OK just finished my first box trailer

[chartle]

OK as the title says just did my first box trailer (8'x21') and have one nagging question.

How do you line up the prints from sheet to sheet? First though you need to see what I was dealing with.



Every 8 inches or so a horizontal rib. If we just started at the top, as we went over each of the ribs we were not sure we would line up up and down at the bottom. Our only solution was to slit the back and start in the middle working down then up there by lessening any lineup issues.

Some are almost spot on but others we had to do some creative trimming to make it work. Maybe we should have just started at the top and hoped for the best. Of course we had a dead line. We started this thursday morning and were done saturday night. The trailer had to be on the road for Memphis in May Tuesday at noon and Monday there was a lot of fiddly mechanical work and touchup paint that still had to be done on this very old trailer.

PS Yes I know the website is cut off and the checker board doesn't line up. This was also our designer's first trailer and she didn't account for anything just made a 96" by 256" graphic. So we made patches. Also this was an inside job, my boss is one of the 3 taxi guys. If you are wondering what they are hauling, its a pig smoker made out of an old checker cab. https://www.facebook.com/3TaxiGuys/photos_stream

 

[bulldozer]

I always put 1/2 to 1 inch of overlap when printing in tiles on all jobs. line them up, tape them and make your marks where the overlap marks are.

as far as the design part, have 2 people measure just the parts where the print is going to lay for where you want to place any graphics or text. we leave bleed around the edges.
how much bleed is usually determined by what you are wrapping and amount of coverage required.

 

[nikdoobs]

looks great. i can't even see where the checkerboard doesn't line up. Nice job going over the ribs and rivets.

 

[chartle]

I did add a 1" overlap. The issue is that with those ribs if something lined up in the middle if wouldn't line up at the ends until I followed all those ribs. As I look back should have just started at the top and just worked down keeping track and adjusting as I went.

 

[chartle]

looks great. i can't even see where the checkerboard doesn't line up. Nice job going over the ribs and rivets.

On the second pic you can see the checkerboard on the door at the top is lower than the on the graphic at the right. When she designed this she factor in that we wouldn't be doing anything with the trim and since it goes from top to bottom it effectively makes the one side three separate panels.

Here is the finished side with the a checkerboard patch at the top.



Just for completeness, here is the back. Nice and flat and larger flatter rivets.

 

[chartle]

as far as the design part, have 2 people measure just the parts where the print is going to lay for where you want to place any graphics or text. we leave bleed around the edges.
how much bleed is usually determined by what you are wrapping and amount of coverage required.

I saw her and her partner take tons of photos and measure everything but I guess she forgot it all in the crush to get it done.

On the other side we had to drop it down so far things like websites were completely cut off.

The sad part is that this trailer has been sitting in our garage since December.

 

[bob]

The actual work appears to be quite nice. Unfortunately the design is just this side of awful with childish overtones. A nephew who can draw perhaps? No matter what you say or how you protest, this abomination will be attributed to you.

 

[bulldozer]

I saw her and her partner take tons of photos and measure everything but I guess she forgot it all in the crush to get it done.

On the other side we had to drop it down so far things like websites were completely cut off.

The sad part is that this trailer has been sitting in our garage since December.

yikes. ever so often we will actually run a paper pattern to check placement of graphics and text to make sure nothing is going to be cut off.

 

[SignManiac]

With every failed attempt in life, you will glean vast amounts of future wisdom and knowledge. Fun aint it

 

[chartle]

The actual work appears to be quite nice. Unfortunately the design is just this side of awful with childish overtones. A nephew who can draw perhaps? No matter what you say or how you protest, this abomination will be attributed to you.

Well the guys that make up the 3 taxi guys would be the first to tell you that they ARE a very childish bunch. They got first place for Crowd Favorite and were invited to compete at Memphis in May this weekend which I understand is a pretty big deal.

You can't see it here but on the taxi they turned into a smoker the three guys are sitting in the passenger seat and a very cartoony pig is the driver. Basically he is driving himself to the barbeque as the "Guest of Honor". I'm not a big fan of the taxi side but the owners are. As for the other side all the artwork was developed from their bottle design.

As for it being a reflection on me, this is not at all my real job here. I was hired for PC/Network support. They had just fired the person that ran a Roland printer here and I knew AI and was good at making things so I took it over.

 

[Marlene]

seems like the lettering with the stars would look better if planned so some didn't cross over the ridges

 

[thinksigns]

As a Memphian, I see my fair share of BBQ shop art/trailers. I think the art is great and would fit right in at BBQFest.

 

[chartle]

seems like the lettering with the stars would look better if planned so some didn't cross over the ridges

First time I saw that but we were lucky it looks as good as it does. Also outside in the light the ribs are not that noticeable.

 

[chartle]

As a Memphian, I see my fair share of BBQ shop art/trailers. I think the art is great and would fit right in at BBQFest.

Yea subtlety is not their thing. :Big Laugh

Their smoker, made from an old Checker Cab, is their big draw so thats why they wanted to showcase it on the trailer. The making of the smoker was on a Food Network Show called The Shed (sorry can't find a clip). There was even going to be a reality show with the three guys.

 

[formanek]

Start at the top and tent it over each rib until you pull it to the bottom. Use a rolle pro and heat and press it into the low areas. I have done well over 60 52' semi trailers and some are ALL ribs. Works great because the ribs aren't that deep. Material choice is key of course.

 

[chartle]

Start at the top and tent it over each rib until you pull it to the bottom. Use a rolle pro and heat and press it into the low areas. I have done well over 60 52' semi trailers and some are ALL ribs. Works great because the ribs aren't that deep. Material choice is key of course.

I would be afraid that it would over stretch the vinyl. Just watched a video pointing out that you shouldn't stretch the vinyl more than 30%. I was using oracal 3551RA which is speced for slight curves and rivets.

 

[nikdoobs]

Unfortunately the design is just this side of awful with childish overtones. A nephew who can draw perhaps? No matter what you say or how you protest, this abomination will be attributed to you.

Give me a break. The design was obviously meant to look cartoony. That doesn't mean its a bad design. The pig cow and chicken look phenomenal! Whoever designed that is very talented. Were they purchased stock vectors? The three guys don't have the same amount of detail/shading/depth as the animals, but still look great. I imagine this was a different designer than the one who did the animals.

Don't listen to this dude. Just because it says phd under his name doesn't mean he knows **** about design. I just means he wastes a lot of time posting nonsense on this website.

 

[SignManiac]

Give me a break. The design was obviously meant to look cartoony. That doesn't mean its a bad design. The pig cow and chicken look phenomenal! Whoever designed that is very talented. Were they purchased stock vectors? The three guys don't have the same amount of detail/shading/depth as the animals, but still look great. I imagine this was a different designer than the one who did the animals.

Don't listen to this dude. Just because it says phd under his name doesn't mean he knows **** about design. I just means he wastes a lot of time posting nonsense on this website.

LOL.... You just slammed the all time word pendant. Be prepared for the ultimate tongue lashing. You die a slow and viscous verbal death!

 

[GAC05]

To me the rear looks like it was done in Illustrator and the sides CorelDraw......

wayne k
guam usa

 

[chartle]

To me the rear looks like it was done in Illustrator and the sides CorelDraw......

wayne k
guam usa

All AI.