Signs of the Times - February 2018 - 27

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TR E N DSET TE R PRO FI LE
SDS/ADAMSTECH
Profitability Through Efficiency
SDS/ADAMSTECH
James Cross
Vice President,
Sales and Operations

S

ignage manufacturers are under
more pressure than ever to be efficient in order to be profitable. Solid,
reliable fabrication equipment is a
major contributor to sign companies'
efficiency, profitability and, ultimately, their survival. A handful of
innovations has been so paramount
that nearly all sign manufacturers
adopted them to help their businesses thrive. Old-school fabrication
was a time-consuming, cumbersome
process, nearly all of which was
done by hand or with manually
operated power tools. Automated
bending was introduced about 18
years ago, but recently, channel
letter fabricators have found that
the antiquated bending machines
that served them well for almost
20 years are comparatively slow,
grossly inaccurate and substantially
less efficient than the newest
generation channel letter forming
machines. Machines like the SDS
Super ChannelBender XP use current
technologies, highly customized
software and precision engineering
to overcome the many shortfalls of
older, less advanced equipment.
Prior to the introduction of the
SDS ChannelBender Series, channel
letters were formed on machines
that wasted about 10 in. of material
per letter segment. That's as much
as 30 in. of waste for a single capital
letter "B." ChannelBender machines

have reduced waste by 97% percent
or more, from a whopping 10 in. to
only ¼ in. For companies producing
50, 100, or even more letters every
day, the cost savings is substantial.
Anywhere from $1.00-1.50 in waste
material is eliminated on each letter.
Older equipment also left several
tedious procedures that needed
to be done manually before final
assembly. Flanged channel letters
had to have holes drilled or punched
into each side of the seam overlap
so both ends could be riveted
together. One side of the flange
would then be hand sheared to
remove the double thickness of
aluminum at the flange overlap.
Finally, drain holes were punched
or drilled into letter returns to
allow moisture to escape.
These operations are now incorporated into the forming process on
the ChannelBender Series' flagship
XP model from SDS/AdamsTech. As
material feeds through the machine,
1/8-in. rivet holes are hydraulically
punched on each side of the seam
overlap. The holes align perfectly,
which makes final riveting a snap,
and 1/8-in. holes can also serve as
pilot holes for screws. The holes
can be positioned anywhere in the
sidewall of the letter or even in
the flange. This patented punching
unit punches ¼-in. diameter drain
holes as well. Lastly, the XP's new
software allows the machine to automatically create a slight relief bend

at the letter's seam, which essentially conceals the seam from view.
Trimless® LetterForm® channel
letter coil also eliminates the need
for trim cap, allowing sign companies to produce cleaner-looking
letters faster and more efficiently.
By eliminating relatively slow
hydraulic functions such as notching
and flanging by using this Trimless
coil, machine output capacity is
increased by 40-60%. The real
winning hand for manufacturers is
that Trimless letters are a premium
product and therefore command a
premium price.
As a wise person once said, "Buy
the best and only cry once."

SDS/ADAMSTECH
6235 Lookout Rd., Ste. A
Boulder, CO 80301
(303) 798-7110 x203
james@channelbender.com

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Signs of the Times - February 2018
