Layering vinyl over blockout then cutting

[SignMonger]

Sometimes it is necessary to put blockout behind vinyl graphics so that only the logo or copy is lit at night. In the past I have had trouble getting the cut vinyl to line up with the cut blockout. It seems like the plotter feeds the two materials differently because when I do long runs, the vinyl and the block out don't line up. It's almost like the image gets stretched lengthwise on either the vinyl or the blockout. We have a large job coming up that requires a layer of blockout under a layer of vinyl and I want to try to avoid the misalignment issue. My idea is to lay the vinyl directly onto the blockout then run it through the plotter and weed. This seems like it will save a great deal of time and ensure that everything is perfectly aligned. I have tried a small sample and it worked well. However, I am wondering how difficult it will be to lay a large piece of vinyl (4'x8') onto blockout and how the plotter will deal with this technique on a larger scale.

Does anyone have experience with this method? I have never heard of this being done so maybe it is my own invention? If no one has experience with this, how do you go about ensuring your layers line up on long runs like this? Is there maybe some adjustment that I need to make to my plotter? Any advice is greatly appreciated!!

This is my first post to the forum so thank for having me and looking forward to utilizing this resource in the future.

 

[shoresigns]

I've never heard of doing it this way. When we want to achieve this effect we just use opaque vinyl for the background and translucent vinyl for the non-white parts of the logo. You might get a little bit of light coming through the opaque.

 

[SignMonger]

I've never heard of doing it this way. When we want to achieve this effect we just use opaque vinyl for the background and translucent vinyl for the non-white parts of the logo. You might get a little bit of light coming through the opaque.

I think that the city we are dealing with requires that there be zero light transmission through the background and that is why my company is going with blockout. Do you ever run into issues with your plotter cutting two long runs differently? It's the same file ran on two different materials.

 

[GaSouthpaw]

How about masking and painting?

Then cut your translucent as normal and mask with clear transfer tape. That allows you to line up your elements individually.

Yes, I've had plotters cut the same file differently on different materials. I'd suggest you get a tech to take a look and make sure everything is functioning normally.

 

[shoresigns]

Do you ever run into issues with your plotter cutting two long runs differently?

Absolutely, I would never trust two long runs of the same artwork to line up perfectly layered on top of each other. I would just laminate the two layers together before cutting, as you suggested in your original post.

 

[Andy D]

My idea is to lay the vinyl directly onto the blockout then run it through the plotter and weed. This seems like it will save a great deal of time and ensure that everything is perfectly aligned. I have tried a small sample and it worked well.

This is exactly how we create our opaque vinyl on a backlit sign, it's the best way.
Plus it's half the plot time, weed time, tape time & half the transfer tape used.