darkdan

I don't know, after reading the user comments I'd still be weary: http://graphicssoft.wpadmin.about.com/?comments_popup=257831 The only people that said good things qualify the statement with, "Although I've never used a Wacom," or "I've never used a tablet before."

Not too far below freezing. Maybe 25F. It wasn't neg40 or anything like that.

Yes. Even laminated stuff on cars will absorb road oil and grime. The lower part on wraps is always the first to show signs of aging because of this. Of course, it does depend on the types of oils and chemicals that are going to be exposed to the film and the quality of the film too.

I tried the below freezing thing with rapidtac2 once (ORACAL 751)....it didn't work for me. =( Took forever to get the paper off. Then the next day it looked like this: FO S LE $6 0

I've had 631 on my car for about 6 months now. I change vinyl all the time on my vehicle anyways. Figured clean removal will save me some time next spring.

That's going to drastically reduce the life span of it. All those chemicals are going to get into the pores of the laminate and stain it.

Just cut the colors you need and sort it out in the weeding process. But if you really want to fix it, turns out the parts plus logo has several colors stacked on top of each other. If you order them (send to back) and then delete it you'll remove them.

Stealing code isn't good advice. Perhaps contact someone that uses something similar to what you want and see where it can be purchased legally or if it's free to use.

I'm on a buy American kick recently. First it was because of economic issues. Buy more American made products, which creates American jobs, which means we'll have more money to buy American made products, companies can pay their workers a fair wage, which means we'll have more money to buy American made products. I feel the reverse of that and thinking "cheap" is what sent all the good manufacturing jobs overseas. So I did some research in just finding American made TShirt blanks. I figured it would be good for business to put "Made in the USA" on the sleeve of the shirts I make. For regular TShirts I found this: http://www.platinumsportswear.net/index.html They're affordable wholesale. I also found: http://www.onnotextiles.com They have some made in the US stuff. Wow, these are the softest shirts ever. I love bamboo. It's all I'm going to wear from now. The organic cotton US made totes are really nice too. Plus the bamboo is great for people concerned with the enviroment. http://www.sosfromtexas.com/index.htm Is grown and made in Texas. They're organic too for the green folks. For flash clothes there's http://store.americanapparel.net/ Which employees 1000 people in LA. Then I came across this today: That's a good reason to buy American made/grown products. Cotton in Uzbekistan is picked by state forced slave labor. They're devastating their local enviroment. They stop school and make children pick cotton for free. I'm currently trying to find out which companies use Uzbekistan sourced cotton. Here's more on that: http://www.ethicalcorp.com/content.asp?ContentID=5409

If you have compressed air, blow that thing down. Mine had styrofoam up in the upper plate area.

How else do you eat soup ? Did you mean fork ? LOL. I guess I should have proofread that. Yes, I meant fork. If he wants to carve out a niche, that's fine, but if you chase after cheap customers, that's all you'll get. As a matter of fact, the sign shop that closed here a few years ago was because they did everything cheap. They never brought in enough profit to keep going. I'd rather do less work for more money. I started my own business to set my own hours and my own margins. If I wanted to work hard all day long and take home very little I would have kept my day job. Now if I work hard all day and all week I actually make money. I'm also a big believer in upsells and add-on sales. More money per customer. That's why I diversified my business into this field. Let's face, not everyone can do this. This is a skill. Being skilled laborers means we should be charging more for our labor than kids at McDonald's get paid. Right now is the prime time for signs/vehicle lettering/etc too. As everyone's sales have gone down, all companies are advertising more. We're in a recession buffered (I won't say proof) industry.

You act like getting paid a fair price and quantity are mutually exclusive. You yourself admit that you charge more than your competition and still stay busy! Therefore, you subscribe to my business philosophy. If you didn't, you would drop your price, to increase volume, to make the same amount of money. So I don't see why you're trying to disagree with me.

Oh, and no one pays you to sit around waiting for the jobs to come in. Go get the jobs. No ambition, no success.

I do my best to not work hard for little money. I'd rather go out and put a few decals on a truck and make $100 than spend four hours weeding tiny little stickers for $100. I can always make more money, but I cannot make more time.

Relying on volume sales to profit is like eating soup with a spoon. Sure, you're doing a lot of work, but you're starving. The money in this business isn't selling RTAs, it's installing signs/graphics/decals/stickers/etc.

100% cotton shrinks. Even when they say it's preshrunk! I personally wash and dry all my 100% cottons before pressing them. It ensures better adhesion and it will be shrunk before the graphic is on. Nothing worse than graphics that don't lay flat because the shirt shrank. Plus, I prefer the feel of 100% cottons over 50/50. Of course, now I really prefer the feeling of bamboo shirts from http://www.onnotextiles.com

A great marketing idea for you would to use http://www.platinumsportswear.net/index.html and then brag about how the shirts are made in Georgia. At least that's where their office is, might want to confirm the plant is there too. My brother lives in Atlanta so I'm down there a few times a year. I know how Georgians love Georgia.

The only thing I wear are shirts I make that have my company info on it. I've been approached many times and have gotten sales because of this. I also give away a lot of tshirts. People go nuts for free tshirts. But when you give away shirts, make sure they're nice. I was using Hanes heavyweights, but now I'm switching to: http://www.platinumsportswear.net/index.html They're about $1 more, but made in USA. Of course, I'm pushing that angle too.

That's not relying on it. That's doing what's best for you. Now if you could ONLY do it wet, and then ran into problems while doing it wet, but lacked the skills to do anything else about........then it's relying on a crutch. I can do things faster dry. Different strokes for different folks I guess. But anyone that can apply dry has the skill set to do a wet application, but not the other way around.

LOL. I guess I did say it. You know how stuff comes out in the heat of the moment. But, IMO, it's only a crutch if that's the only way you can get something done.

Just because you put something in quotation marks doesn't mean I said it.

I didn't say it was a crutch. I said he shouldn't rely on it. I feel it's vital to be a good installer and know multiple application methods. If someone has to rely on only doing it one way then it does become a crutch. I don't know about you, but I'm not perfect. Like all things in life there is an acceptable margin of error and I do my best. So if you think everything you do is perfect you have issues. But I'm smart enough to know when I should use wet application to make it easier. To me it sounds like you're advocating wet for everything. And don't give me an argument from authority because the all-mighty manufacturer says to do it wet. I bet they don't say you HAVE to do it wet.

I've seen plenty of wet jobs that didn't turn out right. I've seen plenty of dry jobs that didn't turn out right. Maybe if people would learn how to do things instead of relying on crutches and taking some pride in their work and not leaving behind a crappy job I wouldn't have seen those things. I doubt many people do it dry (or wet) just to brag, but because they can get it done faster and better with less trouble. And as far as you've never seen anything done dry that looked as good as wet.......think about it for a second. Can you really say that? In all your years you've never seen a good dry installed graphic or decal? I do a few things wet. Layers. Or when I have to line something up just right. But I'm not scared to lay out large pieces (5'x10' has been the largest, not counting vehicle wraps). It's all about practice, pride, and patience.

Check craigslist for free ping pong tables. Then pick one up, raise it up with lumber or blocks. Then call your local glass company. You can usually get killer deals on some unused glass of various sizes.

Interesting. Put a level on it.