Urabus

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Posts posted by Urabus


  1. I did a test yesterday with my hard squeegee wrapped with ( $1.20 ) self adhesive felt from a craft store.  I was able to get my 651 vinyl to stretch over some basic compound curves and come out smooth.  The squeegee with added felt made a huge difference : )  The hard thin edge of the bare squeegee was actually making creases for me instead of smoothing them.

    I received my sample rolls of tape today and tried  a new application with Transfer Rite medium clear tape and my original 651 black vinyl.  The stripes went on perfect and there was no need to use the 951cast vinyl this time.  The 951 was more glossy than the 651, not a perfect match, so that is why I decided to try it with the 651 first and it worked : )  The compound curves are subtle but I still had to split the graphic stripes apart as it rolled over the second bend to keep the graphic from bunching up toward the middle.  More pronounced compound curves would need the 951 vinyl and paper tape I could tell.  Anyway I forced the 651 to work and it did this time.

    My home made felt squeegee is not as smooth as it should be, but now I know which type to order next to do It right.  The attached pic is reduced to 1/10th original pixel size so it might make the stripes look wavy....but they are not.

    NOSE.jpg


  2. This is another noob question, but why does transfer tape need to tear clean?  I don't understand under what circumstances I would want to tear it instead of cutting it?

    I am going to try that sample too with my next order.  I've been going by the product descriptions on the website which seem to rule out so many tapes if you are not in the know.  Nothing ever says it's for cars either : /


  3. Thanks, I was wondering what squeegee might do a better job on paint that is not perfectly smooth. Will try with next order.

    I use isopropyl alcohol to clean wax off.  I saw the RT Conform tape but the description made it sound like was for matte vinyl or walls.  I'll get some sample footage to try.


  4. 16 minutes ago, darcshadow said:

    If you're just doing simple straight line stripes, you might have an easier time using wrap vinyl and knifeless tape. You put the tape on kind of like pin striping, then the vinyl on over, then pull the tape up and it cuts the vinyl. No application tape needed.

    Thanks. No actually I am doing custom designs.  See the front bumper area where the hood stripe stops.  That is the compound curves are I need to go over.  I had the 651 on that part for a week but removed it because it had creases I was embarrassed to show : /  I wraps over compound curves in three different directions on the nose of the car. Straight stripes do not go straight as the curves change direction.  My final art work for that stripe is bent in two places to compensate for the angles and curves.

    20181027_095500.jpg


  5. Nobody did say to use clear, but no one answered which tape to use for 951 either. High tack, medium tack, low tack, which brand etc. is what I was looking for.  This turned into a clear vs paper debate instead.  If paper is the choice all you are using, then what paper? I appreciate all the input. The paper I tried wet came apart doing a wet application.  I used water spray on the back of the vinyl as per manufactures recommendation (on the relatively flat roof of my car).  The water softened and weakened the paper fiber at the edges and it tore using an orange plastic squeegee with rounded edges.  As far as plastic never working for a compound curve I have to disagree there.  It just plain worked on my very first try over the actual compound curves I had to apply over.  I could clearly see the creases starting to form and backed off a little and then squeegeed in the needed manner to get the vinyl to stretch to fit the curves. The job would have been done and you never would have heard a word from me if the transfer tape had not pulled the vinyl right off the car afterward.  I could not save it.

    I ordered both clear and paper medium tack samples to practice with. I am sure there are more pronounced compound curves that the clear tape simply will not work for as you all have said.  If I can get the 951 to go on smooth with the paper sample I will use that because it is cheaper.  The clear I can use up for other projects with my 651 vinyl.  If the clear has too much tack or pull then obviously I cannot continue to use it for the 951 vinyl, no matter if I can get it to work for application.

    In the meantime I really appreciate all the responses here.  I know you don't have to take your time to answer anyone's question, especially a newbie that doesn't know much and trying to find his way.  If anyone does have a brand/type of paper that they always to use with the 951 gloss vinyl's, on car paint, I would like to know. : )


  6. Thank you.  I am ordering a medium tack clear, and medium tack paper sampler tape rolls now. 

    When I tried using paper tape wet once, I did scrape through some of the tape. Even dry...well maybe I press too hard. No one can say I don't make sure the tape is squeegeed down well at least. I prefer working dry anyway.  Just not understanding this new ( to me ) 951 vinyl. 


  7. Thanks. I am squeegeeing it very well.  I think I am over doing it most of the time and fear rubbing through when I use the paper tape : / 

    I'll back off the paper / clear tape equation as it now seems to be a preference issue.  As I said, I did get the 951 to squeegee down to my particular compound curve bodywork with the clear tape.  I felt better using the clear tape because seeing through clear is easier than seeing though white paper to me.

    If not the vinyl tack then, should I be using a medium tack tape instead?  Is everybody else using high tack tape with Oracal 951 with no problems?


  8. 4 minutes ago, MZ SKEETER said:

    Every stripe that I ship and I ship plenty, only has paper tape.  No complaints.  If vinyl is squeegeed good, it shouldn't come off surface. Or the vehicle was not clean. had wax etc.   Or old vinyl. 

    I am beginning to wonder if the roll of 951 they sold me is old.  It has perforations on both edges for gear feed cutters.  All the 15" 951 vinyl is listed as perforated here at US cutter.  But the perforations are not consistent and have overlaps in the spacing of the holes....telling me that they sold me material that was reject material for geared cutting because it would never work for that purpose without jamming up.  Maybe it is very old.  Are geared cutters even used?  Even when cutting smaller projects on it there would be pieces that would come of the carrier backing paper while it was cutting! My 651 vinyl sticks very well and I have had no problems with stripes on flat surfaces using paper transfer.  I am now trying to add stripes over compound curves which I can't get the 651 to do at all.  The 951 just acts more like removable vinyl I have worked with before.  It stretches nicely but comes right off with ease.

    So I guess my problem is the 951 just isn't sticking like I think it should.  I clean and apply it like the 65, but it doesn't stick!


  9. I had bad results trying to use the paper tape over compound curved surfaces and would end up with creases in the vinyl after pulling the tape off because I could not see through the paper.  I can only do well what I can see well.  I am applying wide striping to the car so it has to be done perfect with no bubbles or creases. 

    I was able to do a test with the high tack clear tape and I got the 951 vinyl to stretch to fit the compound curves of my bumper just fine.  But then the app tape pulled the vinyl right back off the car!  Just seems the 951 has a very weak adhesive compared to the 651 I am used to.  I am currently researching the 951 and app tapes but so far everything says you can use just about any application tape on it.  Even the AT65 tape is "supposed" to work but it clearly does not.


  10. I bought Oracal 951 gloss black vinyl for my car graphics.  I need the 951 because I have to go over compound curved surfaces, which the 651 will not conform to (I tried it).

    US Cutter in an email reply to me, recommended RTape Clear Choice AT65 high-tack clear application tape for use with the 951 vinyl.  I need the clear tape to see the surface I am applying to verify there are no bubbles or creases over compound curves.

    The problem is that the high tack clear application tape pulls the Oracal 951 vinyl right back off the car after it is applied.  It's a mess!  I also noticed that the 951 vinyl is not very sticky and pulled off the car with ease.  My 651 vinyl you have to work at it to remove it.

    So what is the correct clear application tape for the Oracal 951 vinyl?  It has to be clear not paper.

    I did a search and there was one older topic about application tape for Oracal 951 but it did not apply to my question. I tried the AT65 high-tack on my 651 vinyl and it seems to wok fine for that.


  11. Thank you all for the help and suggestions.  The blade depth is not really an issue for me.  I do the depth test by hand out of the machine first and then set the force. I have force set to 120 and I dialed the speed down to 10 mm. per second.  I'm in no hurry...yet : )  I got my project run successfully by doing one side at a time.  Tracking came out seriously perfect on the 5 foot stripes.  I think the 1/8" tracking miss was the fault of the cheap thin paper I was using to pen test originally.  I have since bought a better quality paper roll for my testing and the pen tracked perfectly.  So I ran the cuts and very happy.  Nothing is off at all.

    There really aren't that many nodes to my large stripe design.  I ran very curve intensive lettering decals several at a time with no issues.  I will try running the multi-stripe job in smaller scale though because I am very curious about that. 

    I am actually very happy with the MH710 now. The tracking is dead on for me as long as I have clean, good quality art work.  I realize it's a learned skill that I will get more efficient with in time.  It's very interesting what the base MC software can do and I'm thinking of upgrading soon to Pro. 

    The only little problem I had was with the transfer tape.  They sold me the "High Tack" Oracal 651 tape and it seems way to hard to pull off once applied.  Seriously, it was like pulling off Duct Tape!  In some simple tests I did before putting the stripes on the car, it would actually lift tiny air pockets in the vinyl.  I pulled at a snails pace at a very acute angle on the actual stripes and had a couple of 1/16" bubbles still. 

     

    20181014_135437.jpg


  12. I am thinking this is a software to machine issue or a memory problem.  I just deleted 1/2 of the design and ran it with the pen on paper and it looks pretty good.  The 1" top stripe on the left end is out of alignment 1/8" with the adjacent small stripe, but I think that may just be a thin paper tracking issue.  Does anyone know the memory limits or file size limits for this MH721 cutter?

    20181013_152905.jpg

    20181013_152902.jpg


  13. Thank you.  I did pull the vinyl out 6 feet and scrolled back to let it rest on the floor.  I used a piece of tape with a line on it to get the tracking for the full length perfect.  I've watched all the training videos and many more on YouTube for running longer designs and setup.  The blade is cutting the vinyl and only slightly making a dent on the backer sheet.  I set the depth to cut correctly by hand then installed it in the cutter and set the pressure to 140.  Speed is 20mm per second.  My other smaller stickers cam out flawlessly and weed easily.  It seems the cutter is getting the wrong information on where it should be cutting.  O thought I read it was good for up to 120" long cuts?


  14. Newbie just got the 28" new cutter and software and ran a few smaller 8" stickers with no issues.  Blade depth and tracking perfectly.

    I tried to run my larger design today and it all went bad very quickly. ( see image )    The design is 12" wide x 62" long.

    It started well on the right side of the design, cut the "Scion" logo and the three short stripes on the right after that perfectly.  Then it cut the "86" numbers but they were 2" to the left of where they should be.  Then it cut the "GT" letters on top of the number "8" .  Then when it started the longer stripe cutouts around the letters and numbers it was 5" offset to the left of where they should be.  I aborted the cut.  This just sucks.  I was all excited to run my designs and apply them to my car and now it doesn't seem like it's going to work for some reason.  A local company wanted $250 just to cut my design, so that is why I decided to get the cutter and just do it myself and for friends.

    How can the machine be cutting my design so far off what it is in Vinlylmaster Cut?  The more it cut the worse the design alignment got.  The pressure on the rollers is leaving the vinyl with indentations of the wheels and I don't think it is slipping.  I noticed in the VM Cut program that the cut progress bar had stalled.  Is this too big of a design to run on this cutter?  Does the cutting take a ton of PC memory to work successfully?  I have Windows 8 Home with 4 Gigs memory.  The picture is a snapshot in VM Cut.

    Thank you for any help. : )

    GT Error.jpg

    20181013_145726.jpg