OWJones

I was at some sort of summer sidewalk sale in the town of Pella, Iowa (home of Pella windows) and someone was selling packages of reflective vinyl Halloween silhouette stickers - little pumpkins, ghosts, skulls, etc. - about 15-18 to a sheet and 3-4 sheets per package for something stupid cheap like $0.50 per package. They were manufactured and die-cut, not from someone's vinyl cutting business. I bought several packages and cut them apart so I could give away individual stickers to kids and their parents before Halloween to put them on their bag or costume to make themselves visible and I would love to be able to find ultra-cheap low-grade reflective vinyl so I could make more to give away, but it seems like most places that sell cut-able vinyl only sell the better grades of material...

I've done probably 20 shirts with Siser Glow in the Dark - out of a batch of a dozen, I had one weird, inexplicable failure where all the letters came off of the shirt - front and back while the other 11 were fine - all brand new shirts (purchased by the customer from Wal-Mart - I removed the stickers myself). Other than that I've had no problems. It takes quite a bit of light to charge it up. I have a UV LED flashlight that will charge it up quickly, as will any black light or even a bright light bulb, but it takes a little longer. The glow will last for a while, although it gets dim pretty quick - in complete darkness it will be visible for a couple of hours, though. If you're thinking it's going to be a safety improvement, any sort of lights from cars or streetlights is going to be brighter than the glow - heat transfer reflective material would be a much safer choice - but it won't be as cool to kids as glow in the dark...

http://all-silhouettes.com/vector-bats/

Sorry, perhaps I wasn't clear in my request. I just want a curves export file of the words "Appanoose Rapids" in that font - no font files, nothing that I can abuse or re-use for something else. We are a micro-brewery and produce several in-house beers and always have four different house beers on tap. We have wooden paddles that have indentations to hold four small glasses (maybe 4 oz. each?) - they're very basic and boring (the paddles, not the beers*) - and for $5 you can get a sample paddle and try all 4 house beers and a free "I Got Paddled At Appanoose Rapids" button (made by me). I wanted to make a few paddles in walnut with our name carved into them to show the boss, but didn't want to invest $60 for a font that I may never use or make money off of (it looks like a nightmare to weed!) - at least not until I'm sure there is a sale involved. We only have 8 paddles, so even if I replaced them I'd only be making 8 and dividing $60 by 8 means that $7.50 of every paddle is going to just cover the cost of the font, so even if he does pay for them, I won't be making a whole lot, but as long as I don't go negative on a job like this, I'm OK. *As of Sunday, our four house beers on tap were a Galaxy IPA, an Oatmeal Stout, a Scottish Ale and a Classic Wheat.

I recently changed jobs and now work as the head bartender at a local restaurant/brewery. Our logo uses the Antique Shop font from LHF and I'd like to replicate it in some wooden beer sample paddles I'm working on creating with my CNC system and I can't justify spending $60 on a font for something I'm not going to make any money on. If someone has the font, could they type out "Appanoose Rapids" and export it as curves to an .EPS or .AI for me? I just need it in a straight line for what I'm doing - thanks!

That may be close enough for what I'm trying to do. If they like the way it looks and want an exact match, hopefully I can get them to pay me enough to buy the right font.

Got a request for quote for a Honda Civic back window - full color design. Thought I'd try here first before going elsewhere online. The copyright-violating noob in town quoted him "somewhere between $75 and $100", just trying to figure out if I can get him a better deal or not.

I bought my GeoKnight DK20S used and it came with the rolling stand (http://www.dyetrans.com/item.php?item_no=DKA-STAND) and it's very convenient for moving the press around and not having to lift a couple of hundred pounds. I'm glad I have it!

Forgot to add - the Epsons are Google Cloud Print compatible, so you can print from your Android phone or tablet, and they are remote print enabled, so you can install printer drivers on any internet connected computer and put in the special email address you create when installing the printer originally and you can print from anywhere. I have my mom's computer set up that way so she can print to my printer from her house. Having the large ink cartridges inside rather than an external CISS system makes the printer more portable, too. I take mine along to shows so I can print full color buttons on demand.

My Epson Work Force Pro 4020 and WF7520 are both wireless and work great. For just doing standard business stuff, I highly recommend the WFP4020 - CobraInk sells replacement refillable ink cartridges that hold 4 fluid ounces of each color ink - it's like having a CISS system built inside the printer. It has wired ethernet, USB and WiFi, has a paper tray and a rear feed slot that will let you keep two types of paper loaded up and it prints very fast. If you prefer an all-in-one solution (printer, copier, fax), you can get the Epson WFP4530 from the Epson Outlet on ebay for $89 (with free shipping!) or upgrade to the WFP4540 for only $30 more - same system but it adds a second paper tray. A filled set of 4 cartridges from CobraInk will set you back another $96 but they'll last you many months of normal use and you can buy individual bottles of refill ink to refill only the colors you're using (i.e., black). I replaced an HP Laser Jet IV that I'd been using for 20 years with my 4020 and have never regretted it.

Killing someone who asked too many questions...

Absolutely nothing - as a customer I get a regular series of emails that include links to free downloads - I cut out all the re-direct click-tracking URL crap and post just the final destination result along with a link to the website with no affiliate or other tracking information. If you don't like my sharing of free clip art links, feel free to ignore them in the future - doesn't hurt my feelings at all.

The noob in town who opened up a competing vinyl business has a Monster Energy logo, a Ford logo, a Chevy logo and more - all cut from the same mustard yellow vinyl so they're obviously made by him - posted in his front window along with his company name - it looks like they're all cut from the same piece of vinyl. Every time I drive by I get the urge to take a picture and start sending it to various legal depts...

I just saw that they have sublimatable guitar picks available now! http://www.dyetrans.com/item.php?item_no=DFX0023W Prices start at $0.31 each in small quantity and go as low as $0.23 each in qty 3500+

As they say, "$20 is $20"...

Make sure to look for 5-panel hats and not 6-panel hats - unless you want that seam running down the center of your pressed design...

I've learned the hard way about being an early adopter - I'll just sit back and let everyone else learn the hard way and then reap the benefits of their experience...

You'll probably have to contact the seller or manufacturer for support. I have Cobra Ink refillable cartridges in my WFP-4020 and each cartridge has a chip on it with a tiny watch battery inside that needs to be replaced every once in a while, and there are two circuit contact spots that I can short with a piece of aluminum foil to reset the chips whenever necessary. They should be able to tell you if there is anything similar in your cartridges.

My sister in law bought a package of that crap in gold glitter and brought it to me to cut. I swore to never use it again. It took entirely too much pressure and blade to cut and I'm pretty sure that's what took the tip off of my Clean Cut 60° blade, and it was horrible to weed. Hated it. Never again.

I've seen a few people post after images on Facebook of horrible, goopy, drippy, melted messes of cheap tote bags and other items they bought and tried to press and didn't use sufficient cover paper or teflon sheets to protect their press. Please don't be one of those people! I wouldn't even risk wasting the HTV until you know for sure the sleeves will hold up to a quick press at temp - if the sleeve survives, then put some HTV on it - but that's me - I'm a cheapskate. Unless the sleeves are really stretchy, or nylon, then Easyweed is probably the best choice to start with. I've bought hats from Dollar Tree for HTV pressing and they work OK - the material is thin and you need to pad your platen a bit so you don't get a rectangle shape pressed into the hat, but for cheap give aways (especially for kids), they are more than adequate. You can get some good items at Dollar Tree, like their glass tumblers and beer mugs (when you can find them), but some of it is a real crap shoot, and you can't count on them having the same items the next time you go back, either.

I think this method could be used to get a local competitor some much needed attention, if you were that type of person, I mean...

Ah, OK, it's the "before you press" part that I missed...

What are you using that you could accidentally scratch the ink off of?

Finally broke down and bought a new, smaller button machine. I don't remember which forum member it was that told me about USA Buttons, but thanks again! They continue to save me a lot of money on every order! I got "The Machine 250" in 1.5" size. A pressed button ends up being 1.44" according to my calipers. My old, larger button machine is a Badge-A-Minit in their proprietary 2.25" size and a button pressed in that machine measures 2.29". Overall I'd have to say it's an easier machine to operate than the B-A-M press - it requires a lot less force due to better leverage and cam action, and it is just as fast as the B-A-M machine, and quite a bit cheaper - and the smaller parts are actually cheaper, too ($46/1000 buttons vs. $64/1000 for the B-A-M size), and 1000 sets of parts take up about half the storage volume and has lower shipping prices, so I think they're going to be my new favorite promotional item! The picture shows a similar design made in both machines.