Needing opinions on the best way to accomplich this

[crny1]

Hello all,
I have a client that wants floor graphics printed with a 4" border. I hate borders because if the piece isnt perfect then the border looks bad. Hopefully I can explain this well enough.

He has 6 plywood framed bases that are 5ft wide and in the shape of a basketball court freethrow line with the half circle above it. They are already built and all 6 are slightly off from one another. These will be getting printed floor graphics and needs to have the regulation lines around it like on a court at 4" wide. The rectangle part is simple but I am worried about the arches (half circles) being off and the 4" border looking thin or fat in some areas. How would you go about this. Paint is out of the question as I already tried to talk him into that. Is there a easy way that I am not thinking of? Thanks and I hope this makes sense.

 

[Billct2]

Add a 4" strip of vinyl to make the border after applying the prints.

 

[ikarasu]

What cutter are you using? Our graphtec has no problems cutting it nearly perfectly. There's the occasional piece that messes up like you said.. but 99/100 pieces cut ok.

I'd try to do it via the cutter, may not be as bad as you think!

 

[crny1]

I thought of that but he doesnt want a raised edge for it to start rolling up later. Asked for 1 solid piece of vinyl.

I have a graphtec 8600

 

[ikarasu]

the 8600 should be able to do it perfectly. its never more than a MM or two off for us. How do you print/cut? Through illustrator, or your rip? I find illustrator is more accurate than onyx for some reason.. Onyx is good for really, really long stuff when you put out a ton of marks for it to read though.

But anything under 10 FT should cut pretty close. I just did 10 48" x 60" cuts with a .25" white border, and everyone of them cut perfectly. I set them up 2 up, so it was roughly 10 FT. I know it's scary to risk losing 5 FT of material due to a stupid issue such as a cut being off, but it's worth a try... You should be fine!

 

[crny1]

I use versa to rip/print and cutmaster with the graphtec.
I think more of my consern is not so much the cutting/printing but more of getting the top arc to match the wood frame thats already there. It was all hand built (without any fancy tools) so I am sure the top half circle is not perfect. This is where I am concerned about it looking funny.

 

[ikarasu]

Ah. Not much you can do about that then. All 6 are different too?

You could throw a 12 x 12 square on each... take a couple shots of each straight on... Trace it in illustrator, and adjust each file. But thats a lot of work, you'll be making / printing 6 separate files... so unless the money is good, not really worth the effort.

Tell him you'll measure/set it up to one perfectly, and if the others don't match / are off... you're not liable, unless he wants to pay art/setup for all 6 pieces.

He may be ok with the border being off.

You could try to lay the graphics, throw down the white strip... then throw on floor overlam. It should be thick enough that some thin cast vinyl wont make a difference. But I've never tried... that's likely the cheapest/fastest route though,

 

[crny1]

Putting down the printed media, some cast stripes and then the overlam would probably work. May have to do a test on this.
I ahve traced many things with illustrator via that method. Sometimes a pain in the rearend and lot of extra work. And yes I do believe each of them are slightly off from one another.

 

[ikarasu]

You could get fancy and do a butt joint with some knifeless if you can actually feel or see the ridge.. Crappy video, but something like this -

Hard part would be making your half circle perfect if you've never used knifeless before.

Other than those ideas... good luck! It's always fun to try something new, but I have a feeling this job will be a big headache, so I dont envy you this time!

 

[Sandman]

Love it when customers want things done the wrong way........NOT!