Reflective?

[stitchup]

Hi guys

I've been asked to produce some reflective stickers. Am I correct in thinking that it's the vinyl that provides the reflection and not the foil?

Could someone recommend a vinyl brand that has the refective qualities and can be used in the FX and cut on the GX-Plus cutter?

Thanks

John

 

[J Hill Designs]

scotchcal 280i

 

[BBworks]

Yes its the Vinyl, The reflective foils fade very quickly. When we EDGE then cut decals from reflective I keep my last replaced blade on hand to use instead of the usual blade. The reflective vinyls dull the blades quickly. set the EDGE print settings to "lightest" for a less opaque foil and better reflection in your colours. If the film is not edge receptive then edge on clear and apply to reflective then cut....lots of pressure.

 

[jfiscus]

What color are the decals? Can you provide a photo of an example?
You can either choose a base color reflective & imprint a non-reflective secondary/third colors/etc onto it, or use 280i white reflective with translucent/transparent color foil overlays.

 

[Fred Weiss]

We always use Gerber 3M 280I and Gerber transparent foils ... each of which is a match for the 3M color reflective series with the exception of black. You will get mixed and less reflective results with spot colors because they all have varying degrees of opacity.

 

[stitchup]

Thanks all for the replies.

I ordered 10 metres of 280i which arrived today - blimey, it's thick stuff & expensive!!

This is the sort of thing I'll be printing - I plan on laying the navy first followed by the orange letter (I'm doing just the L & W first. As the letter won't be cut what is the best method to use so there's no white peeking through at the edges of the letter? I cant' use bleed as there's no cut, so is it choke? I'm guessing I use bleed where the perimeter of the navy square is cut?

Couple of questions on cutting:

What pressure setting do you use to cut this stuff?
Do I need to use a 60deg blade?

For some reason I don't get instant notifications when someone replies, but I will check back

Thanks again for your help.

John

 

[J Hill Designs]

yeah choke the yellow with the navy - I would probably print the yellow first and then the navy with choke applied

60deg blade, slow - should work fine (esp. since its just squares)

 

[Gino]

I'm not sure on the edge printing capabilities, but we would print all the colors at once and there would be no problem of registration.

I believe you put the colors in one at a time, so as long as your vinyl isn't shifting, there shouldn't be any problems.

If you think there will be problems, perhaps you could print the gold first with a little bleed [overlap] and trap the blue overtop.

Your big problem is gonna be when you have to cut that little frilly stuff. That's gonna be a nightmare and a half.

 

[stitchup]

Thanks again guys,

I've been running a few off as a test on ordinary vinyl Navy first with a .35 bleed on the square cut followed by the orange with a .35 choke.

@ Gino
Fortunately the cuts are all squares

I need to make more use of my Gerber stuff - my memory isn't to good between jobs!

 

[J Hill Designs]

3/8" choke seems big

 

[stitchup]

Ahhh, notifications are working now

I believe I'm working in mm not inches so .35mm seems to do the job.

 

[J Hill Designs]

ah

 

[Jase]

Hi John, maybe worth cutting in tangential mode as opposed to the swivel knife.

ATB

Jason

 

[stitchup]

Yup, been doing that and just matched the colour to a foil @ £147 for 45m!!!!!!

John

PS Thanks for the heads-up the other day, I've not heard from your man yet.

 

[stitchup]

Finally, could someone with experience of cutting this reflective vinyl give me a starter for the pressure setting on the GS15-Plus cutter?