[TimDouglas]

Thanks Steve will try it at those lower temperatures, Using xpres recommended settings for this material just, Using xpres silicon release paper first then the thick plastic one over it again. It must be these shirts, not suited to these type of flex, i don’t see much difference in these and football shirts. Have used the samples from other suppliers also with same results,The shirt is always coming to the front. have one shirt away with magictouch to see if they can come up with a good result, This is being done worldwide now with these shirts so I’m going to have to keep searching for the right one. (!)

Thanks Tim

[TimDouglas]

Thanks Steve will try it at those lower temperatures, Using xpres recommended settings for this material just, Using xpres silicon release paper first then the thick plastic one over it again. It must be these shirts, not suited to these type of flex, i don’t see much difference in these and football shirts. Have used the samples from other suppliers also with same results,The shirt is always coming to the front. have one shirt away with magictouch to see if they can come up with a good result, This is being done worldwide now with these shirts so I’m going to have to keep searching for the right one. (!)

Thanks Tim

[TimDouglas]

Having some problems with Ultra cut ( xpres ), I got some samples of Ultra cut Steve as you thought they may be better for the shirts I’m working with, As you can see they didn’t turn out well at all,
. 20 seconds @ 170 c and carrier released hot, paper used then Teflon sheet over again.
Can you see anything I’m doing wrong? When releasing the carrier it pulls the flex out off shape so next colour doesn’t line up correctly, Any suggestions welcome, The shirt with the name and number was done using super flex, it seems to work better but as you say not as durable, They are not good enough to do a shirt as you can see the shirt background. I got samples from other companies but still not satisfied.

Thanks again
Tim

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[TimDouglas]

Use Jason’s Tape comment, I use thick brown tape ( cardboard box tape ) works for us almost every time , unless your over aggressive. + the rest of the advice , Good drill bit , not too fast and make sure your going in straight.

[TimDouglas]

Like the look of the R1400 , Would be good to go to the R2400 but I like the fact that the R1400/1800 can CD print also, My current printer prints Cd’s and it has been great, saying that the CD print has stopped working and its outside warranty. Don’t think I will be going Dye Sub just yet, and I was told that once you convert the R1800 for Dye sub you cant chop and change. Checked out those other suppliers, Most well over the £400 mark. It is mainly going to be for garment transfers and general printing, very little full photo quality. R1400 will prob do my job and there in stock with amazon.

[TimDouglas]

Out of stock , cant tell me when there getting them in again, tried them yesterday.

Thanks again

[TimDouglas]

Cant seem to get my hands on a R1800 for decent cash , £411 + delivery cheapest I found, Is the R1400 in the same league ? £250 + delivery, I know should pay extra for correct machine! Who did you get your R1800 off ? Want to order one as soon as possible.
Thanks steve

[TimDouglas]

mod-edit 1 see board rules.

[TimDouglas]

Yeah Reading this setting sheet, I think it requires me to use a R800/R1800 printer for these sheets to work, Do they require pigment inks? They are colour trans dark jet ( settings which i used as per sheet were 20secs at 175C at med pressure ) will try putting a piece of superflex down today and try that, its only on my old tops anyways, I will order in Ultra cut when they reopen. I got some A4 samples from victory and grafityp also to try today.
Thanks steve

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[TimDouglas]

You could be right as it could be the back off the shirt, but If I look at the back of it , it has been heat pressed across the ridges with no problems, The problem I’m more worried about it why you can see the colours of the shirt but not on the coca cola logo, whats the difference? Even on the white motocross logo you can see the black line from the shirt ?
Thanks Tim

[TimDouglas]

Purchased my heat press from the magic touch couple of weeks ago but been so busy not getting much time to play on it, Went with them as I seen the press in operation and was impressed and when I contacted themagictouch and xpres , only themagictouch got back to me with a quote and very reasonable shipping to Northern Ireland. I just realised I cant add photos in this forum so may start a new topic, I know Steve underhill said I should use Ultra cut from xpres for the motocross t shirts( 100% polyester , the stuff I was recommend to use by xpres on my visit to them was Super flex. Does anyone know what the real differences in these two are? Look familiar to me except it looks like you can use the silver / gold with ultra cut and not with super flex but super flex has opaque white which was also recommended. Should I use what stock I have and change over ? Or keep working with the super flex.

Next problem I am having is that when I was at xpres we pressed logos from a ink jet printer onto a dark jet paper. I purchased XP3133.
I used this on my Epson stylus photo R340. Problem here was that the quality was far from what I was expecting , On light colors it was passable,on darks you can hardly make it out , the shirt colours shine through which is terrible.
Did I buy the wrong stuff? should I be using XP3127 Ultragraphics ink jet dark? Do I need to be using a D88 / R1800 printer first?

Thanks for the help again
Tim Douglas

[TimDouglas]

angled you mean?

[TimDouglas]

thanks Johnny I can tidy them from these.

Tim

[TimDouglas]

Thanks Marcella, There is one I like that might work well.

[TimDouglas]

Thanks Marcella, There is one I like that might work well.

[TimDouglas]

Thanks Ian ,Dmrr.net – £ 2.00 plus delivery, could not have made them for that . Hopefully be here for the weekend.

Thanks tim

[TimDouglas]

I will discuss the pricing with him tomorrow, when he comes in, but the reason he wants them made now is that he ( estate agents ) doesn’t want the quantities that they had to order from the screen printers, Large outlay but your right if he is not happy paying approx £20 each then i will not be busting my *** all the time for £10 per board!
I enjoyed making the sample anyway to test my speed and preparing the vectors so it will do as a sample here.

Tim

[TimDouglas]

thanks Steve, must check my invoice to see which one xpres recommended when i visited them, I purchased 6 different colours while I was there, hopefully its the same stuff. Think what Robert says that his lasted 20 years that will justify the extra £200 quid to get one from xpres or Adkins direct depending on price but I’m guessing they will be approx the same, its the delivery which may be the selling point! Some people think Northern Ireland is like sending to America !!! The prices some companies charge !

Thanks – I think I’m clear on what I’m doing, have been asked so many times " when you going to do my shirt? " Reason I want to get it right first time is as I have been told on here many times is to get the quality right first and each of these shirts I will be working on costs £30 / 40 quid each !! Will have to dig in my garage for practice shirts .

Thanks
TD

[TimDouglas]

Thanks guys , think adkins is the one from xpres, Steve maybe your the right man to ask as you do alot of shirt printing, trying to get the correct material for shirt printing onto motocross shirts , poly, need to withstand alot of abuse, there is lots of people at it but unsure on correct stuff to buy , I have xpres stuff but it seems a little thin compared to the shirts i got made for myself. My own shirts are a real heavy vinyl and have been through extreme conditions and washed many times and still going strong with no signs of wear , would love to get the same stuff.

Thanks TD

[TimDouglas]

First for me also Robert – sweet as

[TimDouglas]

I think the job could be completed if i cut the shapes i need in yellow vinyl and apply the 150mm red reflective, Any ideas of which yellow to use, I have been using Avery 700 at the moment but will order in an alternative colour if the customer is happy to proceed . I really would like to complete this job as he then wants the rest of the van done, he just cant decide what he wants , I done sun strip and driver ID on the rally car at the weekend and they loved that so they have a few vans , cars motorbikes about them so may be further work.

[TimDouglas]

Does it come in rolls of say 6" in yellow and red then just fit by hand you mean? Any suppliers for the regular type? I don’t think it needs to be diamond grade.

[TimDouglas]

My imagination wouldn’t even know where to start , keep them coming …

[TimDouglas]

Yeah its the same designs wants to keep the two the same. There first lorry is done about a year ago. Name and number up each side and front and back. Is it fair off me to to charge what 10 year plus sign makers charge + there overheads + employees? I realize that what they have is what I’m aiming for.There is two sign shops about 10 mile radius to me. One in each direction. I work from my home workshop with little overheads.

[TimDouglas]

Yeah will have to make sure I do these jobs for a healthy profit and not just to break even… Well the two berlingos as turned into me doing there rally car now and the Hutcheon fuels van has got me there 2nd oil lorry to do, there first lorry was £400 so i need to come in below that I’m thinking, Not alot to fit to it but large Names / Numbers which I already have designed.

All advice welcome. thanks for the comments

[TimDouglas]

Thanks for your comments, yeah think pricing is cheap, Now that i have bit of experience i can maybe come up with a better pricing, Yep I have been flat out and not really seeing the financial reward yet. I would hate to actually think what I’m making per hour. I don’t mind as I get silly money in my day job but we are moving our factory to India in January so i only have my job for one year after to support the move, after that i don’t want to have to do the interviews,working for someone else + traveling to work anymore.Hopefully then i will be established and fully kitted out. Forgot to say i done the two berlingos for £150!!

How i completed the vans so far.

1.Design concept
2. Once im happy with it start to sort out each colour to get as much from my vinyl as possible and start cutting.
3. With 2 / 3 layer stuff it takes a little longer
4. Weed everything
5. Re cut anything i damaged!
6. Apply application tape – Using large bench + roller ( great job for one man band )
7. Tackle the large ( main focal points ) sides
8. Complete sides fully
9. Move to front and back
10. Forgot wash van first + IPA of hard spots. Like to leave the van clean not just the areas I’m working on .

Think where i loose time is setting it all to cut ( making weed boxes etc ) double checking ( I use impacts disc but still nervous )
Then applying application tape, i go slow to get it correct ( sometimes i do nothing different and i get mini bubbles and sometimes perfect) ( sometimes perfect on application tape and bad on van )
Then as i hang up before fitting i measure , measure and re- measure again.
Also my cutter / computer etc is in spare room , then workshop is garage. Would like to put all together and have the room but read somewhere about possible damp. I have it fitted out with TV and radio ( there fine ) Small carrying time? Then when i go to fit I also leave something i need scissors or something on the bench! Also i only have one large set of steps so I’m up and down it . Tressles maybe help that.

Really struggle to see how anyone could fit it in a couple of hours ( No one in a sign shop would hire me going on my times eh?? )

Thanks again
Tim

[TimDouglas]

I was in the same boat as yourself, jumped in 6mths ago purchased off eBay and didn’t even get the machine to cut my name! after pulling my hair out, i took the advice from the people here and purchased a Roland GX24, its a great machine, having completed all the jobs i have done so far there is no way in the world i would have been able to do with the rabbit cutter , I did get it working eventually but it is sitting in the corner gathering dust which i must get back onto eBay !Ideal for someone who uses it daily and is used to it as a second machine. Paid £300 for the rabbit and £ 1400 for the Roland , no comparison, save harder. My advice as I’m a newbie is that you have to have full commitment to this as there is much much more that the investment of a cutter. Join the boards , ask the questions , watch all the videos and research the business before you invest, saying that I cant wait to get home from work each day to play on the roland and get paid for a skill while i learn. At the stage now where I have to much work coming in for the part time hours i have free! 🙂

[TimDouglas]

Anyone any ideas on this one as im fitting it tonight, I have it traced but the font would have been better.
Thanks

[TimDouglas]

Thanks simon , messed around with the settings and was able to get it sorted. good job.

Tim

[TimDouglas]

Slightly better i hope

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[TimDouglas]

What site is that frank?

[TimDouglas]

http://www.rivalart.com/store/pc/viewCa … ategory=25

Maybe one of these?

Tim

[TimDouglas]

I have not finished the van but here is the picture of the bike.
Cut it on 610 plotter, The main body in one cut and the front wheel added on.

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Attachments:

motocross outline.ai

[TimDouglas]

I have one at home which i can send tomorrow along with a photo of it fitted if you can wait .

[TimDouglas]

Little advice here fitting this tomorrow morning, should I center all the graphic ( swoop + writing ) or center from the ( EAKIN ) ? Do you know what i mean? Center from eakin makes the righting read correct but then its off center when the swoop is on and dont want anyone thinking i cant use a tape measure..

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[TimDouglas]

Thanks David , Looks like a handy tool, its 395 Australian Dollors which is about 162 pounds so will download the trail see if I cant live without it !

TD

[TimDouglas]

Thanks everyone got it sorted, Have been able to do the top design ( Home ) still working on the second. Have also updated it a little and changed the black to light Grey to try and convince him to change. And also only shadowed the name only .

[TimDouglas]

I bought the DVD package from http://www.advancedartist.com , 11 hours plus very help full guy , the free tutorials on his site are good. 79 dollars deliverd. Have not gotten through everything as I always fall asleep !

I am looking for some good dvds or books regarding layouts and colour schemes if there is any on the web?

[TimDouglas]

thanks they sending me some samples out today.

[TimDouglas]

yeah when i was doing it i noticed that the phone numbers where not great.To late to change it then. Customer is happy with it which is the main thing.

Thanks
Tim

[TimDouglas]

Hi folks I just finished the for sale sign.
This is what me and the customer agreed on yesterday evening, needed today for 2pm, got it done at 1pm . This sign industry is not an easy number.

Please go easy on the picking faults , but your comments will be remembered for next time.

Trying to work out a cost for this. 4×4 ft sign

£5.00 for the sign, 6 hours to cut and fit , 1.5 hours design
All cut vinyl ( had to vetorise the three logos ) . Would £70 pounds be to much, This was my first job of this size so I’m sure i would get faster was just double checking everything as i went along.

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[TimDouglas]

Thanks Peter , another job completed.

[TimDouglas]

Thanks very much for the designs, I will probably end up using one off them rather than mine, the drawing and vectoring experience was good and i done them fairly quickly. The sign has to be ready for friday! 3 cars and 3 vans also , under a bit of "P" so the less complicated the better and im over in xpres all day tomorrow (!)

[TimDouglas]

Its 4 ft x 4 ft ( for you in americano sizes ) :lol1:

[TimDouglas]

Thanks for the advice folks, When I see another example I realize my errors, will do a couple of posts and let him decide. Might just show him Simon’s ideas, much easier to apply . thanks

Tim

[TimDouglas]

Its just the design he asked for , Maybe I should do a simple one as well and see which one he prefers.

[TimDouglas]

Its all cut vinyl, for a property developer who uses the two estate agents at the bottom. He has quite a few off these for sale so he wants to use it for a while. I see your point about being a little cluttered.. Will try to re think

[TimDouglas]

Don’t want to put you off but i recently purchased a Rabbit off eBay, I had the exact same problems with yourself, After about 3 months off trying to get it working each day I got half decent results, Using artcut was the only way I got it to work, Play with the sharp angle setting, You need to get the rollers feeding the vinyl 100%, which i found almost impossible. Spent days at this with them, less pressure is better, Only use 2 rollers, two extreme positions, you wont be using this vinyl anyways. Only have the blade out so you can barely see it. Cut settings are slow, cant remember what pressure i settled with as I have recently abandoned the rabbit to the spare room to gather dust , wouldn’t want to sell it to pass on my troubles. Maybe only good for someone who runs them and is well used to them. I purchased a Roland GX24, 20Min’s after out of the box, running a dream. Have no problems with waves on my letters or marks on vinyl and can use all my scrap vinyl for small jobs which would have to go to the bin with the rabbit only. I eventually had to send mine back to my supplier for him to set it up and send back to me. So 3 months later I’m almost £500 down on costs plus + rolls of wasted vinyl and about 80 hours work. Sorry for being negative but pressure your supplier to get it set up for you if you want to save some time.
Tim D

[TimDouglas]

I used eurostyle Bold , contour 1mm and removed the original and put the 1 to a I and almost a match. Not perfect but starting to realize its sometimes hard to get other peoples fonts to match as I’m sure there is thousands

Thanks

TD

[TimDouglas]

Thanks for trying anyways.

Tim 😥

[TimDouglas]

Worked great, many thanks . Will let you see the end results

TD

[TimDouglas]

jxuereb, Hi the client loves your first design eakin 2 . Not so fussed on my designs ! grr, any chance you could post it as a use able file for corel x3.? Save me having to draw again, Englarge all by 2000% ?

[TimDouglas]

Thanks , tried fitting and weeding then which works fairly well, not sure its a good idea when fitting to another layer of vinyl but. will keep tweeking. Simple text would be best option here i think. Thanks for the insight lads.

TD

[TimDouglas]

Thanks not bad, have a few options to show him now. How do i use the gif file or do i just copy the ideas in coreldraw?

[TimDouglas]

Brian , any chance you could tell me the exact version of eurostile that is , I have 4 or 5 but they just not an exact match?

[TimDouglas]

Many thanks brian, worked a treat.

TD

[TimDouglas]

I waited almost 3 weeks for them to get back to me but ring Roland to get a price tody, I phoned quite a few places before I decided, Not even £50 difference between most of them, see who can give you extra benefits, I fly to xpres on the 22nd to see there factory , set up and get a few tips.

[TimDouglas]

Just received one from http://www.xpres.co.uk

Or Roland direct also good deals

[TimDouglas]

Thanks brian , cant open them till I get home but will let you know how i get on, thanks. will put a post up off some off my work some off these days to say thanks to everyone, took delivery of a roland GX24 eventually !

[TimDouglas]

This one is possibly better quality, need to produce the same.

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[TimDouglas]

quote timdouglas:

Is this D3 Egoistism? IF it is I have it already.

used this font, almost perfect , added in the U myself.

Thanks

[TimDouglas]

Yeah I think its added in cause its a german company. Is it possible to space text once you have converted to curves? I know how to get it under text formatting in corel but not sure how to get text back after converted?

[TimDouglas]

Yeah I think its added in cause its a german company. Is it possible to space text once you have converted to curves? I know how to get it under text formatting in corel but not sure how to get text back after converted?

[TimDouglas]

Is this D3 Egoistism? IF it is I have it already.

[TimDouglas]

Job done, Excellent, can i ask did you trace that or did you find the full logo? surprised anyone had that, worth my signup fee along

thanks jamie

[TimDouglas]

also as ai version

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ersa.ai

[TimDouglas]

I have had to draw this as i could not get a close enough match, As I’m far from an expert on drawing yet and all my attempts at automatic vetoring turn out terrible i was hoping someone would be able to tidy it up for me so that i can plot it, The vinyl graphic is going on 4 machines which are due to ship to India on wed so hopefully by me trying people will be more helpful than not trying at all. It was done on corel x3 and saved as a cdr file.

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Attachments:

ersa.cdr

[TimDouglas]

thanks Alan, got it, that’s what i used before but had forgot .

[TimDouglas]

Yes Alan this is what i was looking for , could you explain where to find it, Im using a standard color palette, what color pallet is best to use just for vinyl designs?

[TimDouglas]

No only using single layer to, been messing around , think i have it sorted for now.. thanks for the help!!

[TimDouglas]

Thanks, When i press color separations in corel x3 it brings up all ways four colors ( cyan, magenta, yellow, black ) even when im only using it for one color, Am i using the wrong color pallet – Mainly vinyl or is a setting somewhere ? Thanks again

[TimDouglas]

That’s exactly what I’m looking for .. I have no problem fitting it struggling with keeping it on all colours if you catch my drift, I draw the box on the first layer how do i get it onto all the rest / in the same position?

Thanks

[TimDouglas]

Thanks lads, yeah I think that full colour is a step to far at the moment. Yeah I think that there has to be a problem with the machine i first got. I’m an engineer plus my mate who used to work in a sign company was baffled by it, it had its own mind.Everything was set up correctly and 100 calls to the supplier he had no answers either. It has not put me off. The full colour graphics would only be A3 size anyways, All the printers I have seen to be full size. Going to place my order at the start of the week with either company.

[TimDouglas]

Thanks for your help lee and Andy , glad to see I’m using the same programs as someone out there, I tried it on my work PC there which is networked to home so hopefully when i get home i will see if i get results from this . The guy i bought my ploter of is going to use remote access to go onto my PC and set the settings for me which is good, He thinks i have the Usb driver and plotter drivers mixed. Will plot from winpc but not corel?
Lee do you find that when you have your design work in corel x3 the curves are perfect and move to winpc that the nodes are not as smooth and are jagged? is there anything to help this ?

Tim D

[TimDouglas]

If you email me or PM your address and stuff. I Can send a cheque or postal order to you now and get a Currier to collect. Or if you can think of an easier way I’m open to suggestions?

[TimDouglas]

Rich £50 pounds and if you box it i cover postage ?

[TimDouglas]

Thanks do you have website address of any of these company’s or phone no?

the close press would be the job, will maybe look out for one but i have a at least 10 orders for plates and i not advertised yet so i need to get moving…

Thanks

[TimDouglas]

Thanks Peter , cant wait to get started !!

[TimDouglas]

Noticed that myself, its a ai file only 128mb ? any thing im doing wrong with the file?

[TimDouglas]

From Limavady , Co.Londonderry. Looks to be a great site, just waiting on getting my access, signed up Sunday . Do you get an email to confirm ? Hopefully there will be some work, have been fitting graphics to bikes for years and worked with auto cad also for years so hopefully i can transfer my skills over . Working on Corel draw at present.