We do some minor signage for our products, not really for-hire services. I am trying to look into the transition to plastic overlays for a few of our products. I am trying to look into the future to subsidize the costs a bit.
Right now we use simple knob controls and use a vinyl cutter for any basic vinyl needs. I am only vaguely familiar with the vinyl printing side but used to work with a sign shop in aerospace than ran a nice Roland.
From my research, we would need to use either lexan or mylar for these, printing on the back, and probably a specialized material to accept the graphics? I am leaning more towards mylar right now.
A few questions
1. Material will probably be 5-15mil thick. Can a simple plotter cut this material with any success? If not, how?
2. A double backed adhesive overlay is pretty typical and I have never tried cutting this. Does it work in a plotter? What knife?
3. Looking mostly at used printer/cutters but really don't need a 48" model. 12" would do just fine for me. Is a thermal system an industry standard or is that highly specialized? I think thermal is preferred for this as it tends to hold up better.
To do some testing, we considered obtaining the correct coated mylar film in an 8.5x11 to test in a color laser printer to see how we like it and maybe even hand cut for R&D purposed. Is this advisable?
Right now we use simple knob controls and use a vinyl cutter for any basic vinyl needs. I am only vaguely familiar with the vinyl printing side but used to work with a sign shop in aerospace than ran a nice Roland.
From my research, we would need to use either lexan or mylar for these, printing on the back, and probably a specialized material to accept the graphics? I am leaning more towards mylar right now.
A few questions
1. Material will probably be 5-15mil thick. Can a simple plotter cut this material with any success? If not, how?
2. A double backed adhesive overlay is pretty typical and I have never tried cutting this. Does it work in a plotter? What knife?
3. Looking mostly at used printer/cutters but really don't need a 48" model. 12" would do just fine for me. Is a thermal system an industry standard or is that highly specialized? I think thermal is preferred for this as it tends to hold up better.
To do some testing, we considered obtaining the correct coated mylar film in an 8.5x11 to test in a color laser printer to see how we like it and maybe even hand cut for R&D purposed. Is this advisable?
