Tom Printz
New Member
It seems here that posters who provide a little bio get better responses to their questions, so here's a brief intro:
32 y/o male in Myrtle Beach. Completely self taught when it comes to the 'sign industry'. I have an Assoc. in Digital Art so my strength is graphic design, but through trial and error I have become much more proficient with the production side of making signs.
My boss owns a helicopter tour business. He was spending a lot money on lettering, signage, etc so about three years ago he bought out a small sign shop with the intention of keeping everything in-house. I responded to an ad for a graphic designer, but was soon thrust into a strange new world and no one to turn to when I had a question (which was every ten seconds or so). I had to figure everything out; Easy stuff like ripping with colorip
, creating cutpaths, weeding, masking, hinging and other application techniques to really hard stuff like flushing ink lines, changing heads, cap stations and that stupid ribbon thing the print carriage reads and general troubleshooting on a very old, very temperamental SP300. I hated this thing at first but we get along pretty good now. It's been 3 years and I'm still here so I think I've done well. I'm sure this is mostly common knowledge in a professional setting and can be taught in a matter of weeks, but it's like I've been stuck on a deserted island and getting back to civilization depended on my ability to figure out how to do this stuff...
I'm back to civilization now and confident enough in my skills that I want to eventually monetize this operation to validate my employment over the past three years. The business side of things will be a whole new island for me to get stuck on but first I want to cut my teeth on real-world applications. Also, during my exile we had been using very low quality materials and I have now talked the boss into using better stuff. we have the 4 mil Oracal RapidAir vinyl and now bubbles are a thing of the past when applying it to surfaces. I am now designing and plan on installing, a wrap on a company van instead of just lettering it. I know, I know. It's going to kick my ass, Bit off more than I can chew etc but I feel I have prepared myself well and will get a good result. I'll start a thread in the wrap forum detailing my experience.
NOW TO THE QUESTION:
"Could this just be clear vinyl?"
We have what I think is laminate but I can never get it to look good. There are always bubbles under it and it diminishes the color of the print quite a bit. We didn't buy it, came with the rest of the supplies when he bought the business.
I've read that sometimes a graphic is printed onto clear vinyl (typically mirrored) for application on glass surfaces. There are no identifying marks or logos on our product so I'm wondering if laminate is basically just clear vinyl or if there is a difference?
Maybe it's just crappy laminate? Our laminating machine was ancient and it broke so we got one of those 'Big Squeegees' to laminate with. The videos made it look so easy (of course) but again, everything I laminate has bubbles in it. It could be my error but I'm pretty confident I'm doing it right.
Do you think this could be clear vinyl or is it just really low-end laminate?
Thanks!
32 y/o male in Myrtle Beach. Completely self taught when it comes to the 'sign industry'. I have an Assoc. in Digital Art so my strength is graphic design, but through trial and error I have become much more proficient with the production side of making signs.
My boss owns a helicopter tour business. He was spending a lot money on lettering, signage, etc so about three years ago he bought out a small sign shop with the intention of keeping everything in-house. I responded to an ad for a graphic designer, but was soon thrust into a strange new world and no one to turn to when I had a question (which was every ten seconds or so). I had to figure everything out; Easy stuff like ripping with colorip
, creating cutpaths, weeding, masking, hinging and other application techniques to really hard stuff like flushing ink lines, changing heads, cap stations and that stupid ribbon thing the print carriage reads and general troubleshooting on a very old, very temperamental SP300. I hated this thing at first but we get along pretty good now. It's been 3 years and I'm still here so I think I've done well. I'm sure this is mostly common knowledge in a professional setting and can be taught in a matter of weeks, but it's like I've been stuck on a deserted island and getting back to civilization depended on my ability to figure out how to do this stuff...I'm back to civilization now and confident enough in my skills that I want to eventually monetize this operation to validate my employment over the past three years. The business side of things will be a whole new island for me to get stuck on but first I want to cut my teeth on real-world applications. Also, during my exile we had been using very low quality materials and I have now talked the boss into using better stuff. we have the 4 mil Oracal RapidAir vinyl and now bubbles are a thing of the past when applying it to surfaces. I am now designing and plan on installing, a wrap on a company van instead of just lettering it. I know, I know. It's going to kick my ass, Bit off more than I can chew etc but I feel I have prepared myself well and will get a good result. I'll start a thread in the wrap forum detailing my experience.
NOW TO THE QUESTION:
"Could this just be clear vinyl?"
We have what I think is laminate but I can never get it to look good. There are always bubbles under it and it diminishes the color of the print quite a bit. We didn't buy it, came with the rest of the supplies when he bought the business.
I've read that sometimes a graphic is printed onto clear vinyl (typically mirrored) for application on glass surfaces. There are no identifying marks or logos on our product so I'm wondering if laminate is basically just clear vinyl or if there is a difference?
Maybe it's just crappy laminate? Our laminating machine was ancient and it broke so we got one of those 'Big Squeegees' to laminate with. The videos made it look so easy (of course) but again, everything I laminate has bubbles in it. It could be my error but I'm pretty confident I'm doing it right.
Do you think this could be clear vinyl or is it just really low-end laminate?
Thanks!
