Phasmid Rentals, located near Bozeman, Mont., rents vehicles with a twist. Say you want to fly fish… Phasmid will rent you the vehicle to get there, fully outfitted for fly fishing. When Phasmid needs someone to outfit them with everything they need for signs and graphics, they turn to INK Outside the Box.
INK Outside the Box recently upped the ante of its product line, adding a lift truck to its equipment inventory. This is a big deal for a company that’s been focused primarily on large format inkjet output, but the move made sense because customers were demanding help with their backlit signs.
INK Outside the Box was happy to oblige and has successfully grown business in this direction. Now, instead of just selling the printed sign face, they can service the installation as well.
“Since we’re there we might as well service the sign; it’s easier to fix the lighting when you’re replacing the sign face. Fortunately, I already had expertise; I was a journeyman electrician for awhile,” explains Justin Lind of INK Outside the Box.
Lind also decided to experiment with the production of the sign face, printing directly to LexJet Performance Gloss Vinyl Laminate (3 Mil) with the company’s Mimaki JV3 solvent printer, applying the printed laminate to a milky white polycarbonate sign face, and then protecting the image with either a matte or semi-gloss ClearStar liquid laminate.
“It’s almost like doing stained glass; the light comes through it really nice,” says Lind. “It lets a lot of light through, a lot more than if you were to print to a semi-translucent white vinyl, so we’re getting bright colors out of it.”
The sign face for Phasmid Rentals pictured here was printed using this method and Lind says it lights up spectacularly at night, especially with the black-printed background and the light-colored lettering. We’ll post a nighttime shot soon, so check back here for an update.
