why didnt he use app tape in this install?

[Doeboy 11]

would you have used it?

[haumana 1,221]

because he's got another guy (off camera) helping him install the vinyl 

j/k ... don't know, maybe he's too cheap, the decal is small enough, why bother, or all of the above.

[midwaste 4]

Not a bad technique, obviously the main point is the felt squeegee.   I hate wet app, this might make it suck quite a bit less, waiting for the apptape.

However, it is a pretty simple strip of vinyl, wouldn't be a great technique for most applications.

[Doeboy 11]

Not a bad technique, obviously the main point is the felt squeegee.   I hate wet app, this might make it suck quite a bit less, waiting for the apptape.

However, it is a pretty simple strip of vinyl, wouldn't be a great technique for most applications.

i love wet app. i have way too many bubbles without it

[Dakotagrafx 7,297]

I want to see hime try that with 751 and not reflective!

[john! 1]

that install was easy, that's why. It's just stripes.

[midwaste 4]

Not a bad technique, obviously the main point is the felt squeegee.   I hate wet app, this might make it suck quite a bit less, waiting for the apptape.

However, it is a pretty simple strip of vinyl, wouldn't be a great technique for most applications.

i love wet app. i have way too many bubbles without it

Practice, and technique..

+1 on that.  At first I thought it was printed vinyl (gray backing), but then I saw it was a cop car=reflective.

I want to see hime try that with 751 and not reflective!

[bigjimt 1]

Well, I use no app tape on Digital Print alot and felt squeegee is a must........also

stripes like he was using.... need no app tape....why waste material, its not being cheap......its being smart, we all need to save where we can.......Right?

Also if you wet the back as you pull off the backing.....it will not stick to its self...

just work as fast as you can......and you young men should be able to do that.....I can and I am 66......lol

[BannerJohn 1,324]

Well, I use no app tape on Digital Print alot and felt squeegee is a must........also

stripes like he was using.... need no app tape....why waste material, its not being cheap......its being smart, we all need to save where we can.......Right?

Also if you wet the back as you pull off the backing.....it will not stick to its self...

just work as fast as you can......and you young men should be able to do that.....I can and I am 66......lol

on everything you said.

It took him about 1 minute to do that..I'd love to see anyone do it that fast dry....including taping it, using the 'hinge',etc.

Time is money in my business.

3 weeks ago I did 4 vans for the local meals on Wheels... both sides and back. The first one i did dry with hinge method. That ONE van took 2.5 hours.

I did the other 3 WET in 3 hours. It doesn't take a genius to figure out which method was the most cost effective.

[WallysWallWords 0]

One piece graphic no need for application tape. doing it tapeless allows it to be stretched to lay flat too.  if it were several lines or complicated he'd have needed premask. something simple like that don't waste the paper.

two and a half times longer for one van? sounds like you're doing something wrong especially if it's just some cut graphics.

[routesmith 0]

Like Dakota said,  he IS putting reflective on that police car, and since reflective is SUPER thick and can handle that kind of abuse.

Wayne

[BannerJohn 1,324]

One piece graphic no need for application tape. doing it tapeless allows it to be stretched to lay flat too.  if it were several lines or complicated he'd have needed premask. something simple like that don't waste the paper.

two and a half times longer for one van? sounds like you're doing something wrong especially if it's just some cut graphics.

I've been doing this long enough to know how,thanks. It was just time-consuming..lining everything up,applying the hinge,etc. Cut all that out by doing it wet and eyeballing it. Dry method with hinge just takes longer. ESp when working in a poorly lit indoor space. And,btw, it was two entire sides with door graphics, not just a few lines of text.

[WallysWallWords 0]

Like Dakota said,  he IS putting reflective on that police car, and since reflective is SUPER thick and can handle that kind of abuse.

Wayne

i missed that it was reflective.  never ever do reflective wet.

One piece graphic no need for application tape. doing it tapeless allows it to be stretched to lay flat too.  if it were several lines or complicated he'd have needed premask. something simple like that don't waste the paper.

two and a half times longer for one van? sounds like you're doing something wrong especially if it's just some cut graphics.

I've been doing this long enough to know how,thanks. It was just time-consuming..lining everything up,applying the hinge,etc. Cut all that out by doing it wet and eyeballing it. Dry method with hinge just takes longer. ESp when working in a poorly lit indoor space. And,btw, it was two entire sides with door graphics, not just a few lines of text.

Lining up should take the same amount of time wet or dry.  use a few pieces of small tape on either side to hold it in place, tape measure, move a smidgen, tape measure.  magnets work really well too. eyeballs aren't as accurate.

when i wet install i still measure and tape it into place to line things up.

[BannerJohn 1,324]

thanks for the lesson.

[jgreen 1]

Ok, ok let's see....... get magnets from the fridge, apply four small pieces of tape, align the vehicles suspension, adjust air pressure in each tire so the vehicle sits perfectly level, calibrate eyeballs, measure once/cut twice, then apply the vinyl wet or dry and it won't make a difference.  Got it!  Now i'm ready to apply vinyl. 

[BannerJohn 1,324]

you hit the nail on the head. With vehicles, you can seldom depend on anything being nice and straight,and level. On teh vans I did...the panel was a full inch wider on one end than the other. If I had measured and lined it up on either the top or bottom, it would have looked 'off'. That is what the guy did who did their old vans. And it looked like crap. And the boss made sure and pointed it out to me. My 'eyeballing' looked great to him and that's what got me the check.

[WallysWallWords 0]

Ok, ok let's see....... get magnets from the fridge, apply four small pieces of tape, align the vehicles suspension, adjust air pressure in each tire so the vehicle sits perfectly level, calibrate eyeballs, measure once/cut twice, then apply the vinyl wet or dry and it won't make a difference.  Got it!  Now i'm ready to apply vinyl.   

Actually I use some strong rare earth magnets. they have about 16 lbs of pull i think.  Should only need one piece of tape on each side just to hold it in place so you can bump it left/right/up/down. then just tape it into place along one side (or middle) and apply wet or dry depending on the circumstances.

Don't worry about adjusting suspension or anything. you square stuff from the body lines of the vehicle and not square it from the ground.

the only thing I eyeball are the rear side windows of econoline vans since the top edge of the window slopes down.  square it off the top and it's not straight, square it off the bottom and it's straight but doesn't look like it, so i just eyeball it and make it just crooked enough to look straight even though it's not.

[WallysWallWords 0]

then if you know it's wider by an inch then you should know how to measure it.  if it's an inch bigger on side you don't put 12" of space on both sides. that would be crooked.  instead you put 12" on one side and 13" on the other side.

[BannerJohn 1,324]

no, you missed it. The distance top to bottom was an inch more on one side to the other. i did exactly what you say you did here:

the only thing I eyeball are the rear side windows of econoline vans since the top edge of the window slopes down.  square it off the top and it's not straight, square it off the bottom and it's straight but doesn't look like it, so i just eyeball it and make it just crooked enough to look straight even though it's not.

The boss didn't want it centered front to back..he wanted it more to the back both sides since one side has doors..and he wanted them to match.

[WallysWallWords 0]

splendid, glad it worked out for you.  as long as the customer is happy and the check clears that's all that matters.

had i done it, i would have taken measurements off the first one I did and used those for the last 3.  this way all four vans would have the decals in the same places instead of eyeballing them.

but that's just the way i was taught.  tape measure and a pad of paper are my best friends since it's more accurate than my eyes and subjective judgment by orders of magnitude. in which case the first one will always take the longest, wet or dry, and after that all the measurements are laid out and should be faster than eyeballing.

[BannerJohn 1,324]

splendid, glad it worked out for you.  as long as the customer is happy and the check clears that's all that matters.

had i done it, i would have taken measurements off the first one I did and used those for the last 3.  this way all four vans would have the decals in the same places instead of eyeballing them.

but that's just the way i was taught.  tape measure and a pad of paper are my best friends since it's more accurate than my eyes and subjective judgment by orders of magnitude. in which case the first one will always take the longest, wet or dry, and after that all the measurements are laid out and should be faster than eyeballing.

Once I had the first one done, I took one measurement...the lower corner. Made the mark and went from that on the other 3.

30 years in the upholstery biz...you learn how to eyeball and get things straight and matched. Try matching a plaid fabric on a sofa..back,arms,and seat..sometime. That's lining up in both directions.

[bigjimt 1]

John........I guess we old timers need to go back to school.....

amazing how much we don't know huh? wonder how we got this far.....

guess we have just been LUCKY.....

[Dakotagrafx 7,297]

splendid, glad it worked out for you.  as long as the customer is happy and the check clears that's all that matters.

had i done it, i would have taken measurements off the first one I did and used those for the last 3.  this way all four vans would have the decals in the same places instead of eyeballing them.

but that's just the way i was taught.  tape measure and a pad of paper are my best friends since it's more accurate than my eyes and subjective judgment by orders of magnitude. in which case the first one will always take the longest, wet or dry, and after that all the measurements are laid out and should be faster than eyeballing.

i had a friend that couldn't do anything unless it involved a tape measure and square - I was cutting trim around a cut stone fireplace - he had to go home it was stressing him out too much.  he just couldn't think outside the box (secret is to scribe with a compass and cut)

[BannerJohn 1,324]

John........I guess we old timers need to go back to school.....

amazing how much we don't know huh? wonder how we got this far.....

guess we have just been LUCKY.....

I think it's us 'old timers' that should be teaching..not going back to school. Experience is what counts.

[kart45 6]

BannerJohn ur doin it wrong...  lmao

Wow, I don't know much but I know you know enough to know what's the right way and what's the wrong way 

you know?