Any lighting tips for weeding vinyl - especially white - I can not see cut lines

[doktorek]

I was wondering what is everybody using to see cut lines on lets say white vinyl. Im not interested in hearing about 15" LED light boxes, that will not work for me. I have a big surface.
Do you put some sort of soft LED light across from you to see the lines?
Any lamp/lights tricks?

 

[ChicagoGraphics]

Their are some brands of vinyl that have a blue backing on the white vinyls, one of them I think was from Oracal

 

[James Burke]

I was wondering what is everybody using to see cut lines on lets say white vinyl. Im not interested in hearing about 15" LED light boxes, that will not work for me. I have a big surface.
Do you put some sort of soft LED light across from you to see the lines?
Any lamp/lights tricks?

It needs to be illuminated from the bottom (up through the backer). Trust me, it works perfectly.

If you have enough window square footage with sufficient sunshine, that would be one possibility. Otherwise, you need to insert a section of glass with an LED lamp into the center of a long table and only illuminate the area you're sitting or standing at. Back in the day, NuArc made some fairly large light tables.

JB


40" x 54" https://www.ebay.com/itm/194693981196?hash=item2d54aa640c:g:~pUAAOSw-5Jhqg9w

40" x 50" https://www.ebay.com/itm/194693981196?hash=item2d54aa640c:g:~pUAAOSw-5Jhqg9w

23" x 28" https://www.ebay.com/itm/124817709337?hash=item1d0fb71919:g:x44AAOSwY-9hwUR9

30 X 40" https://www.ebay.com/itm/143543635647?hash=item216bde0ebf:g:MIwAAOSwel1eWZJy

30" x 40" https://www.ebay.com/itm/175094979334?hash=item28c4795b06:g:eFUAAOSwVjBhsC5N

 

[SignosaurusRex]

At my age and declining eyesight, I feel your pain....
Make a "Pounce Bag" by filling a small cloth bag or old sock with Blue Carpenter's chalk or Powdered Charcoal..
Dust the surface of the cut vinyl with the "Pounce Bag" in a dragging motion across the surface. Wipe off the excess powder / chalk with a dry cloth.
The only remaining (minimal) chalk will reveal the cuts for easy "weeding".
I keep a "White" pounce bag handy for use on dark vinyls with lots of small cuts.
**Note... With a newly made "Pounce Bag", one must be sure to have Chalk or Powder coming through the cloth before use. The bag may need some Kneading or a more convincing abuse applied in order to achieve the optimal release of chalk. or powder.

 

[Gino]

Pounce......... all the way. Been doing that for 30 years. We all use that method. We have about 8 pounce boxes. One white, one red and 5 black and I think one spare.

 

[Billct2]

Yea, no lightbox so I use pounce if I have to, showing my age. I also try to cut ahead of time, gets a little easier to see once it relaxes a bit. also weed sectioning can help

 

[doktorek]

I find a best way to see cut lines is by the window and have a LED light. But I figure maybe other people have better solution. Im thinking of getting LONG 4 ft led bar light of some sort.

 

[SignosaurusRex]

I find a best way to see cut lines is by the window and have a LED light. But I figure maybe other people have better solution. Im thinking of getting LONG 4 ft led bar light of some sort.

Well then doktor... "Experiment" away! When you find your cure, please present your findings for analysis by a peer group. I'm quite sure it will be "fast-tracked" like a virus vax into use . Seriously though... please let us know the result of your findings.

 

[bob]

If not a pounce bag then a bright light shining across the media can be a boon.

 

[Geneva Olson]

what's a pounce bag?

we put headlamps on our heads and go to work. i was born a coal miners daughter

 

[LarryB]

We use Oracal 651 white vinyl which has a blue liner.

 

[Scotchbrite]

what's a pounce bag?

It has colored chalk in it for transferring a perforated pattern to a wall.

When I first started in the sign business the person showing me how to weed vinyl was a smoker. She would use cigarette ash from the ash tray to smear on the white vinyl to see the cut lines. Haha

 

[Geneva Olson]

It has colored chalk in it for transferring a perforated pattern to a wall.

When I first started in the sign business the person showing me how to weed vinyl was a smoker. She would use cigarette ash from the ash tray to smear on the white vinyl to see the cut lines. HaI

I googled the pounce bag and saw what it was. Ah, the days of cigarette smoking. How fun.

 

[James Burke]

As I mentioned earlier, a light table really works well. We do thousands of 4" x 8" engraved pavers using white sign vinyl. I built a special inclined table with a glass top.

The surrounding area of the glass was etched and painted on the back side so only a small window of light shines through...so as not to tire the eyeballs. It helps to let the vinyl sit for a day or so to relax.


JB

 

[Stacey K]

I just bought a pounce bag from Amazon...how did I never hear about this fantastic little invention!

 

[10sacer]

If you can find a headlamp that has three color modes for white or red or blue light, you can switch it to blue and the lines show up pretty easily with the ambient white lights turned down

 

[wark67]

I have put the roll of vinyl in the freezer overnight, and it shrinks the vinyl very slightly, showing the cut lies. Also, taking a heat gun to it before you weed it works okay too.

 

[Gino]

I'd wrap it in old nylon stockings like bank robbers do and it'll keep it's shape perfectly. Then take it out and using a triple edge razor, just weed that unwanted vinyl away. You could try nair, too.

 

[ToneCustomSigns]

I never thought of using the pounce bag for wedding! We use the Tilt method over here. We tilt our head to the right and l to the left until we can see the cut lines.

 

[AKwrapguy]

So make sure your blade depth and pressure are dialed in. Use a heat gun and go over cut vinyl. The heat will cause the vinyl to shrink just a hair allowing you to see the backer color.