i can't believe the amount of scrap mdo, alumilite,aluminum,coroplast,komtex,dibond, fiberbrite, hdu and god knows what else. it kills me! i guess my organization skills suck because it would take me longer to rifle thru the mounds of sh!t i have so i just cut new. do people really keep little pieces of stuff....or should i just go to the dumpster and pretend it burned in a fire?....i'm not talkin 2' x 3' or 4'(which i have plenty of)...i mean 7 5/8" x 33 9/16"..ya know pain in the a$$ crap that would take longer to square on my table saw than its worth. i guess i'm feeling like its time to spring clean...especially when my husband has to help me move something and comments:...whats this? why don't you put things back? how do you know what you even have? damn i hate when he's right! Posted by Dave Grundy (Member # 103) on :
Karyn...YUP!!
I don't do as much MDO, coro, Komatex, Sintra work as many others but the off-cuts still accumulate.
Spring is almost upon us and the burn barrel is almost accessible in the snow so it will soon be time for my annual ritual of sorting through all that stuff, along with my piles of backing paper, premask wads, and weeded vinyl wads and spending a day tending the burn barrel.
Anything less than 2'x2' in substrate material gets burned.
Posted by Murray MacDonald (Member # 3558) on :
Oh, dear, does this sound familiar! Being of Scots blood, I hate to throw anything out, but thanx to my wife, I'm learning. I have two barrels in the dust room, one for wood and one for non-burnables. The wood scraps go to a friend who heats with wood, the rest goes to the dump. promising pieces go in a vertical substrate "file" and it's surprising how much of it I use up for small stuff and diecut letters etc. Stil have to do an annual swampout, tho'.
MUR
Posted by old paint (Member # 549) on :
i keep anything....over 8-10" tall, coco, alum,mdo, or any background material. my worst saving thing is 2,4,6, wide vinyl pieces!!!!! speaking of "collecting"....did anyone see the 20/20, 48 hours, show on HORDING DISORDER????? this guy they had couldnt stay outa dumpsters!!! had 300 golf clubs....3-4 riding lawn mowers, had a storage unit that cost him $200 a month, and he finally cleaned it out after paying for it for 2 YEARS....and wound up with like a $1000 woth of stuf!!!!! i think we all got a little of that....i got 2 sets of bucket seats laying in my dodge van......and have no idea of what iam going to do with them..but i got em, if i need em!!!!
[ March 19, 2004, 11:21 AM: Message edited by: old paint ]
Posted by Mike Pipes (Member # 1573) on :
Oh boy, scraps!
Wood scraps I can handle, almost anything is usable when it comes to building support frames for fiberglass molds or quick and dirty jigs and templates.
I have a TON of 2lb density polyurethane foam scraps though, from sheet stock that's 4" thick. It's not quite as handy to have hanging around, but it can still be glued up to make larger blocks for carving prototypes so I keep it.
I don't have too much vinyl scrap, I cut it up and use it as tape. Posted by Kevin Alan (Member # 4556) on :
Scap substrate, vinyl, just about any kind of materials, we just donate to the school my kids attend. The teachers in the younger grades almost fight over the boxes! The use it for crafts and other projects, and we're happy to give it to them. I keep a box next to the weeding table, and anything we can cut off a graphic goes in there.
Might be worth dropping off some yourself one day. You'd be suprised how thankful they are, and when it comes time for school signs or team banners, you're right there first in line for the job.
Kevin.
Posted by PKing (Member # 337) on :
There is NO such thing as"scrap material" KAREN
They are Professionaly called... Pre-Cut,Undetermined Sized Panels that my customer will buy at an inflatted discount!
DONATE these to Letterhead Meets that are ALWAYS looking for "something" to paint on clap: hope this helps
Posted by Jeff Ogden (Member # 3184) on :
Used to have an elderly gent who came around a got all the small stuff. He built bird housed with them. I bet if you put an add in the paper"free birdhouse material", someone would haul it off for you. I hate to throw anything away, especially HDU. I got a pretty good pile of that going on...keep thinking I'll make some fake rocks someday, but probably never will.
Posted by Dan Streicher (Member # 4515) on :
When I had our sign co, we would donate our scrap boxes to the local high school art department 2 or 3 times a year, even got a receipt for the donations to use as a tax write off.
Posted by John Milleker (Member # 4572) on :
Has anyone ever considered putting a box of scraps on ebay for beginners/hobbyists?
Starting out myself I have often checked ebay to see if these 'grab bags' existed. The work I plan to do revolves in smaller sized designs anyway.
Might not get too much for them but much better than throwing them out or letting them get too old. I for one would be interested!
Posted by jimmy chatham (Member # 525) on :
i don't have scraps i have remenants.
Posted by Doug Allan (Member # 2247) on :
quote: put an add in the paper"free birdhouse material"
..hehe you could get rid of the grass clippings too
I like Pat's "inflated discount" idea on the pre-cut undetermined size panels. I sort of try to do that too, but usually end up following Karyn's MO & just sell them a somewhat standard size, maybe give a quick look for a piece thats already cut, & if I don't find one, I end up digging into another 4x8 even though there may have been several scraps large enough.
Instead of throwing stuff out at the end of the year, if I set a saturday aside to turn scraps into 12x18's, 12x24's, 18x24's 24x24's & 24x36's Then I can easily store them in some sense of order... I know to be trying to sell those stock sizes (like I already do anyway) & I find them quickly when needed. They will take up much less space too, when organized.
Posted by Kevin Alan (Member # 4556) on :
quote:Originally posted by John Milleker: Has anyone ever considered putting a box of scraps on ebay for beginners/hobbyists?
Starting out myself I have often checked ebay to see if these 'grab bags' existed. The work I plan to do revolves in smaller sized designs anyway.
Might not get too much for them but much better than throwing them out or letting them get too old. I for one would be interested!
The school year going to be done in the next few months, (where I usually give all the scrap to).
So when they're all set for what they can use for the year,if you're in need of off-cuts, and are willing to pay the mail expense, I'll gladly send you along whatever I have We've just started doing all the McDonalds in our area, and the red and yellow is piling up fast!
Would be happy to help you out..
Kevin
Posted by Terry Baird (Member # 3495) on :
That's what I use for Panel Swaps. The panel that I just finished for Kissy's swap was 12"x 24" SignFoam.
Posted by Rodger MacMunn (Member # 4316) on :
I, like Murray, am of Scottish descent, & really hate wasting anything, but I also hate clutter. 90% of my waste is clear VG cedar, cutoff corners from a sandblasted blank. Anything 4.5" square can become a post cap, but for years I burned odd shaped cutoffs. Finally, after several years I've found a use. My scraps 11" by whatever are shipped to a guy in New Brunswick who makes barrels for me - 5" deep, they hang on the wall & the bottom becomes a sign. I think these are going to sell OK, so if anyone is generating a lot of wood scraps, like me, this is a neat way to use them up. I'll e-mail a picture of one to anyone who will post it - I'm not that smart. If anyone is interested, I'll post the contact then. TR
Posted by Sheila Ferrell (Member # 3741) on :
Every once in a while I have to have a cleaning-out day for the sole purpose if finding out what I will be needing after I've thrown it away, burned it or sold it.
Like everyone else mentioned, I donate scrap vinyl to the school my kid goes to.
....I keep all HDU scraps and redwood scraps that are about a foot long or so. All other wood scraps go in the fire pit fer a cook-out and a "pickin' an' grinnin".
ALL scrap aluminum gets cashed in at the recycling center. I keep cut-offs in a barrel and have cashed in up to $80 worth on "scrap" day. I save cans too, and so a lot of my friends give me cans.
[ March 21, 2004, 05:58 PM: Message edited by: Sheila Ferrell ]
Posted by Jillbeans (Member # 1912) on :
Karyn..... Pack up them scraps & bring em to MASS MAYHEM Instant Panels! Love...Jill Posted by Mark Rogan (Member # 3678) on :
Any HDU of similar thickness can be butt joined with Gorilla Glue. I know it's a pain, but in a pinch you could have a nice 4 X 4 panel with just two or 3 pieces.
Also, I'm using "scraps" of HDU as bracing between 2 sheets of HDU. I run 'em on edge like using a 2 X 4 to stud out a wall. Joe Crumley taught me that trick. Keeps the sign light. No material to expand/contract at a different rate than the HDU. And it's strong a s hell.
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