signmaker

I have used oracal calendered vinyl on a few backlit signs.. .is there any advantage of using translucent on white acrylic sign faces that will be backlit?

does vinyl master cut work with sc series 631e and serial ports

MAKE YOUR OWN MINI TRIM KNIFE USING RECYCLE USED CUTTER BLADES We all need sometime or another a super sharp mini knife, well here it is.. I don alot of small cutting and always needing to remove a spur or the inside of a capital A will not get a complete cut so I made this handy and portable mini knife. build one and I'm sure you will find many uses for this fine tool it is also handy ball point to hand to your wife to sign the back of that brand new charge card.. everybody has a drawer full of ball point pens that hasn't worked in years so grab one take it apart and get an old roland style blade. you will notice that when you pull the brass end off of the nylon ink tube that after you push the blade past the swollen end it fits quite snug ( I put a small drop of super glue on the end anyway ). make sure that when you push blade into ink tube to keep it the same length as the brass ball point end so it will have the propper length of blade exposed and it can retract correctly.. I hope you will find this as handy as I do. enjoy, signmaker

" Come on Guys, let up and help this fellow " The only reason a sign maker does his or her best design is to impress or satisfy another sign or graphic designer. The average joe wouldn't know a good sign if it jumped up and bit him on the backside. The advent of computers has ruined the sign industry ( just my view point ) a good sign writer or sign painters work had his personality, style and free flow that only a human can do.. through the years I could tell who painted a sign by his unique style, brush strokes and composition, not saying they were all good designs or good workmanship.. which brings me back to the point, the customers usually do not know a good sign if you showed him one. We all learn by mistakes and hopefully we will not repeat it again.. I also recommend you develop your own style and not try to duplicate or copy someone else's designs, hang in there learn by watching but be yourself.... 'the signmaker'

Does anyone have the magic bullet for proper vinyl to use on a cheap nylon shade tent like people use at swap meets? the tent is ten foot and the sign overall length is 8 foot. oracal seems to stick but really not that good, might be ok. it would be difficult to use heat applied vinyl and possible melt the material.. send me some much needed information.. thanks signmaker

or may be like this..

you're correct and it is for a friend and of course free.. I do use ez-weed on t-shirts.. good product.. as for as 'the most interesting man in the world, I guess this is what you meant. somebody has to do this kind of work... why not me.

No goose I don't.. I did make a statement a few days ago ( was my birthday ) that if I had not drank 2 fifths of gin along with 2 cases of beer, 365 days a year and almost forgot smoke 3 paks of cigarettes. .... I don't believe I would have lived this long. I stll work 12 to 16 hours a day. but after drinking and smoking for over 50 years, I quit both. cold turkey no patches no AA just figured it was time to stop before some doctor tells me I have to...by the way speaking of doctors, I have none, never been in a hospital, no broken bones,basicaly no problems at all.. ( sure hope I don't fall over dead befor I post this ) in real good health hey guys, I'm going today try some of the old screen prep techniques to see if oracal will adhere to this tent, I think it will . let you know how it turns out. the signmaker

hand lettering is a lost art.... the free flowing sign layout is gone by the way side.. computer generated sign layouts are just computer generated and they sure look like it .. no personality .. letter coverage to sign background ratio is totaly wrong.. when I returned to sign business, I wanted to use a computer to make my free hand creations. it is difficult but I'm getting there.. nothing like pulling up to a 10 X 40 road sign with copy in your hand, chalk line, pencil and 36inch yard stick. and the only computer is in your head... there is so many tricks that I even learned from old boomer sign painters that lived in the early 1900's....... its funny how I still recall and use a lot of them everyday.. when I get old ( 74 now ) I will get on one of these forums and devote time to help all young start up people in all phases of sign business...

buster, I'm trying to take the easy way out... I'm also a sign writer from many years gone by.. I guess I could grab a #20 quill and letter on awning.. one of these days i'm going to post in introductions all the many years of hand lettering signs and all my travels.. 74 and still going strong.. thanks for your help and letting me rib you a bit... the signmaker

Now!!! that isn't vinly. and that would also be a long screen for a small shop, plus cost setup etc. thanks

That was the reason I designed the ball point rectractable mini knife to aid in these specific areas..

I'm surprised you didn't notice that the big dog is heat transfer vinyl.. it needed more than a trim or two... in needed to be mirrored.. oh well , thank goodness it was only 20 cuts instead of 100 before I caught the mistake.. you know I'm supposed to be a sigmaker

Just want to know how to store rolls of vinly; In the plastic bag. without plastic bag. In box or open air. what is the best temp. highest and lowest. I try to keep mine at 72 degrees or room temp. what is approx storage life. I've used some that was 3 years old that cut and adhered well. I use GREEN STAR OROCAL 551 SISLER strech heat transfer maybe this has been discussed before but I have not seen it.

I guess this was posted in the wrong area.. sorry for double post.. L don't know how to remove the other one... I have an old stahls press called; the hot one thermal transfer press.. model HOCL made in 1992 I know this thing is old, but it is built like a battle ship and once heated it will go forever at constant heat.. OK now what i need to know is where and how does the heat sensor prode attach to platen?? if I open the inspection plate on haet platen cover the temp probe is just laying inside not fastened with a small amount of insulation. hopefully one of you do it yourself guys will have an old on laying around for parts or still using.. that can tell me where probe attaches or if it doesn't. thanks for help and 'repair manual' would help also.. SIGNMAKER not 'singmaker' this was a typo when I signed up!!!!

I have an old stahls press called; the hot one thermal transfer press.. model HOCL made in 1992 I know this thing is old, but it is built like a battle ship and once heated it will go forever at constant heat.. OK now what i need to know is where and how does the heat sensor prode attach to platen?? if I open the inspection plate on haet platen cover the temp probe is just laying inside not fastened with a small amount of insulation. hopefully one of you do it yourself guys will have an old on laying around for parts or still using.. that can tell me where probe attaches or if it doesn't. thanks for help and repair manual would help also.. SIGNMAKER not 'singmaker' this was a typo when I signed up!!!!

what is the smallest letters that is usable and stay on cotton blend t-shirts?? I'm aware that font and stroke will make some difference.. my cutter will cut smaller letters than I think will stick to cotton t-shirts.. I want design to be wearable and will stay on.. I've done a lot of screen printing but this vinyl thing is new to me... also heat transfer printed transfers that seems only good on light color shirts.. So ,I ask you guys that has done a lot of vinyl for any advice..

==== IS IT JUST ME OR GREENSTAR VINYL ===== I've cut and used over 950 yards of greenstar calendered vinyl..... all signs have held up very well on all type of surfaces from rough latex painted plywood and every surface that vinyl can be applied to. BUT ( and there's always a but ) the last shipment I received did not stick and released from metal and wood signs. after a few short months or less !!! I was wondering if the unusually cold weather caused failure. but older signs seemed to be holding up quite well.. may add they looked as fresh as day one.. any suggestions about my problem ?? thinking about trying oracal 651 ( I think this is the exterior number ) but what I've read is other people are using a different type of apt tape I've used the cheap low tack lay flat paper with great success and want to know if it will work on oracal and if not why? all input will be appreciated because I getting ready to place order for this years stock... thanks, singman

sorry, I didn't say what month vinyl was purchased in 2014.... and yes the older vinyl ( 2yrs or more ) worked fine quess I did't explain well enough...no cold weather problems.. the main question is .. has anyone else experienced the cold weather failure.. thanks. singman

I have a Roland CAMM1 PNC1000.. does anyone have a first time setup instruction? also does this unit use paralell cable or the serial input? will sign blazer work on this old cutter? I was able to get windows driver from roland's wed site but very little support for this old of a cutter. .. this thing is built like a battleship and I should would like to use it.. any information will be appreciated thanks singmaker

yes .. thanks I have that verson ... I guess what I need is a operators manual.. problem is port assignment if I use lpt1 there isn't port settings, so the input connectors seems to be one issue that I have thanks

One quick question please.. are the DB9 cables to connect cutter to serial port ( SERIAL or NULL) ?? I need to extend lenght and I need to know which.. thanks

Thanks guy, I thought so... like everyone else the cable is never in a good spot to hookup to computer.. so I used a (straight through serial cable as a jumper) and all is well.. seems like most db9 cables I have are serial. thanks again I need to add .. the serial is connected to computer and the cutter supplied null cable is connected to cutter and to serial cable.. I used both cables not ONE.

use a little pure talcum powder and lightly dust top of vinyl before appling mask and with a little practice.. this will solve your bubbles the mask is streaching the vinyl and causing air bubbles..

I installed s/b us cutter...problem I'm having is... When I import esp image.. trace/vectorize etc.. when I try to cut it seems like image is grossly distorted all or part of edges are extremely ragged ... what am I doing wrong? also the S/B manual shows hot key or something like that which I assume it's rip to use on large format printing but this option seems to be missing.. I'd like to use it so which version of S/B do I need /??? I know this is two questions so any help 'will help' thanks