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25 Years of
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25 Years of
Print Trade
Experience
Trade
Prices
Available
Free
Sampling
Service
Quick
Production
And Shipping
Introducing our printed Foamex boards, the perfect signage solution for anyone who needs a professional panel that holds its shape and keeps its colour. Commonly used for point-of-sale displays, retail signage, construction site boards and exhibition graphics, Foamex is popular for being lightweight yet genuinely rigid, and for working just as well outdoors as it does indoors.
Our Foamex board printing service offers custom sizes up to 2440 x 1220mm on 3mm, 5mm or 10mm PVC foam sheet, with single or double-sided printing to suit your job.
Every board is printed direct to the surface in-house on our HP Latex R2000, using water-based inks that are kind to the environment and hold their colour outdoors for five to seven years. There is no minimum order, so you can buy one custom Foamex sign or a hundred.
We offer three different thickness options. 3mm suits smaller indoor panels, 5mm is the sensible all-rounder for outdoor and larger-format work, and 10mm gives you the most rigid board we offer.
Your artwork is printed straight onto the Foamex surface rather than printed to vinyl and mounted afterwards. The R2000 runs water-based latex inks, which are UV-resistant and low-odour.
Choose from single or double-sided printed boards. Double-sided is super useful for hanging signs, freestanding displays, A-frames and any board that will be seen from both directions.
Stock sizes are available to order online. If you need a custom size, we cut custom sizes from a full 2440 x 1220mm sheet, printing up to 2400mm wide in one piece. Please contact us directly for custom size enquiries. For graphics larger than a single board, panels can be butted together to build the full image.
Choose drilled holes for easy mounting, rounded corners for a safer edge in public areas, or both. Shaped and contour cutting is also available on request.
Most of our Foamex work falls into a handful of jobs. Retailers use it for shelf-edge signage, window graphics and price boards, where a rigid panel looks sharper than card and survives being carried around a shop floor. On construction sites it becomes site rules, safety notices, plot signs and developer boards.
Exhibition and event work is the other big one. Foamex is ideal for stand graphics, backdrops, sponsor boards, and directional signage because a large panel is light enough for one person to carry yet rigid enough to hold its shape on a stand.
Offices and corporate premises tend to order it for wayfinding, reception branding and internal notices, and estate agents for to-let boards and marketing suite displays.
If you’re struggling to determine whether Foamex is the right choice for your specific use case, simply contact us, and we will help you identify the best signage option for your requirements.
We offer several different finishing options for our Foamex Board printing. A brief summary of our options is provided below:
Drilled holes – the standard fixing route. When used with cable ties, this is how most outdoor Foamex signs are mounted to railings, fencing and hoarding.
Rounded corners – remove the sharp corner point, worth specifying for boards at head height or in public areas.
Custom and contour shapes – available when you contact us directly rather than ordering online.
With so many different signage options available in the UK print industry, many of our customers struggle to determine which option is best suited to their needs. The honest summary is that Correx is the budget short-term option, Foamex is the versatile middle ground, and Dibond is the premium long-term choice. Here’s a brief breakdown to help you with your decision-making:
| Correx | Foamex | Dibond | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Material | Fluted polypropylene | Rigid PVC foam sheet | Aluminium composite |
| Thicknesses | 4mm | 3mm, 5mm, 10mm | 3mm |
| Rigidity | Low – flexes easily | Rigid | Very rigid |
| Indoor use | Yes | Yes, 10 years plus | Yes, up to a decade |
| Outdoor use | Short term, a few months | Yes, 5-7 years | Yes, up to a decade |
| Relative cost | Lowest | Cost-effective | Highest |
| Best for | Short-term promotional signs and estate agent boards | Almost any use case – the most versatile of the three | Long-term signage in tough working environments |
BEE 4 Ltd is a print manufacturer in Merthyr Tydfil, South Wales. We are a young company built on more than 25 years of print manufacturing experience. Here are just a few of the reasons our clients love working with us:
Every Foamex board we sell is printed, cut and finished in our own unit on our own HP Latex R2000. Nothing on this product is bought in or subcontracted, so when you ask about a deadline, you are speaking to the people who control the schedule rather than to a middleman chasing a third party.
The unit price falls as the quantity rises. Whether you need one board for a single site or a hundred for a national rollout, the price reflects the size of the run rather than charging a one-off rate on every order. This ensures you benefit from the cheapest Foamex signs possible.
Print resellers, brokers and agencies can apply for a trade account for discounted Foamex board wholesale pricing. If you expect to place Foamex orders regularly, it is worth applying before your first job rather than after it.
Production runs to 5-7 working days from artwork approval, followed by DX next-day delivery once the boards are finished. Because we hold 3mm, 5mm and 10mm in stock, that lead time is production time rather than time spent waiting for material to land.
The quickest route is to order online. Choose your size, thickness, print sides, and finishing, then upload your artwork or send it through after you place the order.
There is no minimum order quantity, so a single custom printed foamex board is as welcome as a full campaign. Production takes 5-7 working days from artwork approval, with DX next-day delivery after production.
If you would rather talk your enquiry through with one of our friendly print experts or request trade pricing, please call us on 01443 841840 or email us at sales@bee4ltd.co.uk.
Looking for a long-term signage solution? Check out our Dibond Printing Service.
3mm is the lightest and most cost-effective option. It works well for smaller signs up to around one square metre. Above roughly one square metre, we would move you up to 5mm, because 3mm starts to flex under its own weight and the board can bow once it is fixed.
5mm is the middle option and the one we point most jobs towards. It handles larger panels without flexing, takes drilled fixings well, and is the thickness we would recommend for outdoor use, site boards, exhibition graphics and anything that has to stay flat on a wall for a few years.
10mm is the most rigid board we print. Choose it for the largest panels, for freestanding or hanging displays where the board is not supported across its back, or where visible edge thickness is part of the look. It is heavier and costs more per square metre, so it is worth a call before ordering to check you need it.
If you are unsure, tell us the finished size, where the board is going and how it will be fixed, and we will tell you which thickness to order. Call 01443 841840 or email sales@bee4ltd.co.uk.
Yes. Printed Foamex is one of the more common outdoor sign materials in the UK. We would expect five to seven years outdoors before UV and weather start to show. “Weatherproof” is worth defining, though: the board will not absorb water or rot, and the inks are UV-resistant, but exposure still causes the print to age. A sheltered north-facing sign will outlast an exposed south-facing one.
Indoors, we would expect a printed Foamex board to last ten years or more with no meaningful change to the print. Outdoors, we would expect five to seven years before UV exposure and weather start to show. Those figures come from boards we have produced and seen installed over 25 years of print manufacturing, not from a laboratory test.
The PVC foam sheet we print on is classified B-s3, d0 for reaction to fire under EN 13501-1:2007+A1:2009.
Drilled holes and cable ties is the most common method, and works well on railings, fencing and site hoarding.
We print CMYK and manage colour in-house, which keeps repeat orders consistent. If you have brand colours that must match existing printed material, send a reference before ordering and we will tell you what is achievable.
Vectorised artwork such as PDF, AI or EPS is best. We also accept high-resolution JPEG. Supply at full size where possible with colours set up in CMYK. We check every file before printing and send a free layout proof. If there is a problem, we fix it and tell you what we changed.
Yes. There is no minimum order quantity. One custom printed Foamex board is a perfectly normal order for us.
Boards up to 2440 x 1220mm, printed up to 2400mm wide in one piece. For anything bigger, we split the graphic across panels that butt up against each other.
Yes, but not through the online ordering system. Contact us directly with your shape and we will quote it. Drilled holes and rounded corners can be ordered online.
Production is 5-7 working days from artwork approval, followed by DX next-day delivery.
Yes. Print resellers and brokers can apply for a trade account for discounted Foamex board wholesale pricing. The application is on our trade account page, linked in the footer.
Contact us immediately and we will sort it. If a board is faulty because of a manufacturing issue, we replace it free of charge or refund it. Because every order is custom-made, jobs cannot be cancelled once production has started.
We use DX for all our large-format shipping requirements. We aim for a 5-7 working day turnaround and offer a next-day delivery service as standard to ensure you receive your order as quickly as possible. If you have tight deadlines or need a specific delivery date, contact your account manager or our sales team to discuss.
Delivery costs vary depending on the quantity ordered and the shipping location. For a precise delivery quote, contact our sales team, who will be able to advise. We can ship to non-UK addresses. However, delivery will naturally incur additional costs for this service.
|
Specification |
Detail |
|---|---|
|
Material |
Rigid closed-cell PVC foam sheet |
|
Board |
Excel GrafiX Extra White |
|
Thicknesses |
3mm, 5mm, 10mm |
|
Board colour |
White |
|
Approximate weight |
1.35 kg/m² (3mm), 2.25 kg/m² (5mm), 4.5 kg/m² (10mm) |
|
Maximum board size |
2440 x 1220mm |
|
Maximum print width |
2400mm in one piece |
|
Larger graphics |
Panels butted together |
|
Print sides |
Single or double-sided |
|
Print method |
Direct-to-board |
|
Press |
HP Latex R2000 |
|
Inks |
Water-based latex, UV-resistant |
|
Finishing |
Drilled holes, rounded corners; custom shapes on request |
|
Fire classification |
Bs-3, d0 to EN 13501-1 |
|
Service temperature |
-20°C to +60°C |
|
Indoor service life |
10 years plus |
|
Outdoor service life |
5-7 years |
|
Minimum order |
1 board |
|
Production time |
5-7 working days from artwork approval |
|
Requirement |
Detail |
|---|---|
|
Preferred format |
Vectorised artwork – PDF, AI or EPS |
|
Also accepted |
High-resolution JPEG |
|
Colour mode |
CMYK |
|
Scale |
Supplied at full finished size where possible |
|
Bleed |
3mm |
|
Safe area |
10mm from trim |
|
Minimum resolution |
150dpi |
|
Fonts |
Outlined or embedded |
|
Double-sided artwork |
Supply as two clearly labelled files or pages |
|
Drilled holes / rounded corners |
Keep critical text and logos clear of hole positions and corners |
|
Proof |
Free layout proof before production |
