WallysWallWords

and in color too: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:USMC_logo.svg

Convert Strokes to Outlines. learn to love it. some days i spend an hour or two fixing art from graphic artists. they just make stuff pretty, but have no idea how to make it cut right. so they'll have miles of strokes and masks on top of masks behind another mask.

Charging by square inch, that's a strange concept to me. I always charge by the linear foot of material with a minimum price of $20. that's the least amount of money i'll accept to do something. there's no way I would design art, email a proof to the customer, make a change, email another proof, load my machine, weed and tape something for $0.36. i tell them, there's a $20 minimum and they can have one RTA that's 3" or they can $20 worth of stickers for the same price. Almost always they order extra and the ones that choose not to buy i don't have to deal with them. so i weed out the cheap customers that can't afford $20 and I also make more money. how much money can you possibly make investing an hour into a $1.44 sticker when there's only 24 hours a day when instead you can make $20 that hour? i charge by the linear foot to account for waste. for instance, a 17" and a 23" sticker are basically the same price because i'm using the same amount of linear feet from my 24" roll, but a 25" sticker would be more since now i'm using 30" material (or now I have to turn it sideways and long the long ways from a 24"). my linear foot price is pretty standard, but it floats back and forth depending on how much weeding time is involved, colors, material, etc. at certain linear foot amounts i have price breaks. when a carpenter builds something he doesn't charge people for half a 2x4, he has to charge for the whole thing. plumbers do not say the pipe is under three feet long so i'll install it for free.

another tip, if you're consistently experiencing the same problem, like every M is trying to lift or something. Convert the M from text to just an outline. it usually changes the points and where the blade will start and finishing cutting on it. sometimes that solves it. if not, manually add in another point. that helps a lot. i find small circles always weed better if you add a 5th point onto them.

i prefer the way cast weeds for really small stuff, but i love the way calendered weeds for large stuff. when i do tiny little stickers i always use cast just because it saves me so much time. you could try a software with overcut too. could try adjusting your blade offset too.

When at all possible, avoid layering cast and calendered. They shrink at different rates and this can cause some problems like delamination and wrinkling. i would also recommend if you're doing vehicle lettering (well, company names and logos and such, not stickers that just say whatever, but things intended to stay around for a long time) to get into the habit of using cast (751/851/etc) instead of 651. you'll be much better off in the long run. around here 651 lasts about 3 to 4 years on vehicles, usually lot less on black cars. doesn't matter for things like little window stickers, but for business owners that get their vehicles lettered or semis and stuff, they will own the vehicle longer than the vinyl will look good.

r-tape's RLA tapes are designed to lay flat. same with perfectear's LFA. for oracal 651 i use 4075rla since the 4050 doesn't like to pick up some colors.

I'm 90% sure the 3 mil calendered "High Gloss" is made by General Formulations. It's the same stuff as Feller's Shinerite. Should be fine for short term use stuff that calls for calendered. same names of colors, same "200-5000" adhesive....leads me to believe it is. http://generalformulations.com/cuc500.asp http://www.tctgp.com/pdf/3mil_select_high_gloss.pdf i'd be weary of the cast though. if you're doing something that requires cast, stick with a name brand. After all with these small private brands you really have no idea where the stuff is coming from and what the quality actually is. there's a difference between a brand that actually manufacturers a product and a brand that just reboxes a product. if you were a top-tier manufacturer and selling vinyl to others for their private labels would you give them the best stuff off your line? no, you're going to push the subpar products on them. the even cheaper brands you might sell off your bad batches that didn't pass quality control well enough to have your own name on the box. and just because a certain company made it for someone else doesn't mean it's good because it came from a certain company. after all they may make it to someone's desired specifications which may not be all that great. my general rule of thumb is don't trust any vinyl that the backing paper doesn't have their name on it.....and don't trust avery. no name vinyls are fine for coroplast or banners and other temporary signs, but i'd never use them for anything i need to last.

i'm sorry you feel that way, but i'm not. don't take it personally man. unless you and wet application method are married you're way too sensitive dude.

Did I say you were wrong? Where did I say that? Did I put you down? did I bash wet? FYI, not only do I have a day job, but I also run my own business on the side. Registered with the state, collect taxes, etc. So I do both.

good looking Vermont sticker. Bad looking do-it-yourself tint job on that car though.

I said 90% of shops do it dry 90% of the time. Yes, plexi falls into that do it wet category. i don't agree with the glass thing though. that statistic comes from our 3M rep. from what I've seen on the internet, from what i've seen at shops, from what i've heard from shop employees, i'd say it close to accurate. this place is kind of an exception, but there aren't many shop employees here. 100% of sign shops use wet application on something, but I'd say 90% of them do it dry 90% of the time. The rest of the time in rare situations they use wet application for things that wet application makes it easier and faster. 3M actually recommends doing everything dry except specific products that recommend being applied wet in the directions. that's a nice site you linked to.

at the day job it's company policy to not touch any safety equipment especially stuff for firemen. there's certain fire retardant standards that fire suits have to meet and if you don't meet them you can be held liable if that suit catches fire. do you really want to lose your home, business, and any chance of a financially stable future just to put a logo on your friend's coat? no fire helmets either since vinyl isn't fire retardant. about the only thing our boss will let us do is screen print those yellow and orange safety vests for construction workers, but we no longer apply reflective stripping to anything. it has to come that way from the manufacturer.

i do it all the time, but it depends on the size. Something two or three feet long rolled up inside of a 3" core isn't going to hurt it (roll vinyl side out). however, something 10 feet long inside the core isn't good. that would be rolled way too tightly. in those situations i wrap the graphic around the outside of the core, then put it inside of a box. now it can't get smash and creased.

i second that. i'm quicker at it and it's less messy. there's good reasons why 90% of sign shops do 90% of installs dry. the few times i do something wet I use straight water with nothing else. less chemicals means there's less to interact with the glue. a small amount of the artificial dyes and colors will get left behind no matter how hard you squeegee. a microscopic barrier of contaminants isn't as good as nothing between the glue and substrate. the worst is dish soap because most contain silicone to help prevent food from sticking to the dish the next time you use it. well it also helps prevent vinyl from sticking to something!