lueman

mars Very well said!

Think about it this way- are you retired? because if you are more power to you. But if you do work, even if you do this in your spare time, it costs you money to work. that space your machine occupies the rolls of vinyl if your doing it for less than $45/hr then your probably actually working for minimum wage. welcome to sweat shop America!

I've found that in practice $45.0/hr works out to just under 12.50, remember we are talking about working non stop like a machine. This is just a guess, but if he can do 1000 decals in under 2 days, we aught to give him a prize.

:thumbsup:

FBRsportmod68 : It depends on how good a weeder you are. You may take 10hrs I might take 20. and the space you take up ? (rent) Cleanup? (utilities) assuming you pay per month 600 rent, 150 lights,40 phone, 60 water/ that's 850/20 (weekends off) that's 42.50 per day ten hours is already more than one day, but lets assume it is one day, so that's between $.60/decal to $1.20/decal great profits right? OK so a new Harley is 50,000 decals, a ford 150 super-duty is 90,000 decals, a house is 500,000 decals. see my point? Your only taking out your labor costs without seeig what profits you can make on the deal.

You know I respect everyone in this forum, but I have to say We can't apply such a broad brush when setting prices. at $2.00/sticker in Texas is not the same as $2.00 in Georgia, or CA, or Fl. You need to price the work according to what it costs YOU. After material costs take out labor costs AND rental costs. If we normalize all our prices the entire country then we will never be able to raise our profit margins. It's what the market will bear not what everyone else will charge.

Also TEXMAC Provides 3 day training

Yeah I get those problems when my blade depth is too long, sorry for the earlier post suggesting using a cc, I guess it depends on the card. also check your offset .25 for a 45deg, & .15 for 60deg. remember to reset pressure after setting blade depth.

Check your blade depth (1/64) or the width of a credit card then start fron 86 up

illustrator Has a very long history with Mac. It should work fine, but it does depend on your skill level. You can always export to EPS then inport to your cutting sw.

Great! Can't wait to hear your success! Just remember the best advertising is any advertising, don't hold it in - get a consensus, start a fad, light a fire! The more people that know the more people there are to spread the word! That's why I love this forum it's truly open and little ego tripping. Good luck If I can help let me know.

Hi this looks like a fun thread! I have never heard of duraban - You mean Barudan ? - I just took a look at the Toyota 9000 - It shouldn't have a problem running caps. I have a brother Bes 960 (old but still bold). On tough jobs I use DBK 11/75 sharp point needles (organ, Meistergram, doesn't really matter) just remember to remove them once your off the cap frame or you'll cut holes in your shirts. Like the previous poster said plastic (nylon) backing is tough on thread you'll get a lot of thread breaks , see if the customer will switch to a structured cap with a fabric backing, Otto cap, KC Caps , or broder bros have a good selection. If there is no other alternative then try using a different type of thread, Polyester is very strong and break resistant, but is duller than rayon. Also if you have any control over the embroidery file, try to reduce density and widen the the stitch run Be careful not to leave empty space in a fill segment. Email me if I can be of any help.

Hi Nancy, You know your cutter can do soo much! Right now I'm learning glass etching All I needed was some vinyl, I use it to stencil the glass and some etching compound, I use Armour etch. Imagine wine glass etching for weddings, birthdays etc. A plotter is the perfect tool for creating schematics and diagrams, or even patterns for dresses. I even use it to stencil for spray painting. This is the time to innovate find a market were you would do the work even if it's free, Then charge for it! Good times! Good Luck.

Outstanding, thanks for the info.

This is all very informative, thanks! Would an airbrush work? Is the grit too big for that?

Hi Midaste, What blaster do you use? I'm not interested in a full cabinet but a small portable unit would be great.

I was talking to someone about this: The question arose; He said "Copyright only protects the medium it's created in." can that be right? So I create an original work on paper or even published on the Internet. Does that copyright protect the author for someone who creates a banner?

Just to be clear the cut workspace should be set to the vinyl width (or the max with of the cutter which ever is smaller) and whatever length works for you. I usually keep it under 2 yards.

Don't confuse the cut screen graphic with the logo graphic. you can re-size the cut screen and the screen will follow the zoom level, but the cutter/plotter will still cut the true size of the logo. Try using registration marks, for example, between the bike & the top lettering put three registration marks a totally different color from those you are using (middle left middle right top right). then select all & go to the cut screen select the registration mark color AND one of the two sections, in this example lets say you picked the bike. the cutter will cut the bike & the registration marks. now switch the vinyl color and cut the first 1/3? of the lettering and the registration marks again. now you have two sections together corresponding to the first 1/3 of the banner. lay your first graphic with the registration mark, lay the second and align the registration marks now that section is perfectly aligned to your original graphic leave the right registration mark so you can do the next 1/3 and so on, then remove the registration marks before they become permanent. You can save vinyl by only selecting registration mmarks that correspond to the section your working on for example the bike only needs the middle Left & Right marks, but in order to align the next 1/3 section the lettering needs all three. There are many videos on layering multi color designs check one of them out.

Yeah that's why I mostly deal with local companies even if I have to pay a little more, and given that shipping has gone up. I may be cheaper to pay $2.00 more locally than to have it shipped and loose a week.

I don't mean to confuse the issue but it sounds like you tried to do all the words in one line or session. Break each section by color and/or size. In SB you can only cut what is in the workspace (the red boarded area) so it makes sense to set the workspace to the size of the banner, That way you can judge placement of your graphics. also you can only cut what is selected and that is further limited by color (SB uses color as a layer) so even if you select all unless you again select those colors in the cut screen then only the selected color will cut. Just remember the cut screen has a different workspace setup than the design screen Again the idea is to design the graphics as it may look as a final product, buy the cutter screen can still accommodate different vinyl widths.

I finally got the paint mask It's better than vinyl, but I'm still having trouble with contours and leaks. If I'm going to do this professionally it's got to be near perfect if not better than. What sandblasting setup do you use?

Great job Paco Thank you.

Yeah, sounds like flexi actually uses flow control to manage communication unlike SB, which just uses it as a traffic cop!