Scratchthejeepguy

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Posts posted by Scratchthejeepguy

  1. Posted

    Thanks for all the replies.  I've had my machine for almost 2 years now and still on the same blade for hobby use, but I'm getting lots of use lately as I've been cutting a bunch of yard signs.  I think I'm at number 80 so far.  I still have my little plastic case with a spare 45 and 60 so I should be good for a while it sounds like.

  2. Posted

    I'm in  middle of a big job.  I'm making a bunch of yard signs. My SC2 is cutting fine, but I'm concerned about when I should change blades. I'm still on my first 45 degree blade that came with the cutter.  I still have another 45 and a 60 from the factory.  Will it stop cutting abruptly, or will it just slowly start cutting poorly? What should I start to notice when it's time to change blades?

  9. Posted

    21 minutes ago, MZ SKEETER said:

    posted hundreds of times on the forum.

    To start with, you should set your blade depth correctly, by taking the blade holder out of the machine, and firmly cut across a piece of scrap vinyl, you will be cutting. You should only be cutting the vinyl and barely a mark on wax paper backing, Adjust blade to get there, Then put the blade holder back in machine, and use the force of the machine to get there, same results, only cutting the vinyl and barely a mark in wax paper backing. You should just barely see and feel your blade tip out of the blade holder.

    So it's not supposed to stick out as much as it is in the picture I posted above...?

    : )

  13. Posted

    My daughter is on our towns royal court this year, and does parades during the warmer months.  Another towns festival is during October and they have a huge Halloween parade.  The visiting royalty and their families usually transform their normal float into some fun theme just for that parade.  Our court decided to go with the Toy Story theme.  I had a bunch of 4x8 choroplast sheets that the city gave me after an election one time so I donated them to the float.  We painted them and used them to make the sides of this wagon, Al's Toy Barn, the toybox, some ABC blocks, monkeys, and some other various signs.  I used my vinyl cutter to make the Toy Story signs, the Radio Flyer logo, the Al's Toy Barn sign, ABC blocks and the Play-Dough buckets.  It turned out awesome!  Too bad it was all for one parade.  Here are some pics!

    2.jpg

    3.jpg

    73528597_10219751826281397_206963796705542144_n.jpg

    75580221_10219751824321348_8218166973092069376_n.jpg

    • Like 4

  14. Posted

    I also have the SC2 and am using VM with no complaints.  I may have to download SBE just for those graphics though.  Now that you have the license key, you should be up and running in no time.  I had zero problems getting up and running with my SC2.

     

    although I thought they offered a starter package with Mac software....?  I could be wrong.

  19. Posted

    I got a vinyl cutter so I could add fine details to my plasma cut metalwork. I've had the vinyl cutter for about a year now and still haven't combined the use of metalwork and vinyl...

    But a friend of mine is holding a Rib Fest and invited me to come, so I told him I'd make some sort of award like a plaque or something. I originally thought I'd simply cut out a piece of metal in the shape of a rack of ribs and decorate it with vinyl lettering so the winner could hang a plaque on their wall. 

    Then this 30" tall thing happened...

    Can't wait to eat!

    68463949_10219094445407286_9194653806749548544_n.jpg

    • Like 4
    • Thanks 1

  21. Posted

    I always bring a few small samples and try them on the walls.  If they don't stick well for me, I won't even give them an option, I would just say something like  "You have paint that is not good for vinyl" and walk away from the job.  Life is too short to deal with difficult jobs, trying to find work-arounds for it, and ending up with a nightmare.

     

    That being said... I haven't encountered paint that my vinyl won't stick to.  

     

    ...yet...

  22. Posted

    Thanks for the compliments.

    From the videos I've watched, a lot of them made a point to mention that the key to vinyl stencils was very little paint.  I wonder if an airbrush would work?  I think I remember that they put out a very light dry coat as it was going on.  I think I still have one somewhere, maybe I'll dig it out and try it. 

    Of course as long as I don't use boards with beveled edges, I should be ok.

    • Like 1

  23. Posted

    Well, nobody seem to know a good answer for this and since I need to have it done by tomorrow morning, I decided just to try figuring it out myself. I did watch some YouTube videos but nobody covered the pallet seam issue. I think the main problem is that this pallet board has the edges of the boards beveled. If you flip it over the edges are not beveled and I wouldn't be having this problem. But it's too late now  

    I pushed the vinyl down as best I could  on the beveled seams, then did my basecoat, then topcoat. After it dried I peeled off the vinyl and there was some ugliness in the seams, so I got a toothpick and some gray basecoat paint and touched them up. It doesn't look perfect but it's pretty good still. I'll know not to use pallet boards with beveled seams anymore.

    Here's a finished pic;

    IMG_9877.JPG

    • Like 3
    • Thanks 1

  24. Posted

     I've done stenciling on wood signs before and they've turned out great.  Here's my process: I paint the board,  and once it's dry  I apply the vinyl stencil. Then I paint the board again with the background color.  Then once that's dry I paint the topcoat color. Once dry I peel off the vinyl and I have nice sharp, crisp lines with no bleed through underneath the edges of the vinyl.

     

    But with pallet boards I don't know how to do the seams of the pallet boards. I feel like if I use spray paint it will work good since the top coat will go straight on and won't get under the vinyl too much, but I think I remember having problems with the spray paint causing the vinyl to shrink.

    What's the best way to do this, I have attached some pictures of the places that I expect to have problems. 

    IMG_9875.JPG

    IMG_9876.JPG

    • Like 1