Newbie with some questions please

[Yogi 0]

I have been thinking of buying one of these machines to cut decals,  I have a friend who is in the sign business and I have watched him many times,   I'm wanting to wrap a 17' drift boat with full vinyl sides and some decals.  I looked into having him do it but he seems less then excited to try this task.   I checked on ebay and found this place  I just need some advice as to what machine to get for part time back yard use, or any other details you would like to share such as software,   I would really like to try the software and see how user friendly it is before  I drop the cash.  it appers that for what they want to wrap my boat I could buy my own machine and do it myself ? 

 

 

Little back ground on myself,

 

  I'm a small bussiness owner for 28 years,I  have cad cam experiance with certain types of software such as artcam, I own a woodworking cnc router so I think I have the basic idea of what it takes to make this happened. 

 

Thanks for any help,

 

Ray 

[slice&dice 2,450]

Wrap?  You will be in over your head.

[Friedrich07 16]

Wraps are alot of work, I would suggest letting someone with some knowledge and experience do that for you. As far as decals go... depending on how many your getting and how often you want to make them dropping a couple hundred bucks on a cheap cutter and some vinyl may be worth it for you. But there is a learning curve there too. In the long run if its just for one job I would suggest just letting someone do it for you otherwise youll be wasting alot of extra money and time for stuff you may never use again but hey alot of guys in the sign business got started just like that so its really up to you and how much you see yourself using the equipment in the future. Ps, if your just doing a solid color wrap you dont need any machines just magnets, heat guns, razor blades, squegees, wrap vinyl and a few extra hands.

[Dakotagrafx 7,297]

I for one want to see the finished product

[MadHatterGraphix 1,258]

Wraps for a newbie isn't a good starting point but as Dakota I want to see the finished product.

[Dakotagrafx 7,297]

Watched the demos at all the shows - haven't shelled out the dough for the classes - not sure I will at this point

[KEG 0]

Wrapping is defiantly an art...I have wrapped cars, trucks, motorcycles, small and large box trailers, semi trailers, RC cars/trucks and even little snow cone huts.

 

You need to start out on something small and work your way up, it may take you several years to be proficient at it and not screw a panel up. 

[Rodger 527]

I have been thinking of buying one of these machines to cut decals,  I have a friend who is in the sign business and I have watched him many times,   I'm wanting to wrap a 17' drift boat with full vinyl sides and some decals.  I looked into having him do it but he seems less then excited to try this task.   I checked on ebay and found this place  I just need some advice as to what machine to get for part time back yard use, or any other details you would like to share such as software,   I would really like to try the software and see how user friendly it is before  I drop the cash.  it appers that for what they want to wrap my boat I could buy my own machine and do it myself ? 

 

 

Little back ground on myself,

 

  I'm a small bussiness owner for 28 years,I  have cad cam experiance with certain types of software such as artcam, I own a woodworking cnc router so I think I have the basic idea of what it takes to make this happened. 

 

Thanks for any help,

 

Ray 

Buy a cutter & be able to do it " your way " . I have a buddy who has made me whatever I wanted for free for the last 30 years . I bought my own cutter so i could make things my way & experiment ( he would not let me on his computer ) , plus in order to have a part time decal business now & especially when I move " to the farm " . He does dirt race cars and was always too flashy for what i wanted .. He was always the " artist " and did things his way . The money i spent has made me feel great creating things & being able to redo anything that did not suit me enough . I think the Copam is the best bang for the buck now . I would have said the Zen cutters before USC stopped selling them . BannerJohn , who is an Administrator who is not employed by USC , uses entry level cutters & has not had any problem or need to buy better units . I would probably buy a SC cutter starting out again . If you want the best , buy a Graphtec or even a Gerber , but they are WAY overkill on vinyl imo , unless you are cutting VERY long decals or doing decals full time . Inspect wrapped vehicles before thinking that is high end . I looked at Frank Feller's Ferrari at the Atlantic City show & it was crap compared to a paint job . Granted the cost of painting what he had would have been a zillion times more costly , but quality is quality & wraps don't compare to paint . Doing panels etc is great , but that involves a printer which is much more costly .