rrc1962

You avoid copyright violations by creating your own artwork, using something in the public domain or buying artwork to use. If you purchase a vector art collection, everything in the collection would be fine to use as long as you are not actually reselling the CD or the vector files on the CD.

It is also on the standard custom shapes menu in Photoshop. Might be in Illustrator too. I haven't needed it there yet.

I have it back to 1996. Maybe it will help. There are three files. Crew cab, ext cab and regular cab. F350.zip F350.zip

Looks nice. I do 2x4, one color on corroplast for $60, so considering the more expensive vinyl, aluminum substrate and installation, $300 sounds about right.

In Flexi 8.1 when you have the text edit box open in design central, each edit box has an up and down arrow beside it. When you click a button, it changes the value in the box up or down by .1". Is there a way you change this value? Thanks

Complain about free software,and complain about software you get at a great deal but haven't taken the time to learn. "A poor workman always blames his tools." If they complain like that about "FREE" software, I'd like too hear what they've got to say about software that they've paid hundreds of dollar for. It's still going to perform exactly the same way if you don't take the time to learn how to use it either. Joe Hundreds? Try spending thousands. Spending more doesn't eliminate problems.

I did these out of 16ga steel yesterday. They are using them for paint stencils on their shipping cartons. The text is 3/4" tall and about 7" long. It took about 15 minutes to set up the part file in AutoCAD and about 3 minutes each to cut.

I used to be hard core Mac addict, but found that pretty much everything I was doing was easier on a PC and software availability is much better. The only things a Mac has over a PC is it's immunity to most viruses, which are written to run on the Windows OS...And it has a cleaner OS. No registry or any of that garbage to get corrupt.

How many do you expect in the future? You can have 1000 printed in full color for around $200 give or take. At say...$2.00 each, you'd have your investment back after 100. Everything after that is clear profit. You would net $1800 if you move all 1000 of them. It involves a little speculation, I've done this many times on decal orders. Give them a price and try to cover your investment with their initial order. At $2.00 you would want to try and get an initial order of 100 pieces. If you can't get them to do that, that's where the speculation comes in. The downside is that the decals will be printed and will have to be contour cut if you want the same effect as laid up vinyl. Everyone I've sold these to was able to easily get past the fact that the logo was basically printed on a square or rectangle substrate when they saw the price difference. I do RTA cut vinyl for .07 per color so I'd be at $5.04 each for a 6"x6" with a $20 minimum order...and I ship the two colors separately. I don't lay it up on the bench.

I'll add that HD won't even sell you the rights to reproduce their logo. If you have a design that uses the logo, you have to get permission to use it, then it becomes an authorized HD product and must be purchased through HD. HD may contract you to make the product but then it would be available to their entire dealer/distributor network, but if it's something unique and not already in their lineup, they would just turn you down and have the product made overseas anyway. You would only be able to resell it if you are an authorized reseller/dealer. Like Speed said, you can become a dealer, but the initial investment is upwards of $1,000,000 in most cases. I suspect Disney may be similar. These are huge companies who's business is recognized worldwide by their logo. It is very difficult and very expensive to get permission to use their logo, if they will even grant it. They will not grant permission to just print decals with their logo. They offer these products already.

I've cut these out of very thin sheet metal on our CNC plasma table. Someone in your area should have CNC plasma. Shouldn't cost much to have it done.

We stay busy enough with our steel shop so I don't mind seeing these kinds of jobs go on down the road. I try not to even mess with anything that can't be done in the shop. Towman...We're over by Priest Lake. We do signs and other custom cut projects on a CNC plasma cutter. Let me know if you ever need anything like that.

I quoted a job today for a 6' x 3' company logo installed on an office wall in two colors and the same thing with office hours on two glass entry doors...and the job is 30 minutes away. I quoted $225. The guy sends me an email and tells me he can get it done online for $60. I said...That's a great INSTALLED price. Then he asks me how much I'd charge to install his online deal. About two hours later I quoted a van at $95 per side. Coverage is about half the total side behind the door and above the wheel well. Two colors, nothing overlapping. I do these for $95 all the time...No big deal. They guy explained that his logo was actually three colors but the third color was white and would be left void in the design to show the color of the van. He even sent usable artwork which is rare. A couple hours later a ratty looking RED van pulls in the shop. I asked when he was bring the van over for lettering. He said...This is it. I said...This van is red, I quoted two colors on a white van. Your logo won't work on a red background. We'll need to layer it over white. He said...doesn't that price include painting the van? Ya...He was serious. He left upset because my price of $190 was WAY too high if it didn't include paint. Not a typo...One hundred ninety.

I don't think so. That would have to be controlled by the cutting software and I haven't seen that feature, even in the high end software. If I wanted to do this, I would create the cut line and score line vectors in different colors. Adjust the cutter to a light pressure and cut the score lines. Then re-adjust to the heavier pressure and cut the cut lines.

Is that the price the one customer thought was steep?

Wouldn't cut vinyl be a whole lot easier than wrapping for this design? I don't see anything there that couldn't be done in cut vinyl. Just a couple colors over black.

$140 for both sides.

I use a mix of water, soap and alcohol. I lay it up on the job, not on the bench. Doing it dry is faster if it comes out perfect. If it doesn't, you'll spend way more time popping and chasing bubbles than you would just laying it up wet. I can typically peel the app tape within a minute or so after the water is squeegeed out...Then just continue with the next layer. The procedure is the same as if you were doing it dry. Line it up, tape on side, wet and apply. You should be able to see through the app tape well enough to align the next layer...Tape it in place, wet and apply. If your alignment isn't perfect it will lift as long as you haven't squeegeed it down. When I'm doing larger graphics, I typically break up the top layer into smaller pieces. For instance, if I had the words "FOR RENT" 20" high and shadowed, I would lay down the shadow in one piece, but I may break up the top layer and lay each letter separately. Just makes things easier to handle when working alone.

I export a DXF and import that into Flexi. SB should take a DXF file. There was a post a little while ago from someone who figured out how to plot (with a pen) from a CAD program. Search for that post. It might have the answer you're looking for.

If the impression of the text and outline is visible in a photo, you should be able to trace it. Hard to say without seeing a photo of the actual RV. I've done it on impossible to find logos. You can plot the finished result to paper, match it to the RV and make adjustments. Most of the time it's pretty close. It can be time consuming, but if the customer wants an exact reproduction of what was there and it's not available, he has to pay someone to reproduce it.

Post the photo.

If the area where the decal used to be is noticeable in a photo, you will probably have to take a photo and hand trace it.

I haven't used clear tape in years. I tried it way back. It's handy for laying up multiple layers on the bench. I do most everything wet, so I only keep paper tape in the shop. I think paper is easier. I don't use registration marks for alignment. You can see through the paper well enough to align layers. Once the un-applied layer is aligned with the applied layer under it, tape the top or side, peel the carrier and apply using the hinge method.

John... When you do a banner using this rolled material hemmed on the edges, do you just cut it off and leave the ends raw or do you hem the edges? I like the idea of rolled material, but I have no way of hemming the ends and I'm thinking raw ends would not look very good. Next thing that comes to mind is that if you do hem the ends, why not just buy un-hemmed rolls? Seems you would have more options with that material.

What's everyone charging for RTA graphics? I was thinking somewhere around 6 or 8 cents per square inch with a $15 or $20 minimum. I guess the 6 or 8 cent charge should be for each layered color. When you sell RTA do you ship the graphics separately and let the person applying do the layering or do you lay it up on the bench prior to shipping? Thanks