Making Decals

[Mike Fear]

You’re not going to be able top clear lacquer anything from an inkjet, an laser prints will fade after a few months, even supposedly UV resistant ones – the only way you can make them is with a thermal printer with lacquer proof inks, and even then you have to be very careful when spraying over them as you can put the lacquer on too thick or it will smudge the print.

Any printer/cutter like the Roland ones, should work OK and you wouldnt need to lacquer them.

[Adrian Hewson]

Spot on Mike

I would suggest that thes could only be done on avery MPI 1005 EZ (Easy apply vinyl) unless they were very small as you would get wrinkles, also if they were printed using solvent inks they would not need laquered or laminated

[Rodney Gold]

There is an inkjet vinyl you can put thru it , it’s made by the Daito Co in japan and comes in clear and white , its actually more of a polyester and is not at all conformable. We used to use it and laser kiss cut and dome it.
Its not at all waterproof.

[Mike Fear]

Another thing I remembered for helmet graphics – you need to carefully check the adhesive and inks used – some stickers can damage and weaken the shell of the helmet, and can also invalidate the warranty on them, meaning if the customer had a crash, they or their bike may not be insured !

You’d really need to check with every helmet manufacturer you’re going to have the stickers applied to to make 100% sure, or you could find yourself on the end of a hefty lawsuit if the worst happened.

I know Troy Lee make decal kits specially for helmets so see if you can find out what they use on them.

[Beej Curtis]

Thanks for your response fellas, really helpful.

I’m planning to to get helmets directly from the manufacturer (doing a deal at present) so I’ll check with them. Right, if it seems I can’t print the ink onto a vinyl myself (with the Epson 1290) I may be interested in another company helping me out here. Can anyone send me info on prices off the board to give me a rough idea on costs?

I know it’s a bit ball park but I want to get it rolling in the next few months. I will be looking at kits but not really high volume (as the digital is great for this market) and it’s basically a new idea for me so I’m testing the water a bit. I also want to be able to airbrush around these stickers and then clear over them.

Cheers

Beej

[Steve Broughton]

Beej mate as to helmets you can stick anything on a Type A helmet (ACU gold) but you must not stick anything to or paint a Type B.

[Beej Curtis]

quote Steve Broughton:

Beej mate as to helmets you can stick anything on a Type A helmet (ACU gold) but you must not stick anything to or paint a Type B.

🙂 Cheers Steve.

Beej

[Beej Curtis]

I’ve just been reading up on the VersaCamm – wow!! Now THAT’S what I need! Do they make something smaller? There surely must be a cheaper way to print onto vinyl these days? £9k seems a big budget to me and although it would give me the advantage to do lots more stuff, it’s still a lot of dosh.

Any advice anyone?? Or is it just finance or save situation!! 🙁

Beej

[Chris Wool]

I WOULD LOVE TO KNOW HOW THE ORIGINALS ARE FITTED.
might be vacume that magic round about helmet has always intreged me

chris

[Rodney Gold]

One of the roland thermal machines like the pc60/600 or even a pc12 would suit you just fine for what you want to do
The pc12 is a little toylike and IMHO overpriced and is VERY difficult to repair but its a desktop , The PC60 ‘s seem to go at about 1.5-2k 2nd hand and the 600’s a bit more. Consumable prices are high and the machines require scrupulous cleaning of heads and vinyl , but will give a durable print and will be paintable after too without hassle and can be clear coated without inks running etc.