a perfect 90 degrees. The bit used to drill this hole needs to be just the right size for the hammer drill bit to slide through, but not loose at all, in our case 1/64 over a ¼" bit.

 

I tried it out on our letter install job, and found that it did work but that the advice given to me when I was contacted with this idea was correct. Tim said that it really was a two man job to use the guide, and I found that if you are pushing hard on the hammer drill in one hand, you cannot push hard enough with your other hand to hold the guide as securely as you would like. Yet, it did work and was easy to see the dot in the pattern through the hole and align the guide, and it did assist in drilling straight, accurate holes. With a helper, and on a particularly irregular surface, I can see that this guide could provide a big advantage.

 

After drilling all the holes, the best way to clean them out so the silicone gets a good bite to hold the letter studs in place is to blow them out with compressed air. On most jobs, we carry an inexpensive air compressor with us to handle this job. Most any compressor that would drive a nail gun will do, but if electric power isn’t handy, it will take a pretty good generator to run even a small compressor. A small generator to run the drill would be fine if a decent sized air tank already filled was carried to the jobsite, just one more item on my shopping list. 

 

The center hole is sized just right to let our hammer drill bit slide through. The bit is not loose at all.	Here the plywood pads at each end that will hold the guide up off the pattern are screwed in place.
I found the guide did work, and greatly stabilizes the drill bit, but really required two men to do the job correctly, one to hold the guide firmly and one to drill. For really uneven surfaces like rock, the improved drilling accuracy and angle could be a real help.	Taking some compressed air to the job is best for cleaning out all holes prior to gluing our letters in place.

One small thing that might be worth mentioning—at least, I was glad we came across it—is a way to prevent throwing away a serious amount of silicone sealant/adhesive because the silicone hardens in the tip from one job to the next. This hardened silicone can be nearly impossible to dig out so the rest of the tube can used, and is a waste of time to fight with. Through the years I have thrown away a serious amount of silicone because re-using a partially empty tube was not worth the hassle.

 

But, a few companies are making silicone sealant in tubes with removable plastic tips that screw on and off. If you can take the tip off, even a clogged one is easy to clean with a welding rod or other stiff wire if you can push the clog backward and out the wide end of the tip, easy to do when the tip comes off. The brand we use is made by American Sealants of Fort Wayne, Ind., (800-325-7040). It is carried by Graphic Solutions and perhaps other sign supply houses, or look them up and find a dealer near you. It is worth the effort as we never buy or use any other brand of silicone these days if we can help it, and we never waste a drop.

 

Allow me to backtrack just a bit and hit on the all important subject of pattern making for jobs like these. I still make my own patterns because I am very particular about how the letters should be spaced, and would rather do it myself so the pattern will be right the first time. 

 

Any small compressor will do, but if power is needed a pretty good generator will be needed. A good sized air storage tank would certainly do the job, allowing the use of a small generator for just running the drill.	It was a long time before we found silicone sealant/adhesive in tubes with removable tips like these made by American Sealants. Being able to remove the tips makes cleaning out clogs in partially used tubes a snap, saving valuable time and silicone that might have been thrown away.
We use short and pointed temporary studs to perforate our patterns accurately.	These short studs push in/pull out, no threading required. They are made from cut down nails with a wrap or two of masking tape at the dull ends and are time savers in pattern making.

I have mentioned this before, but to save time when working with formed plastic letters with deep plastic nuts glued in place on the back side, my pattern making (short and pointed) studs are not threaded, and don’t have to be screwed in and out in each letter as the pattern is perforated. 

 

I use “push-in, pull-out” studs made from nails cut off to about 1" long, and just smaller in diameter than 3/16" studs. A small wrap of masking tape near the dull end of each stud will provide a little friction and make a slightly snug fit by pushing, not threading them into the letter backs. This faster way of doing things on each letter, times many, many letters, is a real time saver on pattern making.

 

And any time saving idea, no matter how simple or small, is of great interest to me because the faster I get through with one job, the sooner I can get started on the next. And, if I am ever going to be able to retire, or even just buy that new truck I’ve been needing, this old sign guy has a lot of jobs still left to do.