Ewan Roberts
Forum Replies Created
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Nice bit of wrapping !!!
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Hi Stuart,
I take it you mean the flat sides of the lorry and not the cab ?
When you fit vinyls to flat sides with overlap like on the 18T or big trailers you need to do a 20mm cut at the very bottom. On the overlap. It is a water problem and have had the same issue myself. Do the cut and it will solve your problem i’m sure.Cheers
Ewan. -
I think Johnstone Window Films or LLumar do an anti condensation film 60 inches wide. Its very expensive but i have tested a sample on a bathroom mirror and it works great. Can’t remember who i got it from though… 😳
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Really nicely fitted job Nicola. You should be proud of yourself fitting all that on your own.
The smart car wrap looks exactly the same as the micrositez smart car wrap i have in a box at my workshop. 😮
Hope you got paid coz i didn’t. (hot)Cheers
Ewan. -
To right mate.
I was thinking of showing him what real vehicle wrapping was.
Wrapping a transit van around his head.
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Hi Phill,
I had a kind of similar problem with a customer in my estate. He asked me to do a small job worth about £85 and the carrot was 2 car for a driving school to be lettered up. I waited about 2 weeks for logos and content to be sent to me so i could do the car designs but within that time i had the other job ready and decided to deliver it to him. When i handed him the job he moaned about the price and then asked me if the artwork for his cars was ready. I said to him that i would get it ready as soon as i could and his reply was ( if i didn’t get my fu***ng finger out he would give the job to another local sign maker). I said to him that i was on it. As i walked back to my van i thought wait a minute this guy has just threatened me and i started to get really pi**ed off. So i decided to go back and speak to him and i said politely that i didn’t think it was a good idea me doing any more work for him as he would bring up the same old sentence every time, i didn’t work quick enough or cheap enough. Well the guy lost it big time, he called me every playground name you could think of, questioned my mothers marital status and then started swinging a big metal bar in the air in the direction of my head. I don’t know if it was the fear that kicked in but i just burst out laughing. As you can imagine that did not help so i had to shuffle backwards while ducking the metal bar and got to my van and shouted to him that he needed to f**#in grow up and made a quick exit. I’m not that desperate for work that i have to deal with customers like that thankfully.Cheers
Ewan. -
Hi Jamie,
thanks for the logo. My customer has asked for an alternative to the logo you sent me. They just want the wording ( Halifax plc ) and i wanted to know what font Halifax use because knowing my luck if i just pick a basic arial or something it will be wrong.
Thanks again for your help.Cheers
Ewan. -
Hi Phill,
Very nice job. The vans look superb. You’ve made a good job of disguising the joins. I would of taken off the badges on the back doors, it lets it down a little, but it’s a minor detail. Can’t wait to see the next 2 vans.P.S. I thought you said you couldn’t wrap ? 😉
Cheers
Ewan. -
Thanks Phill, that gives me a start. I could maybe use the keyboard and the screen separately. Next time I’m passing your door i will pop in and say hello.
Cheers
Ewan. -
Hi Andy,
your not half going back a bit with the wrapping posts mate. I have wrapped with black a lot and still get surface swirl scratch marks now and again but i have found that as the vinyl weathers and ages the marks go away. If you are wrapping a roof and if it’s a van then you should be okay. By the way T cut doesn’t work.Cheers
Ewan. -
Thanks Jill it is very similar apart from the s. Not sure if this has been made from more than one font.
Cheers
Ewan. -
I have Flexi Pro 7.6 v2 on vista and it works fine.
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Doro Tape do a range of chrome vinyls at about £6.50 per mtr at 610 wide.
I have done a drift car with these vinyls. -
Nice sign Al.
You are too cheap, one pint and your anybodys. :lol1: :lol1:Cheers
Ewan. -
Here you go Neil.
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Hi Peter,
I do a lot of this type of thing and the type of vinyl i would use would depend on the colour.
White – Metamark MD5
Black – Mactac 9800 pro series
Colours – Oracal 870 wrapping vinyl, Mactac 9800 pro series, VWS.
They can all be removed after 2 years no problem.
The removal of vinyl, no matter how long it’s been on the vehicle is all technique anyway.Cheers
Ewan. -
Hi There,
this is our dog Jake.
My daughter named him that after Jake from the Tweenies 😛
He is 5 years old
Cheers
Ewan.
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Hi Phil,
that’s a very nice unit. You’ll be bursting at seams in no time. Are you still in the same area?Cheers
Ewan. -
Nice job Karl,
You can beat yourself up all day whether it’s right or wrong. The main thing is that it’s fitted perfectly and hopefully your customer is happy. I notice you have no logo on the bonnet. I suppose with that design it might not look right.
I come out in a rash if i work weekends. :lol1:Cheers
Ewan. -
Hi Shane,
I understand what you’re saying. I think simply you have to work to your strengths, stick to what you are good at and what you can be profitable in.
Some people get sucked in by the vehicle wrapping thing and spend 3-4 days wrapping a van but when you count up the man hours spent on the job they make no money out of it.
We all have skills and just have to channel them in the right direction, that’s why i prefer vehicles rather than climbing 20 feet up a ladder fitting stand off cutout lettering to a shop. It’s not that i can’t do it. It’s just that i prefer to give those types of jobs to my mates in the industry who can do it quicker and to a higher speck.Cheers
Ewan. -
Thank you all for your kind comments and i am more than happy to share my work with you all and if that inspires you to produce good vehicle wraps then that’s good for our industry in general. I do create a lot of my own designs but with this job i worked with a designer commissioned by Daisy and i was able to advise and guide the project to the stage where we had a two dimensional design that would transfer into a three dimensional design that wasn’t going to look out of proportion with each style of van or end up distorted and weird when fitted or technically a nightmare to pull off.
I am not sure what it’s like for other board members but in my area there is a shortage of experienced vehicle wrappers so we are getting more and more commission work from other companys just to do the wrapping. Some companys are able to land the job, do the design, print the wrap and that’s as far as they can go because they don’t have the staff and if they send a member of staff on a wrapping course they soon find out that in the real world the wrapping course only gives them small percentage of the skills they need to produce quality work.
I have a simple rule of thumb. If I’m happy with my work, i know my customer will be happy but if i have to convince myself that i am happy with my work, then i know my customer won’t be happy.
Rob….Thanks to your superb web site we are all able to show our work to each other….. Cheers mate.Ewan.
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Hi Shane,
I am so busy it’s getting a bit mad. We have had our best quarter in two years. I have two full time fitters who had normal vinyl/ sign making skills and i trained them to wrap and are getting better and better with every job they do. We have no need to spend money on wrapping courses when we can do all our training in-house. I suppose i am lucky enough to be able to do this after 25 years in the trade.Cheers
Ewan. -
Hi Jason,
the lime green was printed, it doesn’t show in the pictures to well but it is a printed image of the skin of a lemon/lime. The "C" shape for both sides were interlinked or nested if you like to save on material but you do get a bit of wastage because you can’t get away with a seam or join.
Here is another picture to show the print texture.Cheers
Ewan.
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Thank you for your comments. It’s nice to know that you all understand and appreciate the amount of work that goes into producing work like this.
Cheers
Ewan. -
Hi Guys,
Thanks for the comments. All the vehicles were graficast apart from the Toyota Hi-Lux, i think that was avery. The pink G&W van was graficast stock colour with laminate.Cheers
Ewan. -
Oracal 851 have a huge range of metalics.
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Hi,
Dorotape do have 1220 wide carbon fibre but you have to ask for it, it isn’t in there catalogue. The code is 6710D and is a 5 year vinyl. I have wrapped a few bonnets with this stuff. There number is 0845 165 1636.Cheers
Ewan. -
Hi,
you are right Peter, Helvetica is pretty close but i don’t have that either 😳
Thanks very much for the offer Nick i will get back to you if i need to.
Thanks for the links Drew.Cheers
Ewan. -
Sorry Brian,I’m not in the office but if you try google or yell you should find it.
Cheers
Ewan. -
Used the stuff that Dorotape supply and it looks like the real thing. It’s a cast vinyl so is about £16 per mtr at 1220 wide. If you phone them they will send you an A4 sample.
Cheers
Ewan. -
The best way that i have found for making templates is to use vinyl application tape. Cover the area you want to template then mark out with a pencil. Lay your film flat on a bench, put the marked out application tape on top and cut out.
If there are templates you think you will use a lot then you can cut them out in cheap black vinyl, scan them to your computer then tidy them up with whatever software you use and cut them on your vinyl cutter as many times as you like.Cheers
Ewan. -
Well Done Rob. Very neat.
The wing mirrors are a nice touch.Ewan.
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Thanks Lynn,
I have some Traffic Blue in stock so i’m sorted.Ewan.
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Thanks Derek,
That will do fine. It’s a sort of reflex blue colour i think.Cheers
Ewan. -
The overlap joins must be kept as small as possible (10mm or less) or they will fail every time. I have seen some vans with 50-60mm overlaps for some strange reason and they are failing all over the join or the vinyl is delaminating.
Ewan.
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Wallpaper steamers are ideal for removing vinyl. There is a nack to using them though, you have to keep the plate moving. As you strip with one hand the other hand must be steaming the next bit to be removed and so on. If you leave the plate in one place to long it tends to leave glue.The other good thing with using a steamer is the vinyl doesn’t tear, it goes very soft.
Ewan.
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Hi Cheryl,
I used Graficast print vinyl and Lam 040 laminate for the three cars you see. We also do a lot of short term advertising on smart cars and to keep the price down we us Metamark MD5 with matching laminate, it works great and if fitted correctly can last up to a year.Cheers
Ewan. -
Hi All,
Well i must disagree with the door cutting method because it completely ruins the look of the graphic. Yes there is a risk that the vinyl could brake but i haven’t had that problem. An extra strip of laminate underneath the wrap and on top of the wrap gives it extra protection
The pictures below will show you what i mean. If i was to cut along the door then it would s##t.
I also think that if you cut the door there is a higher risk if water getting into the cut and delaminating the wrap from the car.
Also the new shape Smart (top picture) car doesn’t have the deep recess like the old one and is an easyer car to wrap apart from the rear light clusters as they are not removable like the old shape.Cheers
Ewan.
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Nice job Peter.
Not as easy a job as it looks as i can appreciate.
What make of film do you use?
I use 3M and find it the best on the market and it’s almost the only one that comes 4ft wide.I have used all the rest on the market and find it the best. Not the cheapest though, but you get what you pay for. 😕 -
Hi Martin,
the best way to stop the curling is to make sure you laminate with very little or no brake on the laminator because any tention in the laminate will tansfer onto the print. Also i have found that if you use heat it makes the curling worse. If you are doing a lot of pop ups, try experimenting with different ink coverage, tention and heat until you find a good balance.Cheers
Ewan.
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I went to a company that sell and refurbish pool tables and asked if i could buy some felt. The guy had just stripped the old felt off a table and said i could help myself at no charge. The felt wasn’t that worn and when i turned it over to look at the underside it was like new. Now i have enough felt to last me about five years. 😀 😀 😀
Cheers
Ewan.
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Are these any good George.
Cheers
Ewan.
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It’s not just running your cutter,you can artwork on it and import vehicle outlines. Then you can export the file in any format that you like. For example, i can import a vehicle outline, do the design work, size it up to actual size, export as a pdf and email to the client for approval. Once approved,all i need to do is nest the graphics and cut. Saves a lot of time and effort.
Cheers
Ewan.
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Hi John,
to tell the truth the new flexi is much more user friendly than the old versions. The only problem is that flexicut is £1100 and flexiexpert is £1700. The only difference between them is that flexiexpert does colour vectors and flexicut does not, but anything i want to vector i just turn it to grey scale.Personally i think it’s worth every penny and has paid for it’s self in about 3 months and as i said it links very well with illustrator.Cheers
Ewan.
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Hi Jason,
i have the new Flexicut V8 and use it along side illustrator and find it great to work with. Some of my customers send me illustrator files outlined and i only have to open them in flexi, size them up and cut. Nice and easy, no hastle, unlike most of the work we all do. 😀Cheers
Ewan.
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Hi James,
you have a heat and tention problem. For a normal laminate you should run at about 50oC. For a cast laminate you should only run at about 30-35oC. Try to have as little tention as possible because if you have a lot of tention on the laminator that then transfers onto the print.Try setting the tention very light so that you can turn the bar with the laminate on it with your hands and feel just a little resistance. If you find that the laminate is creasing or wrinkling then you my not be setting up properly or the nip on the rollers needs reset. A good laminator doesn’t need much tention if any at all. -
Cheers Brian, that’s quite a handy web site.
Ewan.
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Tuesday would be good for me cheers Forbie.
Ewan.
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Dorotape do 1220wide Carbon Effect £16 a meter though. It is cast and has a 5-7 outdoor life span. Done a few car bonnets with it and it’s good stuff. If you ask them they will send you a A4 sample and intro pack of all there other products.
Cheers
Ewan.
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Some people call it contra vision and you can get various dot patterns from Metamark,also comes in white and clear some are black backed and some are white backed or clear.
Can be printed normally on any solvent printer.Cheers
Ewan.
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Hi,
there is quite a bit of stretch on the rear quarter of the taxi and the only problem you may have is if you have a heavy ink coverage then you might get colour distortion. Heat a large area and stretch a little not a small area and stretch a lot. If it’s just plain white then you should not have a problem. I have had full wrap last a year with MD5 no problem and the only glue left after stripping is sometimes on the tops of the wings and the bonnet, mostly because of the heat from the engine i think. Stripping vinyl of a taxi or any other vehicle is all technique. It’s just a matter of getting just the right heat on it and pulling at just the right angle. Too much heat will leave a lot of glue and not enough heat takes the paint off.
One thing i forgot to mention about pricing for taxi wraps is cost in the price of a respray (£450) just in case there is a problem when the wrap is removed.Cheers
Ewan.
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Hello,
most taxi wraps nowadays are done with Metamark MD5. You can also use VWS but it’s a bit more expensive. You will need approx 17mtrs to do the wrap and will take about 4 hours for 2 men if you have done taxis before or my be 6 hour if you are not to familiar with them. Average charge just to fit is roughly £250-£350. So cost of white vinyl + markup + decals + fitting = price.
Hope this helps.Cheers
Ewan.
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Hi
I wouldn,t take a secondhand Arizona for free. They are bad news. Very unreliable and the print heads are not cheap. But that is just my opinion.
I think OCE are based in Holland or Belgium. They had a stand at Sign UK last year.Cheers
Ewan.
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Hi Ryan,
a very easy way to cut circles is to get a scrap bit of foamboard about 50mm square and tape it down with masking tape to the sheet you want to cut. Then get another scrap bit of foamboard about 20mm wide and 400mm long,put two marks on the scrap 300mm apart and at one end put a map pin through the mark and right through the board and pin to the taped down bit of board, then put a scalpel through the other mark so the blade pokes through 5mm then start cutting out the circle which should end up 600mm. It takes a bit of practice. Don’t try doing it in one cut. Best to go round with the blade twice.I’ve done multiple circles over a metre wide this way with no mess or dust from routers or jigsaws.
Hope this makes sense.Cheers Ewan.
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Don’t buy masking tape from B&Q or Homebase, it costs a fortune and is rubbish. Millers city art shop in Stockwell Street G1 4RT is good for blades,masking tape, straight edges and any other bits and bobs you might need.
Ewan.
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I like that Robert. You did the right thing with the windows and no matter how careful you are there is always a small bit if white showing.I know what you mean about the full wraps, i will not do it for any less than four figures. The preparation is the boring bit for me, stripping of bodywork and cleaning. It can be very difficult to keep your concentration for two days when the phones ringing all the time and you have staff to organize.
I think it is a great service to offer contract lease van people because they don’t want to go to all the hassle and expense of spray painting a van twice.cheers
Ewan -
Hi Richard, i saw the connect (choc fountain) that was a nice job.
Robert. I agree. I had two wall heaters and a gas burner on in my workshop also stripped down to a t shirt because of the heat and the Macfleet tore. I wish it didn’t because i prefer to heat that into recesses. If they could make it robust like VWS then i would use it every time apart from the satin finish which puts some of my customers of it, also the smaller colour range.
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Thanks again Robert, all together it took me two days to wrap and another half day to put the decals on. the wheel arches are wrapped right under until the metalwork stops and all doors wrapped right round but i did add small filler bits here and there, but not much. The back doors have a big rubber between them so they were okay. The only cheat was the rear door hinges, i sprayed them black 😳
I know what you are saying about the design but the customer had the final say and i have been round the block too many times to get into a big debate about it with him. It is his van after all and his money and he has to drive it every day not me. For all the compromises i am still really happy with it.I think apple green and black is a great combo. -
Thanks Robert, you are right about the Macfleet it works into recesses great but tares far to easy. I am confident that the 9800 will not pop because of the way i prepared the recesses and the way i shrinked them into shape and a bit of afterburning. It’s all about stretching the vinyl the right way as you know.
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Hi Lynn, i asked the very same question. The answer i get was that under the lease agreement they could only get a white van. 😮 You can get them in black because my mate has one. Also the more white vans the better if it keeps me busy and there is a nice big cheque at the end. :lol1: :lol1:
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Thanks Nicola,
yes i know what you mean and i sort of agree but that was the customers design so i had to go with it.Ewan
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quote :what do you think about the promotional flyer from Metamark showing vehicles wrapped in printed MD5?
Have you ever used MD5 to wrap a vehicle?Have wrapped loads taxis with printed MD5 unlaminated and laminated. The solvent ink on the vinyl really softens it up and works well into the contours. Some taxis that i wrapped two years ago still look good. The only thing to watch out for is if you have a heavy ink coverage and you need to do a lot of stretching there can be a bit of colour fade. Not really confident that wrapping a van with deep recesses would work though. Only van i have wrapped with MD5 is a VW Caddy.
Merry Xmas
Ewan 😀 😀
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Avery easy apply is ok but don’t use it on a vehicle with deep recesses such as Merc Sprinter. I have had to rewrap a new shape transit because it popped out of the channels and that is not that bad a van to wrap, and i’ve done over 400 various vans and cars so it wasn’t a fitting issue.
Cheers
Ewan. -
Hi Darren,
do you mean that you wish to view the image through the acrylic? If you do the only proper way to face mount onto clear acrylic at that size is to use optical clear mount film and run it through a laminator, that way you get a perfect result, but the mount film is expensive ! ! ! -
Hi Martin, why not cut the whole panel out and fit a window. 😀 Seriously, when i wrap i work the sides of the recess in first then the centre part and suck the air out with a hypodermic needle and syringe.
Cheers
Ewan
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KPMF do k series vinyl 1520mm wide with a range of reds
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Hi Brian,
your best bet is to flood with vinyl that is if you can find a vinyl that matches your pantone colour. If you know someone with a laminator, bung them a tenner and get them to put the vinyl on the boards with the laminator and save yourself a lot of work, also wrap the vinyl round the edges it gives a better finish and stops the vinyl from peeling at the edges