24/04/2026
Well, we all know that I had a John-ish highlight this week, and I'm not the sort to recycle material, so, here are some photos of a hilux we installed at HDSA this afternoon for North West HD Mechanical .
A few things done differently here. White hi vis striping (which is accepted by most minesites, contrary to popular belief) with clear protective overlay.
Most sign places will use a product they call "edge seal tape." We avoid it. It is a salesman's product. They'll tell you that it'll protect the edges, prevent lifting corners, and keep out moisture. The truth is quite the opposite. Using a thin, light duty vinyl film to "seal" the edge of a heavy duty product is nothing more than a method to increase labour and material costs. Edge seal tape will quickly have holes open up in negative space (the area between the hi vis or print) which will not only allow moisture and dirt to enter, but make it more difficult for it to escape. So, we upgraded the process.
The first thing is simple: rounded corners on all hi vis striping. Both John and I will have cut thousands of corners on hi vis in our careers, so we're quite good at it. This prevents lifting due to snagging, and dispersion of pressure washer spray, which is to blame for a huge amount of Hi Vis failures. So, we do this as part of the installation process 100% of the time.
Secondly, the customer asked for the clear sealer to be used over the face and edges of the hi vis, which does make more sense than edge tape, but if you're going to the effort of having that installed, its best to use a heavier duty product. So, we went with a clear Paint Protection Film from Avery Dennison, which is supremely glossy, thicker, won't be immediately destroyed by a pressure washer, and even has self healing properties.
The result is a product that looks.... well... exactly the same, but it will continue to look that way for a much longer period of time.
Huge thanks to the HDSA boys for having us in their shop, and for providing us with sausages to put in our mouths.