lwsimon

I’ve had trouble with 631 on textured walls (stucco, orange peel drywall), but not with matte paint. The trick is to use a low-tack tape. A heat gun would probably help the tape release as well. I wouldn’t use 631 in areas where people are likely to rub against it or pick at it, though. It’s really best in my experience for temporary installations and for things that are out of reach but that you don’t want to damage drywall.

I'm looking to begin packaging some of my decals for sale at local convenience stores and a flea market --- what do you guys use to dress things up for a retail setting? I once worked for a printers', and we had a nice Rotatrim rotary trimmer. That would be ideal, I think, but they are very expensive - up to about a $1,000 for a 24" trimmer. There are less expensive options, and I can pick up a Dahle 12" or 18" trimmer for under $100. What do you guys use to square the edges of RTA decals, and what experiences have you had with various trimmer types?

I have a Refine, but in my experience, this is one of two things: 1) There is a small piece of vinyl that came lose during cutting a tiny detail, and is now stuck to the inside of your blade holder. The first thing I'd do is remove the blade from the holder and inspect that it is clear of debris. I keep a baby bottle brush around for this purpose - the small one that is used to clean the nipples. 2) Your blade holder isn't tight enough, leaving room for it to "jiggle" against the carriage. I don't know if this is an issue with the LaserPoint, but on my refine, the blade holder is held to the carriage by a screw. If that works loose, my cuts start to get jagged. Let me know

I live in rural Arkansas, and we have no such requirements. My business goes by "Gadsden Graphics" these days, and I have a PayPal account in that name, and my locally-owned bank lets me cash checks in that name as well. I don't have business license, DBA, or an EIN. There is no such thing as a business license here, and my wife has a dance studio, so I've been through this before. A DBA - Doing Business As - certificate is usually needed to get a bank account and cash checks in the name of your business. An EIN is technically only needed if you plan to hire employees. As for structure, I'm an SP - Sole Proprietorship. That's by far the simplest, but you don't get a lot of the benefits. I keep up with all my sales, and feed them into a simple spreadsheet. Come tax time, I file a Schedule C with my normal federal tax returns, and declare how much money I've made via sales and pay income taxes on it - well, if you want to be pedantic, I'm assessed income taxes on it, then offset that with depreciation of equipment and mileage, and the fact that my wife's business is losing money on paper and is in my name. I don't deal with state sales tax, though I should. I do 90%+ of my sales online, where tax is the responsibility of the buyer. For the other few things I sell, I am technically liable, but haven't bothered with it yet. Once I get enough cash flow to open up a storefront, I'll transition to LLC and hire a high school kid for an employee.

It might work for the screen of a pre-4 phone, but I wouldn't use it - getting the adhesive off when it's time to remove it would be a real pain. I wouldn't even try it for the back of a pre-4, or on a 4. The pre-4 phones have complex, tight curves that even good cast vinyl won't conform to right. the 4 might be doable, but you'd have to slit the corners, and again --- how do you get it off?

I've still got this silly idea stuck in my heat - I want to set up a road-side stand doing vehicle lettering and decals. My question is this - it gets up to 105 or so here during the summer, and I would ned to bring a stock of vinyl with. While it would be in the shade while I was set up, I'd store it in my trunk in transit, and I don't want to have to worry about making sure I always park in the shade if I decide to go shopping or something while I'm out. I would estimate it gets up to 125 degrees or so in full sun in my trunk. Oracal's storage requirements are incredible - 64-72 degrees, 50 to 60% humidity. I can't maintain that in my home, much less when on location. Does anyone have experience with storing and using vinyl outdoors in summer?

Not sure if this is the right place, but oh well - here goes. I have a serious bite for 100 stickers, euro oval style. The primary text will be 4 letters, and the written-out text below is 23 characters including spaces. Please respond here or email me at lyndsy -at - lyndsysimon.com

Thanks all, I found someone. We should really have a forum for this type of thing...

That's rather crazy - I live 30 minutes from Branson, and we go to SDC about every two weeks during the summer with our little girl If you're looking for niche work for your mirrors, look at Big Cedar/Bass Pro Shops. Their facilities have a *lot* of custom, artisan-type work, and could be a big market for you. Bass Pro Shops owns the Big Cedar franchise, and they are based in Springfield, about 45 minutes north of Branson. They're known for the quality of their decor, and how much they spend on it.

Don't forget the fudge factor there - I worked in a small shop with an Epson 7600 for a while, and though I loved the printer, it ate ink. I figure up that 10-20% of the ink went into the maintenance tank. IMO, a CIS is a *need*, not a want, for a commercial printer.

I can attest to that. I have about 30 unique designs out there right now, though that is increasing quickly. I hope to be where you are by the end of the year, as far as number of auctions listed. I'm doing a lot of rather generic things for now to get my volume up, but my plan is to offer one-off designs in areas with narrow interest. I've done that now to some extent with clogging and nursing.

Is it worth it? That's expensive. I'm still trying to convince myself the cost of an eBay store is worth it, and that seems to be a much better value. It would be worth it if it were my full-time job, but not right now, fo rme.

I wish I could explain it in more detail without bordering on the political - but my position is not a petty one, nor is it ill-thought-out. I recognize and welcome your right to dispose of your property as you see fit. I ask only that you do the same. I wish you would explain that... Well, in short - I am an Objectivist. I really don't want to get into detail on philosophy, as it invariably leads to politics, and political/religious discussions are verboten in this forum.

Of course, eBay Motors is $35 / month, and that's where I'm posting my car window decals. Their free subscription will work for wall words, but not for car decals

I wish I could explain it in more detail without bordering on the political - but my position is not a petty one, nor is it ill-thought-out. I recognize and welcome your right to dispose of your property as you see fit. I ask only that you do the same.

I don't operate a business to the benefit of my soul, I operate it for the benefit of my balance sheet. Someone about complained about our "selfish" culture - well, I truly wish our culture was more selfish. We have a cultural predisposition to altruism and self-sacrifice, but that doesn't make it healthy or right. In the OP's example, the bar/charity event ended up with signs that they obviously didn't value, as they painted over the top of them instead of doing it right and having them re-used by the sign shop. The person doing the giving feels betrayed as a result, as his work product has been disrespected. Who gained here? lynnpromotions, your post sounds a lot like me. I'm *happy* to help with a cause, but I'm not willing to do it for free. I've also offered to provide decals and such to organizations to sell, and credit them back their un-used portions. I've set my pricing so that my base rates will cover this type of thing, and discount for most orders.

If his customer liked it, and he got paid; it's a logo

Only about $25K annually of my personal money for handicapped children to get needed dentistry work. But that is personal and not business. As far as our shop goes we are asked to donate work almost daily and we just don't do it. As i said, we are priced competitively and that is as good as it gets in our shop. How could a charity go wrong buying t-shirts for their event at $5 and selling them for $10 or $15 or even $20? As far as a charity goes, I don't have time to investigate what they are about and what they do or even how much of what they bring in goes to the intended purpose. I may sound like a dick but if the charity wants to make money we can partner with them, but we just don't donate. As far as sounding like a dick, how about the OP? asking if I would be angry over someone reusing a charity sign for a for-profit business? I was only offering a solution to his good work being exploited. wtf i disagree with both your statements and if thats the way you feel then why are you on this forum then ? given that this is a form of charity .! we give our time and our service to those who are unable to for whatever reason too do it themselves. so there is no difference between asking for something on here and having some approach you at your business. and at least you know that your not cutting your own throat giving to the competition. now outbreak as stated before - upsell and remember kama always comes back to those who give freely Cooperation isn't charity -- I have learned a *lot* from the members on this board, and I do my best to give back to the community here. There is a huge difference. I really didn't mean to start a fight here - I 'm just saying how I feel about it, and that I can relate to altruism not ending well for me.

Call your local FedEx Freight service center - they are listed in the phone book. Ask if there is a discount for new shippers, and tell them that you're a vinyl shop trying to get equipment shipped to you. Depending on what Marketing is doing, they usuall give a 25-40% discount on one shipment. I work for FedEx Freight at my day job, so I may be a little bit biased

This might not make me popular here, but I'm no fan of charity. It denigrates the giver's labor, and the person receiving it gets what they haven't earned. I don't know about you, but I can feel right about having something I didn't earn. I very rarely give to charitable events, and I seem to always regret it. I *will* sometimes trade something of value for free advertising, but if I'm not happy with the value I'm getting, then it being charity won't change my mind.

I second this questions - my MH-721 could do it, but it wouldn't be fun getting it dailed in close enough

I'm liking this idea - especially if I can do it with just spraypaint. I'm going to cut a quick test and put it on my car, see how it holds up.

I learned from this video: I use circles as registration marks, but I've seen all sorts of shapes used. I might make a screencast of this process in the near future...

I've had my MH-721 for about six months, and it's been good to me. The worst thing that happened is that I broke the bolt holding the blade holder to the arm when I was travelling a while back, but a trip to Lowes and some small zip-ties later, I was up and running again. Yeah, it's a cheap machine, but it does the job I need. I'll upgrade to either a Graphtec or a Roland in time, though when/if I wear this one out, I'll may get another one if my business hasn't grown to the point yet where I can absorb the full cost of the Roland. If you ask me, $300 is cheap insurance when it comes to making sure this is something you want to do.

The "eBay Selling" iPhone app allows you to search completed listings and sort by sold items only - but it doesn't seem to be show all items, and you have no control over the timeframe. It does let you get an idea of what things sold for though.