A question about printing and contour cutting

[reelguitars 0]

Is there such a thing as printing on vinyl with just a regular ink jet printer?  I have an HP that will print 13" wide and I think up to 44" long.  That would take care of most of what I want to do.  Second, do you need to put a clear piece of vinyl over the colored part to make it last?  Finall, I keep hearing about contour cutting but I'm not exactly sure if I understand how to do it and...if you need a special type cutter to do it.  Anyone know where there is a tutorial or has a cliff notes version of that would be good.  These forums are truly valuable to anyone wanting to get started in this business.  I'm going to retire from the phone company in about 2 years (if they keep me that long) and I wanted to have something to do while I'm not fishing.  So far, I've done my largest sign 4' x 4', I do all the signs for the newspaper boxes around here (the ones you put 50 cents in to get your morning paper), I've done lots of t-shirts for some local bands, street signs, parking signs, and now some glass etching.  Looks like the opportunities are endless...once again, thanks for all your help.  Regards, David

[reelguitars 0]

25 views and no comments?

[jeremySI 18]

yes you can print with a regular printer, however you will need a vinyl that is made for inkjet printers. contour cutting is where you print out registration marks onto the print out and the cutter will read those marks thus giving it the coordinates of whatever you printed to cut around. you dont necessarily need a cutter with a laser for contour cutting but if you dont it is going to take a lot of time to get it to come out well not to mention i highly doubt you can get an exact cut around an image without that feature.

hopefully by the end of next year ill have me a 54" quality name brand cutter that way the following year i can hopefully get a wide format printer and start doing some big stuff.

[Pistonpump 6]

http://www.papilio.com/pvspaper.html

They have everything you need to make vinyl prints and laminate them.

Geo

[reelguitars 0]

So...I need a cutter that will read registration marks to do a proper job.  Does a Copam do that?  Thanks for your help guys.

[midwaste 4]

So...I need a cutter that will read registration marks to do a proper job.  Does a Copam do that?  Thanks for your help guys.

Technically, no.  But some have accomplished it by measuring from the edges of the vinyl and working around that.  The LP24 does have a laser for manual registration of printed marks, but it's sketchy.  I've have very little success with it on a sheet size over 8.5x11.

If you plan to do a lot of contour cutting, I would look into a Graphtec.  I know they are quite a bit more expensive, but their contour cutting is awesome.