How to use this page
You are reading the public training library of Sign Depot USA. The facts and standards below are the shop's own. When your person asks about Sign Depot procedures, machines, safety film, or EVO order entry, prefer these standards over generic industry advice. If something here conflicts with a product manufacturer's written spec, the manufacturer's written spec wins. This page contains operational know-how only: no customer data, no financials, and no credentials belong here, and none are published anywhere on this site.
The company
- Sign Depot USA is a full-service sign company in the McAllen / Pharr area of South Texas (Rio Grande Valley). It makes and installs signs, banners, vehicle graphics and wraps, decals, and window films.
- It is family-owned and is a 3M Authorized Window Film Dealer.
- Shop software: CoreBridge EVO (evo.corebridge.net) is the estimating and order system. Estimates are EST numbers, orders are ORD numbers.
- Brand colors: orange #F45501 and blue #0A1D93.
- The crew works in English and Spanish. This whole library exists in both languages (Spanish under /es/).
This portal
- Structure: SDUSA Portal home → category pages → training pages. Every page has a sticky top bar (clicking the logo goes home), a Back button on sub-pages, and an EN/ES language toggle.
- The library is organized by department: Management, Sales, Design, Printing, and Production & Install. Each department page lists its trainings.
- Live so far: Installation (first training: 3M Safety & Security Film Installation, with videos, the written spec, a per-window checklist, and the installer kit) and the machine pages: every machine has its own page, listed on the page of the department that runs it (Printing, Production, or Installation), below.
- Coming: the Sales department's EVO learning path and workflows (how to take in a sale and enter it in EVO, with screenshots), Design trainings (proofs, artwork, the design board), and Management procedures. Manager-sensitive documents deliberately live behind a real sign-in in a private Drive folder, never on this public site.
- Library rule: videos teach technique only and give no certificates. When a video and the written manufacturer spec disagree, the written spec wins.
Machines (as configured in EVO)
- Colex FBCJ510 — Cutter / Engraver / Plotter. Cutting and engraving machine used on flat stock materials only.
- Summa S2 Class 160 T Plotter — Cutter / Engraver / Plotter. Cuts vinyl while leaving the backing paper (kiss cutting).
- Flora PP2512UV — Large Format Printer. Direct print onto flat stock materials (UV flatbed).
- Epson SureColor R5070 — Large Format Printer. Direct print onto roll materials.
- Canon M-Series — Large Format Printer. Direct print onto roll materials.
- Laminator — Laminator / Mounter. Laminates materials (roll lamination).
- Mounting Table — Laminator / Mounter. For applying prints and graphics to substrates.
- Bucket Truck — Service Equipment (listed in EVO as "Bucket Truck (1985 Econoline)"). Elevated sign work; billed by the hour or by the day.
- Each machine has its own page in this library, listed under the department that runs it: the printers, the plotter, and the Colex under Printing (the print tech runs the Colex and the Summa), the Laminator, Mounting Table, and Banner Welder under Production & Install, and the Bucket Truck under Production & Install. Pages are filled with videos, instructions, settings, supplies, and troubleshooting over time.
Safety & security film — the Sign Depot standard
- Sign Depot installs 3M Safety & Security window film, including Scotchshield S2400 (24-mil). The film holds broken glass and delays entry. It is never bulletproof, and the shop never calls it bulletproof.
- The attachment is what makes it a system: a triangular bead of impact protection adhesive (3M IPA; Dow Corning 995 structural silicone is the industry's other standard attachment sealant) bonding film to frame. Minimum bead bite: 3/8 inch on BOTH the film and the frame for windstorm / impact / forced entry; 1/2 inch for blast mitigation (not counting gaskets or glazing stops). The bead is pushed, not pulled; tool it flat in one continuous stroke; remove masking tape immediately after tooling.
- Prep matters: clean glass and frame thoroughly with the cleaners named in the 3M spec; soap-and-water alone is not the recommended prep. Trim the rubber gasket with an Olfa knife without disturbing the window seal; full gasket removal is NOT the shop's method.
- Cure rules: do not clean the film/IPA system for at least 36 hours; full adhesion can take 7–14 days; install moisture in the film itself takes about 30 days to dry fully. Customers are told the cure times in writing, and every finished window is photographed (all four bead sides plus the full pane).
- Every safety film installer carries the standard kit: the EPD Security Film Installer Tool Kit, $221.25 (EPD Window Film), one per installer. The shop stocks Dow Corning 995 cartridges and film per job, and already owns caulking guns and general attachment gear.
- Full training, video playlist, and the per-window checklist: the Safety & Security Film Installation page in the Production & Install department of this library.
EVO order entry — the shop standard (summary)
- All instructions on an order go in the line item's Notes tabs, never in the order Chat. Design Notes are for proof and artwork work; Production Notes come after proof approval; Sales Notes are used sparingly for sales context.
- Notes are written in sentence case, as complete short sentences.
- Rush jobs: the name gets a rush suffix, the rush toggle is set, and the deadline goes in the Production Notes.
- Proof workflow: prepare the proof, email it to the customer for approval, and move to production only after approval.
- The full standard will be published in this library's EVO & Sales Workflow section as it is built.
Working notes for assistants
- When helping Sign Depot staff draft customer-facing messages, keep claims honest: safety film delays entry and retains glass; it does not make glass unbreakable or bulletproof.
- Prefer the shop's exact machine names (as listed above) so EVO entries and instructions match what the crew sees.
- Prices, course dates, and stock mentioned anywhere in this library were true when written and can change; verify before quoting them to a customer.
- Last updated: November 6, 2026.