halpain17

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Posts posted by halpain17

  2. Posted

    You should be able to fit the other logos within the big star to not waste much vinyl

    thats what i figured. the star will be around a square ft, and the small logos should fit close to it. I was looking at possibly getting a 15" x 15 roll of Siser Easyweed and giving it a go on some shirts myself. not sure yet.

  4. Posted

    Yea. When I get back to the office I'll upload the file. I just copied my standard logo and photo shopped those. Unsure what the sizes of he artwork should be. But I just need about five or six shirts I think. Mix of med and large. 50/50 preferably.

    I do know a guy who's selling a heat press... I considered buying the vinyl and shirts and doing it myself with his before it sells... But may be worth getting them done

  5. Posted

    I need a few t-shirts for my sign business, but I don't have a heat press and don't want to get into the shirt business right now, so I wondered if anyone would wanna make me a handful of them?

     

    I don't need enough to make it worth screen printing, and it's only black htv on grey and/or red shirts.

    Part of the artwork wraps the side of the shirt which seems complicated to screen printers anyway.

     

    post-89764-0-38651900-1430405415_thumb.p

    ShirtArtwork.zip

  8. Posted

    You're paying for ads just with time instead of money. We all have to decide which is more important time or money and depending on how busy I am is how I answer that.

    Can't argue with that, but on a small scale for a new business, it's much easier to use a bit of time than spend a bit of money. I haven't posted anything this month on facebook now, due to referral business growing and no available time.

    On a side note, I bet its close to equal time to do what I do and reach about 5-10k people, as it would take to place a paid ad. Still have to create it and upload the photo.

     

    To me, time spent doing nothing is not worth anything.

     

    For new guys, with plenty of free time, it's an easy way to build a customer base.

     

    Edit: I don't mean the OP is new; just thought some new guys might run across this thread for advertising ideas.

    • Like 4

  9. Posted

    Personally, I don't spend a penny on ads, but get most of my work off of facebook. I do have a business page, and I post a couple of pics from nearly every job i do. Then I've personally joined alot of "Local Garage Sale, Buy/Sell/Trade, Real Estate, small Business" and other private groups on facebook. Everyday, multiple times, I share a couple of specific pics that relate to a group on it's page, and I add some specific info. This gets me alot of messages asking for quotes, and I get alot of work to fill empty time.

     

    Example: I might post a pic of a coupe of real estate signs in the "Local Homes for sale or rent group". and i'll say "Any realtors, property managers, or owners want you property to sell/rent quicker? Message me for a quote to make your property seen with professional real estate signs. No job too big or small! I can do other signs and decals as well, so other custom requests are welcome!"

  10. Posted

    Glad I finally stubled upon your thread Bert.

     

    Man, I remember my first cut on my Puma iii. I watched a video that said "a credit card thickness" on the blade depth. so without looking at what it was curently set on out of box, I began adjusting. The first cut sliced right through the vinyl, backing, and cut strip. I found the safest thing for me was to adjust the blade down to visibly flush with the holder, and then go the closest direction to "0". then I adjusted to about .5 deeper than the vinyl I was using followed by a test cut. I then adjusted from there based on the cut until I got optimal performance. Maybe not the usual way of doing things, but safer for me.

     

    I keep my equipment in the garage due to a lack of room, and a new arrival to our family, so I just clean it often with alcohol wipes. Of course I'd probably do the same inside our home, It's pretty windy and dusty here in west Texas.

    • Like 1

  11. Posted

    I have looked and looked and cant find any trade shows in my area. Probably the closest place for me that would have shows is Dallas. The latex printer looks like a good deal. a little higher in price, but if it eliminated laminate it'd be totally worth it. I wasn't sure though if you could use the same media, because no media says latex, only sol, eco-sol, uv.

  12. Posted

    GCC - is a separate company  - not roland or even related to them.

    respectable company but no roland.  now that is one brand I don't have experience with on finding registration marks - 

    http://www.gccworld.com/Vinyl_Cutter.php

    http://www.tintdude.com/forum/index.php/topic/76539-roland-vs-gcc/

    hmm ok. i assumed it might be because it uses alot of roland parts. of course im sure alot of these share similar cut strips, blades, etc.

     

    It looks like price wise I may be able to get the roland gx-500 in the same price range.

  13. Posted

    Roland cutters find the registration marks much easier than any other cutter I have tried - doing that many I would think you wouldn't want to mess around with too many sheets trying to find the marks.  why not consider the latex machines for this job since you are interested in a separate print and cut solution?  since you want to hit the floor running have you considered a retailer with a training program to get you familiar with the equipment quickly, can provide quick technical assistance and teach you the ins and outs of RIPS.   Maybe I missed it in my quick scan though and you have experience in those areas

    now if I was doing regular vinyl and did much fine detail I would be pushing the graphtec but that is not what you are diving into so look hard at the http://www.rolanddga.com/products/cutters/gxPro/.   

     

    Thanks, yea I don't have any experience with rips. I do have another friend who owns one of the largest sign companies here, so I guess I'll talk with him and try to learn a little. Currently, I've been using a GCC Puma iii which seems to be a re-branded roland. I guess since it has ARMS, I could order some of the 8.5x11 sheets for my desktop printer and play with a few small trial runs....

  14. Posted

    lol, thanks for the worry fellas (and ladies). The contact isn't unknown to me. It's a friend of mine. Doesn't make me positive that the deal with go thru, but I do at least know them. And the company is a very well known nation wide corporation. I just am not mentioning them because I don't want 50 people to try to find a contact to underbid me (no offense). My friend is the regional marketing rep for "corp x" and i and my wife have done quite a bit for her, so since she has the opportunity she is trying to reciprocate by getting us this bid.

     

    I definitely will be having my lawyer look over the contract if/when we recieve it, before signing. And then waiting for the check, depositing it, and waiting a couple more days for it to clear. Once I have a cleared check I will be making my equipment purchases, and beginning work. Mama didn't raise no fool.

     

    Question tho folks...

    If this happens and/or in the future,  I was considering the PrismJet 48", the EnduraLam 55", the EnduraTrim 60", and the VE Q54" Cutter.

     

    I saw some posts about the VE cutters not actually having ARMS. And it does say something about "Available ARMS", which doesn't sound good to me... so I was considering the Graphtec FC8600 54" instead.

     

    I found that I can pick this all up for about 17.5k-18.5k depending on those cutters. What do you guys think?

    I'd prefer to support USCutter, but didn't see eco-sol printers that weren't cutter combos. And I don't want a combo, because I want to have the availability to use all machines at once. I also couldn't fins any trimmers here, just large expensive table trimmers.

     

    I don't know anything about the HP Latex Printers. I know they say 5-year outdoor while the eco-sol say 3-year outdoor. So does the HP not need laminate for most outdoor applications? and can a latex printer print to all the same vinyls as a eco-sol?

  16. Posted

    Ok. For an update... I was asked to bid 150,000 instead but they approved printing them black ink on white vinyl. So it just got a lot easier. My contact said that if I could make them under $2.25/each she didn't need approval from her supervisors and could have their attorney draw up the contract. All paid by check up front. She also stated that there was Jo time restrictiin, just deliver as made but if they ever asked for a rush, the contract would state that they'd pay an additional cost for those so that I could outsource some without losing much profit. So I bid them Friday at $2.17/decal. These are 4"x6" decals. I haven't heard back yet but fingers crossed it works as planned. If so, once the check clears I have an order prepared to buy a 48" eco-solv printer, a 54" cutter (I only have a 24" now), a 55" laminator, and a 60" trimmer.

    • Like 1

  18. Posted

    I currently have a GCC puma iii 24" cutter

    I had considered getting the 25" laminator here, along with a 24" mutoh 628x... but then im stuck with </= 24" printable vinyls which doesn't appear to be too common.

     

    If I go larger for 30" vinyls then my Puma iii can no longer do the contour cutting for anything over 24" obviously.

    So to my understanding the MIMAKI CJV150-75/107/130/160 Printer Cutter System here from uscutter with the correct ink package should do the trick, since it can handle 30" media, and is eco-solvent, plus it has the white ink option. Its either that or the roland versacamm 30" i guess. then of course I'll grab a 38" cold laminator.

     

    The mimaki says cutting, but doesnt say automatic contour cutting anywhere... does it not do it? I know the roland does.

  19. Posted

    haha, enjoy the show, I plan on getting rid of that encad. Don't need the headaches.

     

    I'd prefer to print color on white if they will go for it... but I'd assume the backing for clear vinyl is white right? so You'd think I could print black reg marks on the clear which should show with the white backing...no? I guess I'm definitely gonna learn something from this...

  20. Posted

    remember that contract is a two way street - you say you are going to produce with a aqueous printer - long term durability will be expected and with aqueous vinyl the place it normally fails is in the coating sprayed on it to make it accept the water based ink - even laminated that is where it will separate and fail.  good luck and happy printing 

    My apologies, I didn't mean I was going to produce with a aqueous printer, just saying that i understood it required special vinyl.

     

    I plan to buy an eco-sol printer, and to laminate.

  21. Posted

    it works fine, we give out stickers with no mask all the time, just make sure they are laminated.  However you should consider using something other than oracal 751 clear to print on, its not formulated for inks. only for thermal printing, im not saying it doesn't work but it might be better to use a 3M clear or at least something thats designed to accept eco-sol inks unless of course you are thermal printing.

    awesome, thanks! yes, i wasn't aware until after a little research that printable media was different than a standard cast vinyl. (i knew you needed special for aqueous tho), but I am going to try to talk them into printing color on white, they just wanted the decals to look like a standard white weeded vinyl... but they want way to many decals to weed them all (6-digits).

     so printed white on clear is better than nothing. I haven't bought my printer but will do so accordingly after I have a signed contract with deposit from them.

    Thanks again

  22. Posted

    ^thanks for the insight.

     

    So

     

    I am thinking that the laminate is going to thicken the vinyl and make it feel more "peel and stick" style. (though 751 may not be the correct vinyl to choose for printing)

    Basically these folks are ordering decals to promote their business in the 6-digit quantity...

    so if I were handing them out, I would not want them with mask on them, I would want a normal peel and stick decal.

    I just feel like its more professional looking.

  23. Posted

    Well I need to print a bunch of 6"x4" decals... White on clear vinyl. I figured I'd use 751 transparent. And then I'd laminate it... And contour cut an oval around it... My assumption is that the customer could peel that oval up and stick it without a mask... I just wanted to make sure that would work, or if there was a more preferred method for "peel and stick" type decals?

  24. Posted

    So I am new to printing...

    Is there a specific vinyl that is used to print on and then contour cut so it can be peeled and stuck by the customer instead of using a mask? Like a normal sticker...

    I know its a noon question. But all I've done is stack and mask vinyl.

    Tia