Printer cutter?

[mark jones]

there was a company in sheffield making those using a cj500 solvent machine and then using doming fluid on them. really diffficult application but they were doing loads and had it down to a fine art.

[Robert Lambie]

how large is that mate?

[Deleted User]

Sorry Robert i forgot to give the dimensions.

It’s 250mm x 160mm x approx 4mm

[Andy Gorman]

I used to make tank protectors like them for Ducati (when I was at Fineline Converting). We printed them on our Gerber Edge and then domed them using a BIG doming machine. You could make very small quantities using the cheapish doming kits available but it would work out very expensive, I think. Pretty easy to do by hand if you can justify buying a decent amount of resin to get the cost down.

[Robert Lambie]

if its completely flat, couldnt you use a laminate.. a thick one.. if available G?

[Andy Gorman]

Yeah but no but…..the point of doming them is that the fly on your trousers doesn’t get caught on the sharp edge of a 4mm thick laminate. Also, the resin is quite flexible and allows fitting onto the compound curves of a petrol tank. I have seen tank guards with a regular laminate on them but they don’t look anywhere like as good as a resin domed one. Also the rounded edges of the resin (the meniscus if you want to get technical!) give a smooth transition into the graphic which also helps to avoid the edges getting caught on stuff.

[Brian Hays]

I bought one similar off of ebay for my bike. Definately domed.

Was £20 though 😮 The guy has sold tons of ’em so must be making a few bob.

[Robert Lambie]

so its about 10 inches by 6 & domed?

well a PC60 would tackle that no probs.. but is there not some coated vinyls come in A4 that can be printed onto using desktop machine? then hand domed.. ?

guess the doming resin is pricey then G?

[Andy Gorman]

It aint too bad if you buy it by the litre, or 50 gallons at a time! I’m talking about the little hand gun cartridges. Last time I bought them they were about £8.00 each for 50ml. You would use one of those on a tank guard.

[Simon Clayton]

I didn’t think they were domed that would make them very expensive??, the one on my wife’s bike is clear but they had all sorts. i thought it was some type of clear material about 1.5mm thick, reverse screen and backed with glue; it doesn’t have the tacky feel like domed stuff does (it that makes sense)?
Cost £9.99…
Other thing is you can’t just copy the other designs out there as they are copyrighted.

Simon

[Robert Lambie]

ah right got you mate, yeh i see where your coming from…
because of the printing of them they would be pretty cheap to get done, guess its the doming that will cost.. but like you say theres ways round that too…

[Andy Gorman]

If you had the sort of kit and were making the quantities that we made the cost of doming is peanuts. I think we paid about £9.00 per litre when buying 50 gallons at a time. From a litre you could get probably 20 tank guards…so that’s…erm about 45p per guard. These things are relatively cheap to buy from motor shops because the makers are doing them by the thousand, as we did. If, however you don’t have at least a fairly decent doming setup, I think you would be struggling to make any money. I’m sure Rodney will pop up soon and educate us all better. He knows everything. 😀

[Robert Lambie]

:lol1: he is certainly a man of much knowledge 😉

[Deleted User]

Thanks guys,

I have a customer who wants approx 500 of them in his designs, as well as badges for his stock of bikes.

Would £2500 get me anywhere near the sort of setup i would need? he’s willing to pay up front, have his tank pads made then see where we go from there, i.e, get the equipment, do his requirements, then IF he thinks it working out too expensive, i get the equipment as payment for my time, but if the price per item is to his likeing, i get to keep the equipment and i get a good customer.

[Peter Normington]

2.5k will not by a print and cut machine that could do what you want.
On your figures he wants to pay £5 per tank decal, on that basis even if you keep the gear and carry on I doubt if you would make a profit. On top of the 2.5k there is the materials, vynil resin etc. I would back of and let someone else take the risk.
Peter

[Robert Lambie]

not sure peter… second hand pc60 print and cut… or some desktop printer that prints to coated vinyl may do it, that coupled with a craft robo cutter at about £250 you could have the machinery for about £500, but and its a big but… is this gonna need proper print & cut durable machinery… maybe. if so second hand pc60 at around a grand… leaves you plenty for a stock like G was talking about on the resin.. vinyl… ribbons etc resin would be done by hand of course.

i dont know enough about how this all works to be giving proper advice but there are various ways to dabble in it ide imagine and keep costs low/ish…

[Kevin.Beck]

big G

can you post the details of the supplier for bulk doming materials

thanks

[Andy Gorman]

Becky, we were originally buying from Interfax Accuflow in, I think, Lichfield. Later on we bought direct from the manufacturer in the US as we were buying hundreds of gallons at a time and found the Accuflow prices too high.