Meucow 5 Posted June 4, 2021 I have had a small business for a long time. I make signs on wood. I have a Titan 2. I use Oracal 813 stencil. I do not, have not, ever used transfer tape. The signs I make have a simple image and then 1 sentence of lettering (about 10-13 words, about 1" in size). I cut the design, then I 'peel' the stencil material back and off the backing. I place this on the wood. I then 'weed' to place my insert letters (i.e. lower case 'o' and lower case 'e'. I then burnish and use spray paint. Let it dry, then peel up stencil, weed out the letter inserts and bam - done. It's worked for me and overall get great results. I see video after video that show a different way. Where the backing is pulled off, transfer tape applied to the stencil, then this is applied to the wood, then this is peeled off the wood... I just cannot wrap my head around why this would be a better process (for me). I'm re-launching my business but have a 'real job'. Time and efficiency is key. I need to ensure I'm doing the MOST effective way. Appreciate any insight or direction on why transfer tape is used and/or may be beneficial. Just trying to work as smart as possible. Greatly appreciate input/feedback. Thank you. Cindi Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
slice&dice 2,450 Posted June 4, 2021 Please offer us a video of your process. It will assist us in evaluating your request for feedback. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
haumana 1,220 Posted June 6, 2021 Let me know if I have this correct - Cut, peel off backing (no weeding of design), apply to wood, weed out the stencil, paint, remove rest of vinyl. Why use an application tape ... if you weed your design before application, then you will absolutely need to use a transfer tape, because that would be a whole lot of manual labor. If you weed prior application and use a transfer tape, you can see your design (whether it's in the negative or positive), and how to align it to your object. I cannot speak for a other users, however, when i cut, if I tried to peel the vinyl without weeding, it will weed the exterior by default because I have the blade cutting through the vinyl, as well as the adhesive, so it will not stay in one piece with a design or text cut into it. If what you're doing works best for you, and gets you the fastest production, then stick with it. There isn't a hard and fast rule about most of this stuff (with exception to never using clear transfer tape when doing a wet application). Even if you stick with your method, I would still suggest you have some application tape on hand for the "just in case" situations 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites