Wildgoose

I do too but I always make sure and give them the talk about cleaning the car and applying a new coat of wax and removing the mags regularly to repeat etc.. so they don't come back in pissed off when they have a bunch of scratches on their clear coat. Ha ha! I love doing small fun mags for the local ball teams and stuff with like bear paws or wolfs heads etc.. Those are a little different.

Of course but the point is the ease of doing it is all. You have CS3 does it have multiple art boards? CS2 does not. Not a huge issue for most things but occasionally handy especially for layout previews with new logo designs.

Ha ha! I had a piece of adhesive vinyl that was wanting to curl up on me bad and I had the thought that maybe I could just stick it under there for a few minutes while the press was starting to heat up and then shut it right back off and let it cool and maybe it would flatten out good. Phone rang about the time I switched on the press and...well you know the rest.

Been there and done that.

YEP! But make sure you adjust the mat so that the whole graphic is on the mat or it will stop at the edge and leave the rest uncut. You can make custom sized mats, you probably already know that.

Don't do magnets, please. That's so 80's! They can do ore damage to your paint than anything and look tacky for a sign guy. Your sun factor is probably a real potential issue and I have always heard that metallics are particularly effected by sun. You might consider a short duration application like one summer or 6 months and then remove and do something different so you aren't getting a certain place concentrated? I have some text on a few places on my Suburban but most is placed on the large back side windows.

I don't think CS2 has a perspective grid at all either or any perspective tools.

That may be technically true but the changes are SOOO much of a time saver that it's like a different program. For example adjusting the artboard size on CS2 vs CS5 is archaic. Searching for fonts on the CS2 I like that you can highlight the font in the drop box and start scrolling down the list with the down arrow but they don't have a preview. In CS5 you have a good preview but can't do it the old way as CS2 does which at times is hand.

All of the above and you might have too much blade sticking out of the holder too.

It almost looks like alligator skin.

Do you have a copy of Illustrator? There is a free download at adobe for an old out of date version (CS2) that is not a s awesome as the newer versions but is still a great program and every bit as functional as most of the other design programs that you can find and a great place to pick up some Illustrator skills and practice time at no cost. They don't offer support on that old of version anymore so they put it out there ostensibly for existing users who own the program to re-download. I have CS5 on my main workstation and there are a lot of things that CS2 is missing but still enough there to work with just fine.

Those are grit roller tracks where the vinyl has been run through the pinch rollers. I usually don't try to use the edges of the vinyl where it gets smashed except sometimes on HTV.

As far as Oracal vinyl I use 651 and 751 almost exclusively. The 651 is very slightly thicker and definitely tougher or stiffer however you want to look at it and requires a bit more pressure. not much bat a little more. If you don't then it will still weed but you can actually hear the vinyl ripping apart at the cut (if you listen closely, especially on larger pieces) The 751 is real nice but like Jaybird says you need your blade set correctly or you will have issues with whatever vinyl you try to use.

Practice practice practice. There is no easy button but surprisingly once you get it down it seems easy looking back. Kinda weird.

Ya it's affordable and works good. The only complaint is the limited size of paper. There are times that I would like to have the bigger sheets. I have found that if you are real careful you can print onto two sheets and layer them together with some thin tape on the back and get a decent larger image (with JPSS on light shirts, doubt that would work on darks) The printer is great and the ink is very affordable from Cobraink. I do find that with the pigment ink you have to use it regularly or you will get clogged heads and spend an average of 3-5 cleaning cycles to get them worked out.

I bet that was annoying to the extreme. Glad to hear your getting it going. With that new of a cutter it will take a little while to figure out the details. The other models have been around long enough that people have had time to sort through the hangups at start-up. When I bought my first cutter there were issues here and there with connectivity or in most cases my own ignorance of how it was supposed to work. If you are a complete newbie there is a lot to take in and it can be overwhelming at times.

That may still be undecided but hopefully the Chinese gremlins will leave him a lone this time around.

Huh so you guys have one of the oversized sheets and wrap the top platen too? That's interesting. I have a teflon cover on my lower platen for sure but have always used a loose one on top. I rarely used my oversized teflon so I punched small holes in it and tied it to build a makeshift lower platen cover for that Hix press I fell into a while back and have been sticking with either using the 15"x19" Kraft paper that I bought from Stahls or lately using that miracle of miracles parchment paper that is cheap and handy and I don't mind tossing it if it starts to get wrinkles. I actually stopped using the teflon partly because it had some creases that were showing through on some of my HTV jobs. Mostly silver.

Good luck tyamp! Did you change models or stay with the MH?

I do. I have the pigment ink in mine for transfers.

I make the workspace my sign size for visual clarity during design. For your application I would still do a box around the work the size you are wanting the outer reaches to be so it will leave enough protection around the edges. I have a sandblast cabinet too so I know what you are saying. The program won't automatically cut the outside of the mat or workspace unless you give it a line there.

Idahofam where are you at in Idaho? Just curious, I'm in Nampa. You are stretching the capability of SCALP in attempting to do what you are talking about. You may be better served to seek a more complete design program. I would suggest giving Inkscape a try. It is free and has much better manners than SCALP. You should be able to create and export your work into various formats without the need to go through word or powerpoint. In Inkscape you can export the file or you can "Save As" any of a variety of graphic file formats that should get you where you want to be. If you know the px or pt size of the picture you are needing then you size your work in the program before exporting or re-saving and then you are ready to go with a nice crisp file to upload.

I was going to say that those screw-ups look like broken paths. Sometimes when transferring files between different programs there are interpretation errors that mysteriously break closed paths and convert colors etc. Glad you got it working.

I have a 96 Lancruiser that I have been slowly working into a trail worthy rig. It has dark green paint. I'm no fan of any dark colors and am thinking of doing a little vinyl work to kind of offset the greenness of it. I was first thinking some sort of animal print but nothing was looking right or giving the right "Look" to it. Got to thinking about some tire tracks across it and am thinking I do something like one of these. This rig in the picture isn't mine but it's about the same year and color and actually a better side pic than I have anyway.