Curious how you deal with this type of job

[gabagoo]

I have a good customer who has just changed their logo. It is 4 separate spot colours and needs to be digitally printed and die cut as they want no white background. Thats fine by me, but there is a line of copy in a block font ( thankfully) along the bottom that is very small. .29 of an inch high. The colour they are looking for has no regular pigmented vinyl choice from any supplier so I can't isolate that line and just strip it in later. I plan on printing on a cast with cast laminate but fear that the weeding of that one line beneath will be an absolute nightmare. They need 50 of them.

How do you go about dealing with these situations.

 

[White Haus]

How are the decals being used? Do you have white ink capabilities? Do you have a good tangential plotter?

I'd be fairly confident that our Summa could cut that small text (even laminated w/ cast) but might be a bit of a pain to weed.

Otherwise I'd print everything on clear w/ a white prime and leave a clear release around the small text.

 

[myront]

Print and plot the larger part and suggest the smaller text be on clear as an add on decal. Don't have white ink?....Uh....maybe outsource that part?

 

[Gino]

Picture ??

 

[Billct2]

We could cut that small, but printing on clear is a better and cheaper option, so i would give them the choice.

 

[De.signs Nanaimo]

Quote him with weeding accounted for and pad it a bit so if they still want it then it's worth doing, and then quote one or two easier to do options. Sometimes you can steer a client to do what you want by appealing to their frugal side!

 

[gabagoo]

The colour is a bluey teal...I guess I will isolate that line and print and cut about 10 extras to fix the letters that get ripped or damaged from weeding. They want die cut, no background. I am not sure what the comments about printing white are in reference to. I don't have the capability but don't see how that would work.

 

[Jester]

Reverse weeding small text can be helpful. In other words, apply your transfer tape 1st, then weed.

 

[White Haus]

I am not sure what the comments about printing white are in reference to. I don't have the capability but don't see how that would work.

Print white, then color, on clear vinyl. Clear vinyl = you can leave a border or outline and no one will ever notice.

 

[Jester1167]

Reverse weeding is great, but if you're installing the logos, weed them on the vehicle after you install the graphic. Either way, I usually will select the text, convert to outlines then fillet, or round the corners slightly. Letters that small it won't help a lot, but I find that sharp corners don't weed as well. I tend to do this on all print cut graphics because the corners are the first areas to fail on 4mill + thick material (2mil + 1.3 - 2mill and adhesive).

 

[gabagoo]

Reverse weeding is great, but if you're installing the logos, weed them on the vehicle after you install the graphic. Either way, I usually will select the text, convert to outlines then fillet, or round the corners slightly. Letters that small it won't help a lot, but I find that sharp corners don't weed as well. I tend to do this on all print cut graphics because the corners are the first areas to fail on 4mill + thick material.

I would do that if I was installing them, but they are installing them themselves....

 

[jwlllpl]

Would it be possible to see a pic of the logo to better understand?

 

[Andy D]

If you do end up cutting them, the one thing I have found to be a huge help when weeding small text is a "half cut"...
That's what I call it.

 

[Snydo]

It doesn't look like much but this little cobble job makes plucking the hearts out of those tiny letters much easier.

 

[Jester1167]

If you use air egress vinyl you're screwed no matter what you do at that size. I feel your pain. Andy D's method can be a big help as well.

 

[Andy D]

If you use air egress vinyl you're screwed no matter what you do at that size. I feel your pain. Andy D's method can be a big help as well.

Agreed, air egress seems to be rubbery & clingy, I think 3M 50 series weeds nicely, but others would know better which vinyl weeds the best.

 

[Jester1167]

You might try showing them the price for what they are requesting and show them a price to print the text color on a bar with the text the white of the vinyl. Then, inform them that text that small will have durability problems. Sometimes with a couple of good rationalizations, you can steer them in the right direction.

 

[ikarasu]

I have a good customer who has just changed their logo. It is 4 separate spot colours and needs to be digitally printed and die cut as they want no white background. Thats fine by me, but there is a line of copy in a block font ( thankfully) along the bottom that is very small. .29 of an inch high. The colour they are looking for has no regular pigmented vinyl choice from any supplier so I can't isolate that line and just strip it in later. I plan on printing on a cast with cast laminate but fear that the weeding of that one line beneath will be an absolute nightmare. They need 50 of them.

How do you go about dealing with these situations.

What printer do you have? We print on 3m 7725, laminate it with 8518 and can cut it really small. The plastic backer helps a lot with weeding.

7725 isn't a printable media...but our latex prints on it perfectly. Never tried a solvent so I can't vouch for that

 

[GAC05]

What printer do you have? We print on 3m 7725, laminate it with 8518 and can cut it really small. The plastic backer helps a lot with weeding.

7725 isn't a printable media...but our latex prints on it perfectly. Never tried a solvent so I can't vouch for that

It works fine with eco-solvent. I didn't know you were not supposed to pint on it until it was years too late.
Just make sure you get fresh stock - the older 7725 gets the harder it is to get off the plastic backer - printed or not.

 

[gabagoo]

If you use air egress vinyl you're screwed no matter what you do at that size. I feel your pain. Andy D's method can be a big help as well.

No I plan on printing on 3m 220 white