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where do i start with trimming prints to fit panels?
Hi..My first time into the world of digi prints, so I’m going to ask a possibly daft question. 😕
I have a customer who wants a picture of his race bike on the side of his van. I can get the prints done locally, no probs. But, he wants it to fit the panel completely, ie cut right to the edge of the panel. The van is a (earlyish) Transit with the raised panels with rounded corners. My question is (got here eventually!) how do I cut the prints to fit the rounded corners neatly? The print will be delivered to me laminated by the printers. Will a normal scalpel with new blade do the job or is there another way of doing this?Apologies in advance is this a really stupid question, but we all have to start somewhere…. 😳
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8 Replies
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Steve A scalpel will be fine, but there are a couple of things to watch.
When you apply the print, you need to ensure that the edge is not stuck to far round the corner of the panel, otherwise you will not get a straight cut. Make sure the blade is parallel or pointing slightly away from the panel to avoid cutting the paint. You could always have a practise with a piece of plane vinyl first to get the hang of it.The other way is to make a paper template and trim the print on the bench.
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quote Peter Normington:The other way is to make a paper template and trim the print on the bench.This is your best advice, recently i had a few metal sprayed panels inside a shop and my main problem was to ruin them, i used a similar method for what Peter described, only i used tranfer Paper tape, if you’re very carefull in the beginning there won’t be any stretch from the paper and as much as you use it it’ll become easier to move from one cut to the other (get’s low tack,…does the expression exists??) altough i don’ t think you’ll have this option in a one off Transit. But you can apply and peel from your bench 2 or 3 times soo it doesn’t get too much tacky before applying in the van to draw?
Get the low tack by applying it to a substrate before apply in the van.!
1- Apply the Tranfer Paper in the Van
2- Draw with a pencil the curve needed
3- Peel carefully (soo it doesn’t stretch)
4- Apply over the print
5- Trim
6- Peel the template off the Print
7- Apply Print to van.Anyway it’s always better if you ruin the Digi but not the Van, instead of both??
😉
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If you use an outline template, such as Impact, simply apply the panel as an outline to your artwork before sending it to the printers. (ie my printers know that a pink line = cutline.)
Edit: Don’t forget to reverse the panel for the other side.
Measure the panel properly, and reduce the overall cutline by a couple of mm all round, so it doesn’t overhang the edges. -
i had a sprinter to do and as its a common one put the pen in the plotter, and drew the template from the outline. i do this for the inside of windows when blacking out as well much easier than trimming, for me it is
as i am not too steady with a scalpel. -
i have tried several times from the impact and other cds and found them to be to far out 50 t0 80 mm at times but does give you a starting point makes me think i have selected the wrong van sometimes.
chris
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I find that too Chris. Also, the SWB Transit on the Impact CD is scaled wrong by about 6" side & rear aspects. Treat as a guide only, not absolute.
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quote Chris Wool:i have tried several times from the impact and other cds and found them to be to far out 50 t0 80 mm at times but does give you a starting point makes me think i have selected the wrong van sometimes.
chris
Me too, that’s why I said measure accurately 😕 – you get the corner angles cut spot on
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Thanks for all the advice, much appreciated. I think I’ll give it a go with a paper / card template and a sheet of blank vinyl on my own van to see how it goes before I try it out on the real thing.
Steve.
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