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BEST WAY TO LINE UP LETTERING ON A VEHICLE
Hi could any one tell me the best way to line up lettering on a vehicle.
e.g. do i do it by eye or a spirit level or ? -
16 Replies
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Pick a line on the vehicle (sill line, molding line or window line) – one of them will be the natural horizontal line and use that one as your reference to measure from … after a while by eye is usually right 😀
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Thanks Mark
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Spirit level will only work if car is level 😕
My car does not have any horizontal lines 😕 They are all at angles.
I lined up my first line of text by eye using trial and error until it looked "right to the eye" Then on each line going down I ran a piece of tape between each line and lined up each line to the tape which is straight as it is lined up straight under the first line of text you did. Follow this down all the lines but keep checking it to make sure you are not slowly going further and further out.
This worked for me on this occasion but might not always be a good way.
hope you understood that and it helps.
Cheers
Warren
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Does depend a lot what the van is though ELTEL. If you take something like the previous model Astra Van (not sure about the 2007 model) then the only real way is to do it by eye. If you line up by mouldings, body lines etc it will end up looking wonky whatever way you go.
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Spirit level is no good.
I recently had a job where the "designer" insisted that the stripe must be at an angle of exactly two degrees to the horizontal as their whole corporate image revolved around that angle.
No problem, says I, but what happens when the engineer throws his tool box in the back? I reckon that when those vans are loaded with racking, tools and spare parts, the stripe will be somewhere about parallel to the ground. Not to mention after a couple of years when the rear suspension gets a bit soggy.
He was too highly paid to admit that his design philosophy might be flawed though, so two degrees it was. You’ve got to love them. 😀
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When liining up text ‘by eye’ I try to trim the excess liner and tape so it is parallel to the text. Otherwise is can be very misleading. Know what I mean?
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I know what you mean Andy, I cut everything down to a 10-20 mm weeding box and that’s my lines of reference.
The first van I did was on my driveway which is at an angle that soon tells you if your handbrake need tightening, so it had to be what looked right.
But don’t apply the same principle to hanging shelves. 😳
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Thanks for all that, feel alot better knowing it mostly done by eye
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Yer, but how good is your eye 😉
Dave
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The other problem with doing anything by eye is repeatability.
Whether it is ten vans all at once, or a second van for a customer whose job you did two years ago, they need to be identical.
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True good point
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Eltel, think you have picked up what has been said the wrong way, graphics are mainly applied using the method that Mark described at the start of this thread. By using a main line on the body of the vehicle and measuring from that, if you stand back from a vehicle and look at the side you will normally see one line that is predominant.
The references to working by eye were for applications where the vehicles shape and body lines make it impossible to do that, one good example is the vauxhall astra van.
I use to do a lot of vans for the same company, after doing a few I could place the graphics almost spot on by eye every time but I still always use to check they were 100% correct before applying. Once you have done a few vans you will probably find it is quicker to measure than work by eye, especially if you get yourself a tool belt you can keep all the stuff you need in while you are working.
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On some of the Vauxhall Astra’s we have used a pin stripe to ping a line down the side and taken all our measurements from this one line, when doing this the line you start with is the key and by eye you will see when its correct
rich -
Eltel,
sorry to hi-jack this but Martin has made a great suggestion, while on my travels and after talking to another member i got myself a tool belt. I made a part in this for my scalpel and the time this has saved me along with forever looking for the tape or blade is amazing
rich -
Don’t apply vinyl to vehicles using your eye!
Use a squeegee instead
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When vinyling a vehicle i generally use the profile of the vehicle as a guide. Most van sides are designed to look like panels and I will usually centralize the lettering within the area. Every vehicle has a point or reference, even if you have to measure from the chassis.
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