haumana 1,220 Posted April 2 A friend has turned over her cutter and reflective vinyl over to me, so that I can do tow signs for her company. Even after declining repeatedly, I am now stuck with this task That being said, does anyone have any advice on weeding the reflective vinyl? I've weeded reflective before, but it's only be for my personal stuff, and it's like 'one and done' jobs. Now that I'm tasked with weeding a lot of text, it's making me crazy because of how fragile and easy to tear the reflective is (Oralite 5700). Does anyone have any suggestions on how I make this less painful? Is there a different reflective vinyl that weeds better that the Oralite 5700? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
slice&dice 2,450 Posted April 2 To make it less painful, farm out the work to a printer. Especially since those tow companies need many signs, it's just not worth the aggravation to cut and weed these things. I took on one of those towing signage jobs a few years back, and vowed to never do it again. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
haumana 1,220 Posted April 2 To make it less painful, farm out the work to a printer. Especially since those tow companies need many signs, it's just not worth the aggravation to cut and weed these things. I took on one of those towing signage jobs a few years back, and vowed to never do it again. Trust me, I have tried to my best to get it farmed out, but no sign company wants to take the job on. A year or two ago, the state changed the laws regarding tow signs, and now it's required to have 2" high reflective lettering. Had there been a simple punctuation in the law, the circumstances would have been 2" lettering on a reflective backing, but alas, our state chooses to enact stupid laws, and when it comes to vehicles here - they are just as cherished as fur babies. Out of curiosity, what would a going rate be for an 18"x12" painted aluminum substrate with 2" reflective lettering go for? Before the new law, the signs used to be screen printed en masse, and anything they needed custom, I would just cut, weed and tape it in regular vinyl and charge a couple of bucks. I didn't have to do the installation on to the substrate, and I didn't even have to deliver the decal. As long as my friend was willing to pick it up from me, she just needed to cover the cost of the vinyl and app tape. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
darcshadow 1,627 Posted April 2 How about you do it in reverse? Cover the entire sign in the reflective vinyl then negative weed the white. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
haumana 1,220 Posted April 3 How about you do it in reverse? Cover the entire sign in the reflective vinyl then negative weed the white. That's a good idea for me to try. I guess I have to decide which is more precious to me - time to weeding reflective, or just doing the negative with the additional cost of regular vinyl. I considered trying to do a reverse weed, but the reflective can potentially peel off in small than fingernail size bit. I already have to fix one sign because the customer didn't know how to rill it out correctly. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
