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Question Something similar just came up in another thread.......................

Gino

Premium Subscriber
Doing some racing stripes for a customer who wants to install these stripes himself. Mostly to save money. We used 3M wrap film 1080 flat black. Normally, if doing it in-house, we might use a 4" piece of application tape at the one end to line it up and then go to town with a felt squeegee. This person wants me to put application tape on the whole thing. They're about 19" x 42" for 2 of them and 19" x 32" for the backside. There is a slight taper to the longer ones with an inset cutout stripe for the body color to show through. I said we wouldn't do that, but if he wants it, I'll put it on. I told him with the air channels and all, it's really not necessary and might be a hindrance in the long run.

What say any of you with this kinda experience ??

:thankyou: and have a great weekend, all.................. Gino
 

equippaint

Active Member
I tape everything except smaller warning labels for stuff we shipout. Its easier for people that dont know what theyre doing.

Edit: the guy will likely have the stripes wavy and stretched if you dont.
 
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petepaz

New Member
i try to inform the customer the best way to do it or how i have done it in the past. after that i give them what they ask and pay for. then sit back and wait for that call......."can i get this done again but how you suggested"
 

2B

Active Member
do as requested, they may need it a certain way.
make sure to place on invoice FULL TRANSFER COVERAGE - PER CUSTOMER INSTRUCTIONS. so there is a clear trailer why this way
 

Gino

Premium Subscriber
Yeah, I guess you guys are right. No sense fighting City Hall. If that's what he wants, I'll give it to him.

Thanks all.................... :toasting:

edit: and I like that full transfer wording.

Haha..... should I tell him to take it outta the sun before he does it ?? :clapping:
 

ikarasu

Active Member
We have a client that we do 10-15 vehicles a year for, that has 3 stripes... different sized, and equally spaced. We use 180 for all 3 colors on it, but we pre-space and pre-tape the whole thing up and it seems to work great. It prevents wavy lines and keeps everything spaced perfectly. Most of our stripes are in 10 FT sections since we're doing whole vehicles... this way there is less setup and easier to align everything. One stripe is .25, one is 1 inch, and 1 is 3 inch running the length of the vehicle.

Since yours are 19" x 42" I don't think they'd need pre-mask, We'd likelly do the whole thing without any premask at all.... but maybe he's used to putting on small stripes? Or maybe we've just been doing it the hard way the whole time! It is easier to work with wrap material that has pre-mask on if you're not used to putting on decals... So long as they don't need to conform around anything too deep.
 

jfiscus

Rap Master
We have a client that we do 10-15 vehicles a year for, that has 3 stripes... different sized, and equally spaced. We use 180 for all 3 colors on it, but we pre-space and pre-tape the whole thing up and it seems to work great. It prevents wavy lines and keeps everything spaced perfectly. Most of our stripes are in 10 FT sections since we're doing whole vehicles... this way there is less setup and easier to align everything. One stripe is .25, one is 1 inch, and 1 is 3 inch running the length of the vehicle.

Since yours are 19" x 42" I don't think they'd need pre-mask, We'd likelly do the whole thing without any premask at all.... but maybe he's used to putting on small stripes? Or maybe we've just been doing it the hard way the whole time! It is easier to work with wrap material that has pre-mask on if you're not used to putting on decals... So long as they don't need to conform around anything too deep.
The best way to do this is to use a Gerber Edge printer to print the 3 colors onto 1 roll of vinyl. Then you plot it and cut them all together. Then you mask them and apply them. The sprockets that the Gerber/Edge use keep everything 100% straight.
 

Gino

Premium Subscriber
Forgot to report on this. The guy came in Tuesday and I asked him how he wanted to do it.... with or without application tape. He said, without. Turns out, he does some sidework as a auto painter and has some knowledge in dealing with vinyl. However, he never saw this air egress stuff and when I showed him how easy it was to use, he said..... no tape. Heard from him today and his wife is tickled pink how the job turned out.


The best way to do this is to use a Gerber Edge printer to print the 3 colors onto 1 roll of vinyl. Then you plot it and cut them all together. Then you mask them and apply them. The sprockets that the Gerber/Edge use keep everything 100% straight.

By the way, it was all one color, so I'm not sure what that meant. Besides, the edge only prints 11.8" wide and these stripes were 18.5" Thanks though for the help.
 
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