A company nearby called MICA, makes road signs. At one of their locations they created an exit style sign that is out front and it reads "WE TELL YOU WHERE TO GET OFF" 😂
Where I used to live there was a construction company who had some electronic roadside signs and they'd regularly have them out front with job ads or jokes. It was usually a nice laugh
@@mirzaahmed6589 it is a Dutch mileage sign with the road number (except obv. not in miles but hectometers) (please don't ask em why those are made in this factory in the US)
4:47 In CMYK the K stands for "Key", not "blacK" as public often think. The Key plate, in traditional color separations, is the plate that holds the detail in the image. In CMYK this is usually done with black ink.
and may they never....too much corporate. I could see them taking in the show for 2 years, cancel it early and prevent him from continuing the YT channel, while attempting collect ad revenue on the past videos.
Because Discovery hasn't done documentaries in over a decade. It is trash, lets keep our favorite creators funded via patreon and youtube so they can produce the content we love.
While that is a great idea, I wouldn't want it on that channel, especially considering how they destroyed the MYTHBUSTERS show. I just wish he (and other YT hosts) would stop it with the music being played while he is talking to us (you'll notice he didn't do that when the employees were talking). "background" music is very annoying and distracting. Well, at least to me it is.
I actually work in a sign shop and make signs the same way mentioned here, but i have a few comments: -Another thing the overlay does that isnt mentioned: it protects the print ink from the elements! Unlike your silk screened signs, the print ink is not self-protective from water or other rough weather, so printed signs have to use that clear overlaminate in order to make the sign work and to validate the manufacturer warranty! -With speed limits, most often a combination of processes are used, where the border and "SPEED LIMIT" is silk screened, and then the actual number is cut out as a "layer-on-layer" addition Great video as always rob!!
does the clear overlay also block UV? UV is what kills pretty much everything that's not designed to be outdoors. Or is the reflective backing and ink already UV resistant?
@@gorak9000 yes! The clear overlay protects against basically everything except other ink ironically, so graffiti would be up there and basically stays. However something like lacquer would break it down over time
@@petergerdes1094 If you have a spinning object its angular speed would need to slow down to decrease its frequency. If you want to say this simpler you may say its frequency slows down and it makes sense in this context. Then you can apply the same language to other things that have a frequency but not spinning.
the educational yet surprisingly entertaining nature of this channel combined with the sponsored by viewers like you statements this is basically a PBS show and that is amazing
I agree. His on-camera style reminds me very much of Huell Howser, Same voice pacing. Same feeling of awe and wonder at all the little details of ordinary life around us.
Great video! Do you think you could do a video about different types of guardrails and k-rails (jersey walls)? They play a very important role in roads and keeping us safe! I think it would be a Intresting video! :)
I think most of them disappeared in the 1980s and 1990s as the better retro-reflective material came out. California are the hold outs who didn't really start aggressively changing the signs out until 10-20 years ago.
I used to work for a company called Interwest Safety Supply and we did all 3 versions of those signs but with 3M materials. It was during the pandemic and business slowed down so much I was laid off, was brought back and laid off again. I did enjoy the job, just not how poorly they treated me.
The 'whoosh' sounds at 2:10 caught me off guard with the stereo effects. This amount of attention to detail is part of what makes Rob's videos so enjoyable, I seriously feel like I'm watching a full on TV production any time I watch this channel
I would think that something like a stop sign would be an off the shelf sign, but with sizing deferentials, it makes sense that this is not always the case.
that was my thought as well. surely any good road crew would keep a stop sign on the shelf. it would be the green road sign on top they would have custom made.
most signs are printed these days so signs become a print-on-demand item, making a ton and throwing them on the shelf is called overproduction and is a big no-no in Lean manufacturing
@@richwiebe8084 which is why I'm currently sitting on the internet waiting for UPS to deliver the widget I need to start this morning's emergeny project.
I think stop signs all have to conform to standards - they're not allowed to be different sizes (unless they're on private property). Otherwise everyone everywhere would pick different fonts, different shades of red, or even different shapes, and you'd have a colossal mess
@@richwiebe8084 Having no inventory is doing lean manufacturing wrong. The point isn't to have no inventory, it's to not have excess inventory. Car companies doing lean manufacturing wrong is why so many of them had no cars to sell during the pandemic while Toyota did, because they were doing lean manufacturing correctly and actually had parts.
correction: an AD TrafficJet Expert is about 2X more expensive than an HP Latex 365, but its also twice as fast printing, warms up 5x faster so can turn around between jobs in under a minute (while an HP needs 5 minutes to finish and 5 minutes to start EVERY print run), and is much more reliable in long-term use. The HP is a prosumer printer that's very long-in-the -tooth at this point. Important note: the lamination is an additional UV protectant for the UV-safe inks used for road signs I always laugh when I hear a sign professional call it "silk-screening" (vs. screenprinting) because silk hasn't been used for screen printing in many decade. you don't call offset printing aluminum plate printing do you?
Avery Dennison are also pretty big in the car wrap business. I would like to know who in the company realised that address labels were no longer a growth business and spurred on this innovation in new markets. Also, did the 3M reflective patents expire or did they license them?
Well patents do last only 20 years. In theory Toyota could make the electric Rav4 again without being sued by the oil company that bought up the NiMH battery patents.
I was going to make a joke about it being the "most expensive printer label you'll ever buy" (there's still a bit of it in there). But in my research after I got home, I discovered the labels were spun off to another company called Avery Products that's now no longer involved with Avery-Dennison. So I scrapped the rest of the bit.
@@RoadGuyRob So you did hold back on some key information! On the subject of retroreflective things, can you do 'cats eyes'? In the UK these were an election promise in the 1970s, and the big steel plates in British roads with the 'cats eyes' were highly innovative for their time. They self cleaned as cars drove over them, with rain water. When I went to the US in the 1990s, on my bicycle, I found you guys had these stand up bits of card instead of our glorious 'cats eyes'. Nowadays in the UK they do not bother with the 'cats eyes', instead the paint is retroreflective, or it was. Budgets for highways have been cut so you are lucky to get road markings as they have worn out. The 1970s cats eyes - where they exist - are still going strong. With resurfacing the 'cats eyes' are a dying breed, but they were once an election promise for road safety. I am sure that a whole episode can be made on this topic, to appeal to both the U.S. and international audience. On a related topic, your hi viz jacket is also noteworthy. In the EU and UK we have standards for where the stripes have to be. These are ignored by cycle apparel manufacturers and they just do their own thing. In the UK we have different colours, so your orange jacket is for the railways, not the highways, here. Yellow green is what the road workers (and cyclists) require, but why? Surely railways are not that different from roads, so why isn't bright orange what is used for things like cycle jackets? Prevention is better than cure, however, a tabard like yours can retail for £5 whereas a cycle helmet retails for £50. This means that when it comes to upselling accessories with a new bicycle, where the customer could walk out at any time, retailers sell the helmet, which is only useful in a crash, and not the hi viz jacket that could prevent a crash with a vehicle. There is much about hi viz that I think you can share with the audience for safety reasons. Please do it!
If you're curious: CMYK uses "K" for black because it stands for Key. It stems back to "key plate" in the old days of printing---the plate that had the most detail---which was most often the color black.
"Signs point to yes" - Magic 8 Ball My mom used to work in the graphics department at our local municipal utility before she retired, and they had several large-format printers that were used for all sorts of stuff (and you can get a wide variety of materials for them, from all sorts of papers to various plastic films, and even cloth). The thing that they didn't have, however, was an automated cutting system - they'd just take the projects over to the big table that they had, put down some cutting mats, and they'd all go at it with x-acto knives. It's remarkable how quick and accurate they could be... years of experience I guess. The largest working printer that I have at the moment is an old 15 inch dot matrix that I used to use to print out source code listings (I'm a programmer), but - just for fun - I'm halfway thru rebuilding an old large-format HP pen plotter to be able to use artistic pens, markers, and paint brushes via a 3D printed set of adapters. Once I get it working, I should see about making some art in the style of road signs... 🤔
In case he hasn't mentioned it, there is a free font commissioned by Red Hat that closely mimics the Highway Gothic font used on roadsigns, it's called “Overpass.” It's perfect for projects where you want to mimic road signs, even if you're just studying the letter shapes to replicate them by hand, or making a stencil.
I had a custom road sign made and it used the layer-on-layer method. (You can order a road sign! That’s a thing anybody can just do!) Specifically, a highway-grade “🚫🪿” sign that now adorns a dock on the Charles River, inspired by the Goose Game. It’s got a white background, so it means “no geese, or you might get a ticket!” It is not particularly effective.
When he said "squish the font" while using the sign design program I wanted to cry. The FHWA standard alphabet letters were never designed to be "squished".
It's such a classic boss/worker moment. I've been there as well, just doing my job at my machine when suddenly my boss emerges from his soundproof airconditioned office to show someone how things are done.
During COVID when we were ordering everything at home my deliveries kept going next door so I bought a sign like this with my house number on it That fixed the problem
In the late 80's/early 90's I had a summer job at our local county's traffic department. We did road striping, detours, and signage. Sometimes I'd have to create road signs. They were printed on a Gerber vinyl cutter (black vinyl), and transferred that to a reflective sheet that we applied to the stamped metal sign base, then the whole thing when into an "oven" (big vacuum table with very large light bulbs, that would go on/off at set intervals for a shot amount of time, to cure the adhesive between all the layers). The process took a quite a bit of time, and if you had to create mile markers, well, you were going to be there a while (baking them was easy since you could put a lot on the table, it was the printing/positioning that took forever). Every so often we had to do multi color, so there was a lot of parts to cut, and position. To be able to just print it in one shot, and apply to the metal is such a time saver!
Ohio still does sheet on sheet for most applications from my understanding, all in an in-house shop, that sometimes also makes signs for the various counties and cities that purchase from them as well.
Leeds council, UK makes road signs in house too using a similar method. They sell their signs to other local areas around them, and to local businesses.
I've driven passed by this building for years but never knew what it was until this video. 😅Amazing video! The sign printing process was really fascinating to watch.
I was not expecting to see the infomercial from the 90s about Sears Home Air Conditioners in this video haha. Rob always nails it with his random humor sprinkled into his videos.
For anyone else who was curious, K stands for Key or Key color, the darkest tone available which happens to be black. In printing, B could be confused for Beige, Blue, Brown, etc. I BELIEVE it is a carryover from the printing press.
Hey Avery Guys - thanks for the info and demos you provided Rob. Most companies would probably not give Rob the time of day, but you guys really went beyond the next level and providing us a tour of your equipment and processes, plus a few fun take-homes for Rob. Thanks again .....
I work at a sign company, cool to see you cover this... We do a lot of printed reflective. There are several different grades and intensities, for everything from decals, to emergency vehicle graphics, to road signs. We use 3M, Avery, and another common brand, Oracal, depending on application.
Such a cool video, I love this stuff! at 5:17; there is a green sign with the A4 and a Euro 100 speed limit being printed. It looks like the style we have here in the Netherlands (we have a highway near Amsterdam called the A4 with that same logo). Any idea if that was being printed for the Netherlands, Rob? EDIT: And I see a blue Dutch road sign as well on the at 6:05...so cool!
The State of Ohio sign shop is quite an operation. A single state run shop makes them all and Wow are they serious. It is so big it has it's own exit on I-90.
Fun video! This video made me realize how weird some of the colors that the US has chosen to use on their signs are. The brown one especially is really weird and even the green one a little bit. Here in Europe the street signs are blue with white letters, the same blue that is used for traffic signs. Just something that stood out to me that possibly makes signs in Europe cheaper.
The green on white street label signs are part of a wider color scheme; which is actually really useful because it lets you very quickly identify signs that aren't of interest to you. White on green, for instance, is used for informational signs. The weird brown ones you mentioned are for guide and info signs for points of cultural or recreational interest. If you're headed to a park, for instance, you can know that the brown signs will point you the way there; but if you're just interested in what you need to know about the road while you're driving, you know you can ignore all brown signs.
Since human eyes most greatly discern shades of green, I remember early on a young boy did a study showing white lettering on green was most readable in various conditions when highways and their signs started to become a thing. The human eye has least response to blue, which is used for less critical info signage here. Street name signs used to be white with black lettering (likely cheapest) before switching to white on green (perhaps following the highway signs?) or white on blue (less common here). Checking Wikipedia there's no history info.
@@RJFerret And plenty of cities still use other colors for street signs too, if they're paying for them themselves. (A few near me use white-on-brown or black-on-white -- and another (Hopkins MN) used to use raspberry-red on white for _only_ their main street, to match the city's raspberry logo.) White-on-green is still the most common, though.
@@RJFerret it’s a mystery (to me) when all large cities had a transitional period where their street signs went black text on white (Los Angeles), black text on yellow (Brooklyn, Chicago) then to switch Green with White text (NYC, Chicago) or Blue with White text (Los Angeles) does anyone have the specific years?
5:16 it is funny to see that signs for the dutch highway are also made here this sign is called an Hectometerpaal it shows wich highway you are the speedlimit wich side and how far on the road you are
I mean I know he made the sign of your existing logo, but I meant upload a picture of the sign as your updated logo so your logo looks like a highway road sign, I think it looks so cool!
I think they need to bring back the embossed/stamped signs.... Think of the old stop signs, where the white border around the edge was raised up, as were the letters in the word STOP. They could technically make signs like that using this new retroreflective substrate.
I'm still mad abut Avery's vehicle wrap material failure debacle and their subsequent snub to the vinyl dealers and sign shops seeking legit warranty claims. (But sometimes I still have to use them because of their large library of PMS color matched vinyls, and a wider selection of metallics)
In the thumbnail you chose a tractor fed dot matrix printer. What they're using is just an industrial-sized inkjet printer. That fancy "razor blade"? That's a digital cutter/plotter.
I've seen freeway signs in OC and LA that look to have a plastic coating peeling off. Is that a laminated coating failing or I always thought it was a shipping plastic like you'd get on your phone display that someone just forgot to remove off the sign after installation.
Hey Rob, when you going to do an episode on those left turns on green where traffic dont stop. My town had another fatal accident a couple months ago and they just seem like death traps being on fast roads with hills and blind corners. Please disguss why they exist and how dangerous they really are.😬
I don't think the guy that made you the sign necessarily had an extremely steady hand, i think its more likely he had a plotter. Its basically a small inkjet printer but instead of applying the ink according to the design, it cuts out the design, either with a laser or with an actual blade. Very similar principle o the cutting machine at avery, just smaller.
![Chlöe - Shake (Feat. Jeremih) [Official Visualizer]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/aDs_1ufpfv8/mqdefault.jpg)
I can't believe they let you in the buildings.
'Oh, it's him.
The road guy.'
I mean, considering how much I would _love_ to work at a place like that, I would totally love to have Road Guy Rob in there. 😅
It's advertising.. When the last time you thought if Avery?
I gotta admit if I was let loose with these machines I would be printing out some stuff that would get my in trouble.
@@AMPProf It's okay. In the next video, I am talking to a retired engineer from 3M- their sworn competitor!
@@RoadGuyRob more like a respected competitor. We can always use more people and organizations trying to make roads safer. Thanks for doing your part!
A company nearby called MICA, makes road signs. At one of their locations they created an exit style sign that is out front and it reads "WE TELL YOU WHERE TO GET OFF" 😂
I hope that's their actual slogan, it's genius lmao 😅
MICA doesn't make all of their signs in Texas, they outsource a ton of them to us in Arkansas
😂
Where I used to live there was a construction company who had some electronic roadside signs and they'd regularly have them out front with job ads or jokes. It was usually a nice laugh
"The hell you do!"
*drops pants*
It would have been so funny if they printed you a sign saying 'Rob Guy Road'
"Guy Rob Road" flows a little better but sounds way worse
"Rob Slobbed On...."
If he went to PennDOT ("Cenrtal Phila") they would
Kind of like:
Factory
Freedom
For anyone curious, The sign on the left at 5:17 will be placed at 52.020583, 4.317903 on the A4 freeway in the Netherlands near The Hague!
This is why I read the comments section
How do you know?
@@mirzaahmed6589 it is a Dutch mileage sign with the road number (except obv. not in miles but hectometers)
(please don't ask em why those are made in this factory in the US)
@@mirzaahmed6589It's a hectometer marker sign with the speed limit above it. 52.2 km on the A4.
I had to do a double take when I saw it
I'm a Transportation Engineer and watching this was like entering my favourite toystore in childhood.
Graphic design and same, excellent video!
I saw the sign
And it opened up my eyes, I saw the sign
She sawr the soin too: ruclips.net/video/lmGXN54pP8g/видео.html
DO TO copyright lawWe can't print that. Dodo doo bewoo doo Haha la ayyy sawww
I always thought they were singing "I saw the sun". Wow! I was singing it wrong all these years. lol smh!
Sign, sign, everywhere a sign
I saw the (road) sign, and it opened up my eyes... when I realized I was going the wrong way.
4:47 In CMYK the K stands for "Key", not "blacK" as public often think. The Key plate, in traditional color separations, is the plate that holds the detail in the image. In CMYK this is usually done with black ink.
Dude, seriously how has Discovery not picked you up for your own series? This is like straight out of a Modern Marvels episode.
Have you seen what Discovery puts out now? They're not interested in anything high quality or educational, they only want slop
and may they never....too much corporate. I could see them taking in the show for 2 years, cancel it early and prevent him from continuing the YT channel, while attempting collect ad revenue on the past videos.
Because Discovery hasn't done documentaries in over a decade. It is trash, lets keep our favorite creators funded via patreon and youtube so they can produce the content we love.
While that is a great idea, I wouldn't want it on that channel, especially considering how they destroyed the MYTHBUSTERS show. I just wish he (and other YT hosts) would stop it with the music being played while he is talking to us (you'll notice he didn't do that when the employees were talking). "background" music is very annoying and distracting. Well, at least to me it is.
You're kind. History had me on one of their episodes. But nobody has seen it since... it's on cable.
www.imdb.com/title/tt15762048/?ref_=ttep_ep3
Nice to see that the printer is printing a sign for the Netherlands highway . Like that from the Netherlands
The example of hundred stop signs on the other hand is clearly not Dutch.
I actually work in a sign shop and make signs the same way mentioned here, but i have a few comments:
-Another thing the overlay does that isnt mentioned: it protects the print ink from the elements! Unlike your silk screened signs, the print ink is not self-protective from water or other rough weather, so printed signs have to use that clear overlaminate in order to make the sign work and to validate the manufacturer warranty!
-With speed limits, most often a combination of processes are used, where the border and "SPEED LIMIT" is silk screened, and then the actual number is cut out as a "layer-on-layer" addition
Great video as always rob!!
does the clear overlay also block UV? UV is what kills pretty much everything that's not designed to be outdoors. Or is the reflective backing and ink already UV resistant?
@@gorak9000 yes! The clear overlay protects against basically everything except other ink ironically, so graffiti would be up there and basically stays. However something like lacquer would break it down over time
I didn't know the clear overlay is the same as the colored overlay. That makes sense! Thanks JJ1!
Lmao the ultraviolet slow down for yellow is wild. Never even thought of that
I feel like I'm missing the joke (bc ofc the light doesn't actually slow down...the frequency decreases but the speed stays the same).
@@petergerdes1094 The people slow down, not the light.
@@petergerdes1094 They are talking about Fluorescence.
Interesting concept, as Rob said it makes that sign stand out because gets attention as your eyes respond, "that's not natural and out of place."
@@petergerdes1094 If you have a spinning object its angular speed would need to slow down to decrease its frequency. If you want to say this simpler you may say its frequency slows down and it makes sense in this context. Then you can apply the same language to other things that have a frequency but not spinning.
the educational yet surprisingly entertaining nature of this channel combined with the sponsored by viewers like you statements this is basically a PBS show and that is amazing
That's a huge compliment. Thank you!
I agree. His on-camera style reminds me very much of Huell Howser, Same voice pacing. Same feeling of awe and wonder at all the little details of ordinary life around us.
That selfmade sign is amazing! Such a great gift.
There's something magical about seeing you inside a building wearing high viz. Thanks for staying in character. Haha.
Now you need to update your RUclips logo to that of the sign!
Great video! Do you think you could do a video about different types of guardrails and k-rails (jersey walls)? They play a very important role in roads and keeping us safe! I think it would be a Intresting video! :)
At some point. It's a story waiting for the right source.
9:06 I expected a “whiggle” like at “The sign guy.”
I miss lil knife and squeegee … rationalized 😢
4:15, Even a Dutch road sign pointing you to the motorway A-12
5:17 The typical Dutch Hectometer markers (with the speedlimit on top = 100 kmh)
So glad I SIGNED UP to your channel Rob! Great great video as always! You are like a university class that I can understand.
I'd never seen the older style ones and I'm in my 40s. They were always painted here before going to vinyl.
I think most of them disappeared in the 1980s and 1990s as the better retro-reflective material came out. California are the hold outs who didn't really start aggressively changing the signs out until 10-20 years ago.
I used to work for a company called Interwest Safety Supply and we did all 3 versions of those signs but with 3M materials. It was during the pandemic and business slowed down so much I was laid off, was brought back and laid off again. I did enjoy the job, just not how poorly they treated me.
I remember those old signs, but that's WAY back, like in the 80s. Really informative how things have changed. Go Rob!
If you come to California, they are still all over the place. Probably 2/3 are gone now. But there are a lot of 'em hanging around still.
The 'whoosh' sounds at 2:10 caught me off guard with the stereo effects. This amount of attention to detail is part of what makes Rob's videos so enjoyable, I seriously feel like I'm watching a full on TV production any time I watch this channel
I would think that something like a stop sign would be an off the shelf sign, but with sizing deferentials, it makes sense that this is not always the case.
that was my thought as well. surely any good road crew would keep a stop sign on the shelf. it would be the green road sign on top they would have custom made.
most signs are printed these days so signs become a print-on-demand item, making a ton and throwing them on the shelf is called overproduction and is a big no-no in Lean manufacturing
@@richwiebe8084 which is why I'm currently sitting on the internet waiting for UPS to deliver the widget I need to start this morning's emergeny project.
I think stop signs all have to conform to standards - they're not allowed to be different sizes (unless they're on private property). Otherwise everyone everywhere would pick different fonts, different shades of red, or even different shapes, and you'd have a colossal mess
@@richwiebe8084 Having no inventory is doing lean manufacturing wrong. The point isn't to have no inventory, it's to not have excess inventory.
Car companies doing lean manufacturing wrong is why so many of them had no cars to sell during the pandemic while Toyota did, because they were doing lean manufacturing correctly and actually had parts.
As somebody that collects old road signs, I find this AWESOME! It would be cool to get a custom road sign!
correction:
an AD TrafficJet Expert is about 2X more expensive than an HP Latex 365, but its also twice as fast printing, warms up 5x faster so can turn around between jobs in under a minute (while an HP needs 5 minutes to finish and 5 minutes to start EVERY print run), and is much more reliable in long-term use. The HP is a prosumer printer that's very long-in-the -tooth at this point.
Important note: the lamination is an additional UV protectant for the UV-safe inks used for road signs
I always laugh when I hear a sign professional call it "silk-screening" (vs. screenprinting) because silk hasn't been used for screen printing in many decade. you don't call offset printing aluminum plate printing do you?
Good to know. Information is very limited (a lot of "inquire for more information" notes), so I am going off what I could find out.
Avery Dennison are also pretty big in the car wrap business. I would like to know who in the company realised that address labels were no longer a growth business and spurred on this innovation in new markets. Also, did the 3M reflective patents expire or did they license them?
Well patents do last only 20 years.
In theory Toyota could make the electric Rav4 again without being sued by the oil company that bought up the NiMH battery patents.
@@jamesphillips2285 >_>
I was going to make a joke about it being the "most expensive printer label you'll ever buy" (there's still a bit of it in there). But in my research after I got home, I discovered the labels were spun off to another company called Avery Products that's now no longer involved with Avery-Dennison. So I scrapped the rest of the bit.
@@RoadGuyRob So you did hold back on some key information!
On the subject of retroreflective things, can you do 'cats eyes'? In the UK these were an election promise in the 1970s, and the big steel plates in British roads with the 'cats eyes' were highly innovative for their time. They self cleaned as cars drove over them, with rain water.
When I went to the US in the 1990s, on my bicycle, I found you guys had these stand up bits of card instead of our glorious 'cats eyes'.
Nowadays in the UK they do not bother with the 'cats eyes', instead the paint is retroreflective, or it was. Budgets for highways have been cut so you are lucky to get road markings as they have worn out. The 1970s cats eyes - where they exist - are still going strong.
With resurfacing the 'cats eyes' are a dying breed, but they were once an election promise for road safety.
I am sure that a whole episode can be made on this topic, to appeal to both the U.S. and international audience.
On a related topic, your hi viz jacket is also noteworthy. In the EU and UK we have standards for where the stripes have to be. These are ignored by cycle apparel manufacturers and they just do their own thing. In the UK we have different colours, so your orange jacket is for the railways, not the highways, here. Yellow green is what the road workers (and cyclists) require, but why? Surely railways are not that different from roads, so why isn't bright orange what is used for things like cycle jackets?
Prevention is better than cure, however, a tabard like yours can retail for £5 whereas a cycle helmet retails for £50. This means that when it comes to upselling accessories with a new bicycle, where the customer could walk out at any time, retailers sell the helmet, which is only useful in a crash, and not the hi viz jacket that could prevent a crash with a vehicle.
There is much about hi viz that I think you can share with the audience for safety reasons. Please do it!
If you're curious: CMYK uses "K" for black because it stands for Key. It stems back to "key plate" in the old days of printing---the plate that had the most detail---which was most often the color black.
"Signs point to yes" - Magic 8 Ball
My mom used to work in the graphics department at our local municipal utility before she retired, and they had several large-format printers that were used for all sorts of stuff (and you can get a wide variety of materials for them, from all sorts of papers to various plastic films, and even cloth). The thing that they didn't have, however, was an automated cutting system - they'd just take the projects over to the big table that they had, put down some cutting mats, and they'd all go at it with x-acto knives. It's remarkable how quick and accurate they could be... years of experience I guess.
The largest working printer that I have at the moment is an old 15 inch dot matrix that I used to use to print out source code listings (I'm a programmer), but - just for fun - I'm halfway thru rebuilding an old large-format HP pen plotter to be able to use artistic pens, markers, and paint brushes via a 3D printed set of adapters. Once I get it working, I should see about making some art in the style of road signs...
🤔
You have such a good camera presence and passion, Rob!
You're kind. Thanks, Daniel!
In case he hasn't mentioned it, there is a free font commissioned by Red Hat that closely mimics the Highway Gothic font used on roadsigns, it's called “Overpass.” It's perfect for projects where you want to mimic road signs, even if you're just studying the letter shapes to replicate them by hand, or making a stencil.
excellent writing with the Nixion/Checkers thing. Good job!!!
You got your own sign how cool!
My dad used to work for Avery back in the late 60’s / early 70’s when they had a plant in Monrovia, CA.
It would have made traveling there a lot easier if they were still in Monrovia! My poor car.
I had a custom road sign made and it used the layer-on-layer method. (You can order a road sign! That’s a thing anybody can just do!) Specifically, a highway-grade “🚫🪿” sign that now adorns a dock on the Charles River, inspired by the Goose Game. It’s got a white background, so it means “no geese, or you might get a ticket!”
It is not particularly effective.
When he said "squish the font" while using the sign design program I wanted to cry. The FHWA standard alphabet letters were never designed to be "squished".
It's such a classic boss/worker moment. I've been there as well, just doing my job at my machine when suddenly my boss emerges from his soundproof airconditioned office to show someone how things are done.
haha that's fair @thatjpwing. At the time, "squished" just seemed more natural than "Series B".😅
@@Aquamoe1 looks like they used Arial and not Highway Gothic :(
I have created custom printed road signs for my LEGO projects on my inkjet printer and its very cool to see how they make the real thing.
During COVID when we were ordering everything at home my deliveries kept going next door so I bought a sign like this with my house number on it That fixed the problem
In the late 80's/early 90's I had a summer job at our local county's traffic department. We did road striping, detours, and signage. Sometimes I'd have to create road signs. They were printed on a Gerber vinyl cutter (black vinyl), and transferred that to a reflective sheet that we applied to the stamped metal sign base, then the whole thing when into an "oven" (big vacuum table with very large light bulbs, that would go on/off at set intervals for a shot amount of time, to cure the adhesive between all the layers). The process took a quite a bit of time, and if you had to create mile markers, well, you were going to be there a while (baking them was easy since you could put a lot on the table, it was the printing/positioning that took forever). Every so often we had to do multi color, so there was a lot of parts to cut, and position. To be able to just print it in one shot, and apply to the metal is such a time saver!
5:15 Dutch mile marker!
Ohio still does sheet on sheet for most applications from my understanding, all in an in-house shop, that sometimes also makes signs for the various counties and cities that purchase from them as well.
Leeds council, UK makes road signs in house too using a similar method. They sell their signs to other local areas around them, and to local businesses.
I've driven passed by this building for years but never knew what it was until this video. 😅Amazing video! The sign printing process was really fascinating to watch.
Wow, nice that you got your own signsmade with that kind of material, Robbie!
Kind of fun watching a Road Guy Rob video that overlaps with knowledge from my career (printing).
That Is A Really Cool Sign He Made For You.
That was very cool to see how road signs are made. I also love the signs they made for you. Great video
I was not expecting to see the infomercial from the 90s about Sears Home Air Conditioners in this video haha. Rob always nails it with his random humor sprinkled into his videos.
How does rob not have 1 million + subs?
Because I'm more into tacos than sandwiches.
@@RoadGuyRob have you hit a million tacos?
For anyone else who was curious, K stands for Key or Key color, the darkest tone available which happens to be black. In printing, B could be confused for Beige, Blue, Brown, etc. I BELIEVE it is a carryover from the printing press.
Hey Avery Guys - thanks for the info and demos you provided Rob. Most companies would probably not give Rob the time of day, but you guys really went beyond the next level and providing us a tour of your equipment and processes, plus a few fun take-homes for Rob. Thanks again .....
Great Vid Rob! Really interesting the modern techniques used. Also, love the F80 M3 killing the Stop Sign graphic!
I work at a sign company, cool to see you cover this... We do a lot of printed reflective. There are several different grades and intensities, for everything from decals, to emergency vehicle graphics, to road signs. We use 3M, Avery, and another common brand, Oracal, depending on application.
Oh I’d definitely buy a road guy rob sign 👀
"You are NOT a crook, Rob! I would keep it, too. Let's go to China." [RMN] 😂
"Only Nixon could go to China." - Spock
Oh that's just the coolest thing ever! Thanks for sharing!
This reminds me of that channel Austin Mollno where he makes custom road signs. Very entertaining
8:25 After marrying LaFawnduh, Kip became an excellent sign maker.
I had to dig deep in the ol' memory vault to get that reference.
Moe Madar is a cool sounding name.
AT 5:16 you can see a Dutch hectometer marker getting printed! Crazy how that's done all the way in Chicago.
the boy who was referenced ☕
you have earned a like (I've been subbed)
I actually know how retroreflectors work thanks to some random guy in a brown coat; really fascinating
Using the traffic jet in my shop as we speak.
Very cool! Thank you and have a good week.
Such a cool video, I love this stuff! at 5:17; there is a green sign with the A4 and a Euro 100 speed limit being printed. It looks like the style we have here in the Netherlands (we have a highway near Amsterdam called the A4 with that same logo). Any idea if that was being printed for the Netherlands, Rob?
EDIT: And I see a blue Dutch road sign as well on the at 6:05...so cool!
The State of Ohio sign shop is quite an operation. A single state run shop makes them all and Wow are they serious. It is so big it has it's own exit on I-90.
And now every time we see your road sign, you can advertise for Avery-Dennison!
I was Wondering how They Made All Of Those Road Signs and Now I Know Thanks to This Awesomeness Video
I remember that commercial. It was for central air.
"I'll call now" is an older meme, but it checks out.
Glad you caught it!
@@RoadGuyRob “another scorcher”
I need one of these at the office.
Fun video!
This video made me realize how weird some of the colors that the US has chosen to use on their signs are. The brown one especially is really weird and even the green one a little bit. Here in Europe the street signs are blue with white letters, the same blue that is used for traffic signs. Just something that stood out to me that possibly makes signs in Europe cheaper.
The green on white street label signs are part of a wider color scheme; which is actually really useful because it lets you very quickly identify signs that aren't of interest to you. White on green, for instance, is used for informational signs. The weird brown ones you mentioned are for guide and info signs for points of cultural or recreational interest. If you're headed to a park, for instance, you can know that the brown signs will point you the way there; but if you're just interested in what you need to know about the road while you're driving, you know you can ignore all brown signs.
Since human eyes most greatly discern shades of green, I remember early on a young boy did a study showing white lettering on green was most readable in various conditions when highways and their signs started to become a thing.
The human eye has least response to blue, which is used for less critical info signage here.
Street name signs used to be white with black lettering (likely cheapest) before switching to white on green (perhaps following the highway signs?) or white on blue (less common here). Checking Wikipedia there's no history info.
@@RJFerret And plenty of cities still use other colors for street signs too, if they're paying for them themselves. (A few near me use white-on-brown or black-on-white -- and another (Hopkins MN) used to use raspberry-red on white for _only_ their main street, to match the city's raspberry logo.) White-on-green is still the most common, though.
@@RJFerret it’s a mystery (to me) when all large cities had a transitional period where their street signs went black text on white (Los Angeles), black text on yellow (Brooklyn, Chicago) then to switch Green with White text (NYC, Chicago) or Blue with White text (Los Angeles) does anyone have the specific years?
Have you seen his video about what all the different colors are used for? One of my favorites.
You should find how they make those big overhead signs like you would see on the freeway. Atlanta, DC and Charlotte has some really huge ones.
From this factory to street corners to the wall of my apartment 🫡
omg those guys are adorable!
Great video Rob!
Thanks!
Thank you, Brian!
5:16 it is funny to see that signs for the dutch highway are also made here this sign is called an Hectometerpaal it shows wich highway you are the speedlimit wich side and how far on the road you are
Picture in Picture vibes.. All, we need now is Trolly and King friday
I had a feeling 3m made retroreflective signs
My guess they (3M) are just a lot more popular... and therefore cheaper...
Cool video, Rob!
This was really cool. I would have not had a problem if Avery paid you for it.
Interesting video about making road signs.
I can't believe you somehow shoehorned me into this video. ;)
My favorite font is Highway Gothic!
Rob you should totally make the road sign that your friend made for you 3:39 as your YT channel logo!
I mean I know he made the sign of your existing logo, but I meant upload a picture of the sign as your updated logo so your logo looks like a highway road sign, I think it looks so cool!
I wonder what it would look like if I wrapped my car in this reflective vinyl
I worry that you'd bounce headlights *directly* back at drivers lol but otherwise you would at least stand out!
I think they need to bring back the embossed/stamped signs.... Think of the old stop signs, where the white border around the edge was raised up, as were the letters in the word STOP. They could technically make signs like that using this new retroreflective substrate.
That font may not be MUTCD Compliant, but that is still pretty cool
TOTALLY fascinating👍👍
I'm still mad abut Avery's vehicle wrap material failure debacle and their subsequent snub to the vinyl dealers and sign shops seeking legit warranty claims.
(But sometimes I still have to use them because of their large library of PMS color matched vinyls, and a wider selection of metallics)
In the thumbnail you chose a tractor fed dot matrix printer. What they're using is just an industrial-sized inkjet printer. That fancy "razor blade"? That's a digital cutter/plotter.
I've seen freeway signs in OC and LA that look to have a plastic coating peeling off. Is that a laminated coating failing or I always thought it was a shipping plastic like you'd get on your phone display that someone just forgot to remove off the sign after installation.
I hope the next video is a collaboration with Technology Connections.
Good Work.
WHOOOOO!!!
Hey Rob, when you going to do an episode on those left turns on green where traffic dont stop. My town had another fatal accident a couple months ago and they just seem like death traps being on fast roads with hills and blind corners. Please disguss why they exist and how dangerous they really are.😬
I don't think the guy that made you the sign necessarily had an extremely steady hand, i think its more likely he had a plotter. Its basically a small inkjet printer but instead of applying the ink according to the design, it cuts out the design, either with a laser or with an actual blade. Very similar principle o the cutting machine at avery, just smaller.
Great video!
3M makes retroreflective material (for signs, license plates, etc.) at Brownwood, Texas.
Very cool video!
You don't slow down ultraviolet light, you absorb it and re-radiate at at a different, lower frequency.
This dude has to work for Esri, there is no way he would spend so much time around San Bernardino by choice!
I don't work for ESRI. I'm a one-man team, so making these videos takes pretty much all my time.
@@RoadGuyRob you’re doing the public a great service! Well done videos with superb content 👌