A colourful example of West End theatre signage created produced by Newman Displays
Newman Displays, a leading sign and display company specialising in the theatre and cinema sector, is benefiting from cleaner cuts, less wastage and a reduction in dust after switching to a Striebig Standard vertical panel saw.
The London-based company, whose large creations can be seen outside theatres and cinemas in the West End, in other UK cities and internationally, makes and installs all types of signage. They could contain vinyl graphics, silk screen printing, neon, illuminated and non-illuminated signs or acrylic fabrications.
Its Standard TRK1 4216 saw sizes a variety of sheet material including hardboard, Foamex, Perspex, aluminium board as well as some MDF. Printed vinyl is then mounted on to the sheets. With a cutting range of 3.3m x 2.1m and a maximum depth of cut of 80mm, it is one of nine models in the Standard TRK1 series.
The Striebig replaced a 13-year-old saw that was coming to the end of its working life. Mechanics had to be called out almost every month to fix it, and as panel cutting is the first stage in the production process this was causing serious bottlenecks in the workshop.
During an initial Google search to seek a replacement, production manager Gary Brooks was impressed with the specifications of the Swiss-built saws. He also received a favourable report from one of his plastic sheet suppliers, a Striebig user. Brooks then met a representative of the saw maker’s UK sales agent, TM Machinery, at a B&Q store to see a Striebig in action.
“The cleanness of the cut is its biggest advantage,” he says. “We never cut that clean before, even on hardboard. It gives us a smooth cut every time, making it a quick and easy job to polish the edge. We often ended up before with ragged edges on some of the materials that took time to smooth out.”
Material wastage has been reduced. This is because the bought-in boards measure 3m x 2m, but as they could only get a 3m x 1.9m sheet on their former saw the suppliers had to cut a strip off each one so it would fit.
The Standard TRK comes with a strip cutter fitted as standard that’s ideal for making fast and accurate repeat cuts. Newman Displays finds it very useful for the small pieces that are often needed to be sized, such as those featuring stars’ names.
The company is also impressed with the Standard’s highly efficient integral extraction system, which delivers dust limit values considerably below 1mg/m3.
Tried and tested over decades, the Standard is considered the workhorse of the vertical panel saw sector. Its flexibility and extensive options make it the ideal panel saw for company of all sizes.
“We were happy to go with the Standard as we wanted a basic saw that would give us accurate and smooth cuts,” says Brooks.
“TM has given us great service, delivering the machine on time as promised and providing thorough on-site training. We are so impressed that they have been asked to service all of our machines in future.”
T 0116 271 7155
[email protected]
