mabscotthandyman

I have never had trouble with my DGI OM60 but I use serial port I mostly use my Graphtec except for large runs I use both.

Go to your big box lumber store and get a sheet of melamine it smooth surface makes for good taping, weeding and clean up is easy

Good advice Dakota you have to be competitive because people look for price and assume the quality is all the same....which we all know the cheapest use inferior material and methods. I priced a sign with new substrate and premium vinyl and they wanted me to use the original substrate remove the cracked sun dried vinyl and clean up... I tried to explain that would be very labor intensive and not turn out well because of ghost shadowing ( lexan) so They got someone to do it their way ....lol then in about a month they called for me to do it right.

The GCC expert is a basic entry level cutter .....you’re talking a pretty good jump in price for that quality of machine.

You have to figure your hard cost, overhead including rents, insurance, taxes, utilities, cost of advertising also licensing fees and any municipal fees plus the profit margin you expect.......I believe you will find that is why most small graphic and sign people work from home or even a utility shed....I have a mobile office.....basically a small mobile home set up for construction jobs... as a shop and it works great. You have to do a large volume of sales to make any money with a store front.....in my area the average small store front is around a grand rent or more depending of traffic volume.

I never did small decals always larger signage, lighted signs and dimensional lettering, channel letters etc

I don’t give breaks anymore I give them two choices take it or leave it....I kissed butt and cut prices for many years in my handyman and remodeling business and barley got by it took a while to figure that when my wife bought groceries or clothes for the kids oI bought supplies or gas or paid taxes We didn’t get breaks because we was buying other products or services so 35 years or so ago I quit giving breaks guess what I didn’t lose business because my business was quality oriented so when I started doing signage also I applied the same business principal and I don’t believe I have lost business because of it ....let’s just say I have had to slow down to 5 days a week because of my age ...being in my 70s my body doesn’t like long week’s anymore and I am now having to turn away work.

I have a Stalhs heattronic 11x15 I bought 5-6 years ago that’s still in the box.....I am probably going to start using it soon to add to the services offered I am probably going to retire because of my knees and ankles are shot so I will offer signs ready to install and possibly decals, license plates and shirts and screen printed and printed services from my vendor. Getting old sucks and I can’t do what I need to do in the contracting business or the sign installation business.

You don’t want to stack rolls especially 50 yard rolls it will cause flat spots......either stand on end or hang on vinyl rack that you could install high above your cutter or other spot so you don’t loose floor space.

I always layer on the substrate one at a time using rapid tac that allows you to move to align layers and disperse bubbles easier.

A quality paper tape medium or high tac according to the size and how detailed your design is. I also squeegee the back of the backing paper...then as Skeeter said remove the backing paper from the cut vinyl. To remove the mask spray rapid tac on the paper take your hand and rub it in when the mask bubbles it is very easy to remove.

I have never sold decals and never on line. My sign work is signs, lighted signs and formed letters so not sure about selling decals on line but if I sell a church sign for $7200.00 I know my direct cost indirect cost ( taxes, business license, insurance etc ) aprox labor cost and estimated profits

Not to be a smart ass but if you know your time and material cost you already know how much to charge just add your overhead , mark up and your profit margin

Unless it’s fairly new it would have shadows even if the old lettering came off clean...which it won’t....just price a new pc. Lexan and translucent vinyl. be sure to make sure no electrical or lighting is included and at a separate cost ( if you can do the lighting or have someone who can ) I have done literally hundreds of these and they aren’t very difficult.

I actually install a lot of signage from flat metal, formed plastic letters, lighted channel letters, back lighted box signs and everything in between my average rate averages between $40.00 to $60 per hour I give bids in advance so the price is included in the price the person gives.