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Need vinyl cut - my cutter to small

raider

New Member
Customer ready to have sign re-vinyled but some of the graphic is too large for my 24" cutter. (Unless you max out, is your equipment ever large enough?) I've color matched to Oracal 8800 Orange #034. The large piece I can't cut is a simple oval. Would like to use premium material since it will be mounted on the second story wall of their office and a re-do would be difficult. I can provide the vector file in Flexi so there should be little if any design work. I can get the 30" vinyl by the yard but I'd still have to buy a 24" roll to finish up the smaller pieces. Have a Fellers price for 8500 @ about $90+frt so I know the 8800 would be higher. Would anyone be interested in subbing out the cutting for this price range? Total size would be about 30" x 7 foot. Need ship to 79086.
 

raider

New Member
Don't know. Just didn't want to make a rookie mistake with a seam in translucent vinyl. Sorry forgot to mention the transluscent part. Wouldn't a seam to very noticeable?
 

iSign

New Member
ok... you are right, but here's another consideration... vinyl is cheap... subbing out work can be expensive... so I would either get some paper & put a pen in the blade holder of your plotter (you can use the back of vinyl release liner too) ...or use some vinyl paint mask (a low tack removable vinyl...


...anyway, my suggestion is to buy the translucent, but hand cut the oval. If you have a steady hand (& you should in this business) just use the plotter to make a 2 piece template. Then tape the 2 pieces together... there was a time a lot of us used old 15" Gerber plotters without even having a computer monitor or a scanner... just a small LCD screen to see 20 text characters while programing vinyl letters... any artwork had to be hand cut... so consider it a bit of time travel & enjoy the fact that you can do this yourself. (especially since it's second story... a little of the old shakey Jake signman flaws could still be tolerated at that distance)
 

Checkers

New Member
I gotta disagree with Doug on this one. When it comes to translucent material, I do not like seams. So, if I can avoid them I will make the extra effort.

I would just outsource the vinyl to someone with a bigger plotter and who stocks the material you want. This way you don't have to buy and get stuck with an expensive roll of material you may never use again. The plus is you still deliver an exceptional product to the client and still make money (as long as you don't screw up <grin>)

If nobody here can provide what you need, I would try gregory1.com, graphitek.com or earlmich.com

Checkers
 

JK driver

New Member
And that is why it is best to have started with nothing but your skill and hands! I remember back when I first started, cutting sandblast stencil by hand with an exacto knife. And hand lettering Coroplast in my apartment in winter in Buffalo, NY. And I especially remember having to drape a wet towel over said coroplast to fight the static electricity that was pulling the paint off my brush when it got close! That was some weird shizznit right there!:clapping:
 

Malkin

New Member
So the other day we did a couple of 5' x 12' faces. Red background, white copy w/ black outline. I have a 48" & a 54", but no 60" machine to cut with.

I laid the 60" wide trans red on in 1 piece, then cut the outlined letters and applied. Then hand trimmed along the inside edge of the outline to reveal the white lexan. Perfect outcome with no seams.

Sometimes outsourcing is the right answer, sometimes getting it done in-house gives you that extra satisfaction to come back the next day.
 

raider

New Member
I'll check Fellers for a "by the yard" price and get back in touch. Some of you guys are shaming me into considering cutting it by hand. Is that the equivalent of listening to a cassete of the Eagles these days?
 

JK driver

New Member
I'll check Fellers for a "by the yard" price and get back in touch. Some of you guys are shaming me into considering cutting it by hand. Is that the equivalent of listening to a cassete of the Eagles these days?

In some circles that is called "Retro"...:clapping:
 
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