Help getting started, looking to buy stuff.

[Jillbeans]

Alot less aggravation and traveling to pick stuff up. Maybe I need to get someone to do my artwork and load it on a disc. Then just cut it at home with my own plotter and material? I'm going to do this one way or another!

Yes, it is a lot more aggravating to try to learn a design program, figure out how to make the plotter do what it's supposed to do, get the materials in-house, design, cut, weed, mask, and apply them.

And the miraculous artwork on a disc isn't a one-size-fits-all type of thing.

Stick with your local sign professional. It's a lot easier/cost effective in the long run.

My race cars start at $600 for simple hand painted or vynull. And thank God I only have to do two a year, both for decent nice guys who love my work and never try to haggle.
Love....Jill

 

[coyote]

I'm always surprised that folks who come onto the site wanting to undercut or replace professionals by doing their own work (and asking those same professionals to show them how to do it) are offended by the snarky responses that they get. Would you walk into a sign shop, in person, and ask the proprietor to show you how to use the equipment and give you all the wholesale sources and pricing? And give you CDs of vector files that you can use on your own so you won't have to pay for them?

I realize that the Internet has made everything free, but using some forethought and common sense is in order here. If you wouldn't do it in person, then maybe you shouldn't do it online either. If you're looking for a hobbyist site, check with racing forums or hobby graphics sites where people are learning how to do things and sharing information.

I have nothing against people wanting to learn how to do things on their own. I just wish they would not ask other people to do it for them, and cop a huge attitude when they are called out for being lazy or (insert word of choice here).

My feeling and usual course of action with these type of requests is to ignore them. If there is no response, then they look elsewhere. I know it's hard, but maybe this is what should be done-just ignore them and they will go away.
c

 

[QuickSignsSA]

Cricket cutter at walmart will do just fine.

 

[kustomkoncepts]

I'm sure he will go away.

I have a good story from my town.

Spoild rich kid, Dad own a trucking company and 4 race cars. Kid thinks he can letter them himself so naturally dad buys equipment and bought very good equipment and software. kid lettered the cars one year and looked like jun and kept asking me how to do it. I was no help kept forgetting how to do something. the next year he had a sign shop do them again. he also does not do the semis for his dads company anymore either and equipment sits up in storage.

I've seen this a couple of times with racers and trucking companies. they either just have junk looking stuff and won't admit it looks like crap or they accept that there is more than just pushing buttons and go back to a sign shop to do it.

 

[kustomkoncepts]

Cricket cutter at walmart will do just fine.

Those are what I run!!

I bolted 4 of them together to get a wider cutting area!!!! They are awsome:ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO:

 

[Mikeifg]

Another racecar driver wanting to be a sticker maker. Sell stickers to his buddys at the track cause them signshops are really expensive. You put all your money in a car then want it to look like a million dollars with fancy letterin, or a couple of dale jr 88's but don't want to spend over 50.00 so I get ya. Spend as cheap as you can to get into the business because everyone here must suck at this then you'll get rich cutting calvin decals out of your garage?

 

[sarge]

buy a summa d75 and corel draw and teach yourself .. everyone has to start someplace .. summa is a very good plotter and corel draw a very good cad program .. there are enough guys around to help .. just need to weed through the BS

 

[ericmitchell29]

walmart is a swear word isn't it?

 

[Jillbeans]

need to weed through the BS

Yup, Brush Script can be a bear to weed.
But it is quite popular with the racing crowd!

 

[signage]

Yup, Brush Script can be a bear to weed.
But it is quite popular with the racing crowd!

even harder if not welded first!!

 

[Dane DeFord]

It tickles me that you (jplacki) think it'll be "less time consuming, less aggravating, and less expensive" to do it yourself rather than take it to someone who already knows his/her craft.

You could have ALL of his race cars done for the rest of your racing career for the money that you would spend on some "decent" equipment and "decent" program.

Regards,
Dane

 

[sarge]

i have done few cars and a lot more boats .. only used brush stroke 2 times that i can think of .. maybe it is an east coast deal

 

[kustomkoncepts]

Hey lets all get into racing. its just gas, break and turn left.... Right? how hard can driving in circles be?

No it is a little more than that Right. well designing and signa and graphics are a little more than just pushin buttons, that is why I stay away from driving. I'll let my friends go broke trying to be Dale JR. I jus maka stikars fer em.


you might try 20/20 or 4m.net this is other drivers and not sign professionals these guys there will be more like you and more help in your situation.

and dam I hate when BS is not welded..

 

[sarge]

imo it takes less time to figure it out then to find a honest sign maker who will do work in a timely manner .. that is why i started . the vendors around my wifes booths could never find a good sign maker .. i know most of the guys in seattle suck .. i swear when they applied the graphics they would do it with their eyes closed .. and there is a difference between ariel and arena black .. sometimes a guy gets so pissed off from substandard performance it is just better to do it yourself .. my wifes family all race boats and i get the same complaint from them .. i have tried to outsourse work for some of our members only to get excuses .. i tried to be cool to this site .. now i just do what it takes .. 2 weeks ago i needed a cedar sign made .. send to 2 different vendors and no responce .. so i hired 2 illegals .. we all made out .. but someone here lost i bet 5k .. another job i needed someone to air brush a john deer trackor on a shed .. job turned down .. found an illegal and he now has done 17 garage doors and shed doors .. at 3k a door .. soooo .. sometimes it is better to go on your own .. cuz the real pro's dont have time to mess with the small jobs .. but they sure can bad mouth the little guys .. and the bigs guys i have found do the worst work .. they are not about customer service .. money in sh^t out

 

[kustomkoncepts]

we'll make sure to let INS know about your Illegals. its the people that put these guys to work and the reason they keep coming.

Come to America. but do it Legally and pay all the taxes we do and learn ENGLISH.

 

[wrapman jamz]

Hey! I just got a letter from the guys at Daytona. They said I could jump in line at the next race! I just put a turbo on my Yugo and I think I have a chance. Anybody know where I can get some lettering? Anyone what to be my sponsor???

 

[kustomkoncepts]

Sure I always letter cars free as long as I can put my name on there somewhere. How big can I make my name?

 

[wrapman jamz]

Oh great I have a series of tractor trailers and some golf carts to wrap for my race car! I'll take you up on that sponsorship offer. FREE is great cause race gas ain't cheap!
And I just broke my e-brake handle screwin' around in the church parkin' lot. So I have to fix that before I spend money on lettering. You saved me! Yeah!

 

[Joe Diaz]

:ROFLMAO:I say go for it man... but you won't get help from me. I'm not going to make this endeavor easy for you, because you aren't a sign maker, you just want to make "stickers" for your "hobby". I'm more inclined to help the fellow sign maker for whom you must of decided wasn't good enough, quick enough or cheap enough. Because that is what we do on this forum. We stick up for fellow sign makers, not racers.

I'm sure you think your intentions are good, but lets be honest with ourselves - The reason you thought this was a good idea was:
A. You thought what we do is easy enough for you to pick up.
B. You thought you could save money by doing it yourself. Or...
C. All of the above.

Well again I say: go for it! You'll find out how far from the truth that is.

I'm sure you will think my responses makes me an a$$, but I really don't care. Everyone of us in the industry has dealt with this exact same situation more times then we can count. And I'm frankly sick of it. Whether you are aware of it or not, you are devaluing what we do, and taking away jobs.

My only hope is you only take away the jobs that belong to other cheap customers.

You can get mad at everyone on the forum because you don't like the tone of our responses, or you can see it as the first of many more hard lessons that you will learn on your own. You take what we do seriously, and you will get more help then you know what to do with.

Good luck, you're going to need it!

 

[sarge]

it is a shame that people have to resort to a lot of you guys .. fast to sqeeze the trigger .. but slow on performance .. it is your attitude and performance the illegals thrive in the USA .. no ones fault but the man in the mirror .. i think it sucks .. but you pros do it to yourselfs .. your above everyone . sooo good .. it is hard for me not to bad mouth my fellow sign makers .. but i see their work .. i am doing a job now for an espreeso stand where a national chain sign company took 2k from and now has forgot they took a deposit and told them to take them to court .. and you "pros" bad mouth people who need to get the job done but get screwed by people like "us" .. no wonder you p*ss and moan about business, look at your responces