VinylM

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Posts posted by VinylM


  1. Wow @mark-s I’m so glad your in a forum that’s used to help people. 
    I’m trying here ... and you don’t even know my situation. My brother did signs before he went into the marine Corp and I had to bury him. I’m trying to keep this going for him. So yeah it’s not my expertise but i will do whatever it takes to learn it all. Even if I have to deal w morons like you that are so unkind. I hope you were  able to feel so cool after your comment...


  2. Thank you @slice&dice. I have done that already. Where I’m curious is I was going to just apply the decal on either side of that beam and cut the letters where the beam is. As I looked around on other store fronts I only found one and it looked like they applied it right over the beam. With that I would assume there was extra space needed to fold down the side of the beam but not sure how to take that into account. Did they stretch the letter?  


  3. Hi there,

    im looking for some guidance on pricing when it comes to making sure you can pay employees, rent, insurance and utilities. I’m not looking for the at home DIY prices. Is there anyone in here that has a store front and can tell me how they base their prices to make sure they cover their overhead and make a profit please? 
    Thank you in advance for your guidance! 


  4. On 1/27/2020 at 9:06 AM, Wildgoose said:

    I used to do a little of everything. Now I do almost exclusively tee's and other garments. Not a lot of profit per piece but if you make 30-50% mark-up on the shirt itself and then make some money on the cut, weed and press you can make bank in the end especially when you get into large orders. When you DO start to get large orders that are becoming too time consuming to cut and weed or have too much coverage area to be practical with the cost of HTV you can switch to plastisol transfers like F&M. My order sizes have gotten so big that many of them have to be plastisol just due to the time it would take to prep all the vinyl. I use a rule of thumb of about 25 shirts but if the coverage area is large I go for plastisol with less than that sometimes. Takes a little longer to send off the design and wait for the transfers so if it's a rush then HTV wins the day. 

    I suggest a swing style press if you have the space in your work area to allow it. They let you have the best experience in getting everything straight. The budget models of swingers are generally fair quality as far as even heat. Most budget presses will be off with temperature so be sure and check with an infrared heat gun to verify. The clam presses are usually cheaper but the really cheap ones do not have a center point load and will not allow the platen to adjust to thick garments properly.  Get at least a 15"x 15" anything smaller is hard to get your placement right. 

    Another cool aspect of this arena is if you DO screw one up you're usually only out about $3-$5 and some time to re-do. When ordering large orders I always bring in a couple extra of the predominant size in case I make a mistake. I build those extra shirts into the cost of the quote and keep them if I don't mess up. 

    That’s great info for a starter. I’ve been doing decals for years a d trying to avoid shirts cause the market is swamped. Lately I’ve been getting requests do thinking I might get into it. Can you tell me which heat press you would Recommend? I’m an all in type of person so I don’t want to go w beg hi we and then just keep upgrading. I’d like to start w a great on right off. Thanks


  5. 48 minutes ago, Dakotagrafx said:

    never done one but I would do a lot of measuring  and stand back with marks placed with some blue painters tape before I began to make sure i had all the measurements right.  reflective is high risk/ high reward if all goes right.  IF I was doing a fleet I would seriously consider a laser level that projected on the truck to speed things up and ensure proper placement.   engineering grade reflective is too pricey to just wing it.
    Good luck and post pictures with feedback after you do it

     

    Thats what im worried about. Measuring... how do you measure a cylinder like that??? I have been just selling him the Cut and taped reflective vinyl all these years, but now he's asking for install also and don't want to pass that up that $$. Thanks for the laser level idea. Ill have to look into that and see what the cost is. I appreciate your comment.


  6. Hey all,

    So I have something that I need help with. I have been selling decals for years online, so not much with application wise. Although I have done several applications at businesses and car decals, I have a new one that I was approached with. A propane truck... with reflective. how does one set something centered and level on a cylinder like that and I was told that you can not do a wet application w reflective. How do you all handle these applications. I have been asked to do this tomorrow so any quick help would be appreciated. If this weekend has passed and you are reading this please give me your feed back Still. There is a fleet of these that I will be doing eventually so id love all your tricks.Thanks!


  7. 14 minutes ago, darcshadow said:

    How well does printing on black vinyl work? Seems like that would require some specialized inks to get it to show up well, or at all.

    I don't print on it. Just cut out and its pretty awesome

     


  8. 16 minutes ago, darcshadow said:

    They do, $190, for a 24"x10 yard roll. Not a bad price really. The price for reflective from anyone is going to be high, just the way it is. It's a specialized vinyl, not as easy to make, and not as much demand for it as normal vinyl. It does look good though. :)

    Can you share the link for the black possibly? I only see white red and yellow. It is pretty amazing! i have used it a lot and it looks great but have gotten it for much cheaper so that is the only reason i mention its a lot. Im looking for it now just cause I'm placing a big order so figured id throw that in but its too much of a difference to justify.


  9. On 9/14/2019 at 9:30 AM, MZ SKEETER said:

    I cut the long side out of Oracal vinyl boxes  50 yd x 24" and 30".  My vinyl pieces are rolled up and standing in these boxes with sizes written on them.  You can see the colors very easy.  I have the boxes just sitting on the floor side by side. 

    would you be able to post a picture of what that looks like???


  10. On 9/20/2019 at 8:37 PM, MrJoel said:

    Ok guys, I usually do some custom skins for my favorite customers when a new phone comes out.  I got my 11 pro max today and that matte back glass seems to be adhesive resistant... no bueno!  I have a few brands heated and sitting for the night!  Suggestions?

    how do you make the skins? I've been wanting to look into it for phones and chromebook keyboards and some other things for our school logo. what material is used?


  11. On 3/8/2018 at 10:49 PM, pmvinyls said:

    ..... For custom stuff, I'll round up a little more. Custom designs are charged at my $60 an hour freelance rate. Re-creating artwork in vector for me to cut is charged at $30 an hour rate. 

    Using this pricing calculator on my 24" rolls of 631, every 5 yards of vinyl sold pays for a 50 yard roll. 45 yards of pure profit. Also gives you some wiggle room to offer decent discounts when people make large orders. 

    When you charge $60 an hour do you then tack on the cost of the vinyl like you said the L+W/2?? or is it just the $60 an hour at that point. 

    Also, how do you figure out pricing for specialty vinyl like reflective or etch vinyl?