Fun with Vinyl

[Yetti]

Fun with the vinyl cutter

 

 

 

[DonMuncy]

What is a vinyl cutter.

[Mark89114]

I am guessing some type of CNC cutter.

[TWinter]

I owned a sign shop at one time. A vinyl cutter, or plotter as called in the sign busness is a roll fed cutting device to cut vinyl signs or graphics. You can use regular clip art from computer files or scan images and make a graphic design. I've sold the business years ago, but still have some equipment. I've done several Mooney logos for my hanger and vehicle. Similar to screen-printing.

 

-Tom

[Yetti]

There are consumer versions.  Mrs. Yetti went and bought one of these http://www.silhouetteamerica.com/   

The program is pretty easy to bring in the .jpg   These are warm ups to redo the Mooney Bird on the vert stabilizer.   Need to see if there are any rivets back there.  Have not figured out the the vinyl over rivets.

Basically an old x-y plotter with a knife in it.  She has made stencils out of cardstock

[steingar]

The RV12 down the way from me just got wrapped in vinyl.  Its a big thing in the experimental community.  He says it save weight and cash over paint, it does look great.  Can't say anything about how it wears.

[rbridges]

my neighbor has a work van that was wrapped.  From a distance it looks good, but you can see where it's starting to pull from corners and such.  I guess a lot has to do with getting someone experienced to install it.

[Hank]

No. that's just how vinyl does. Vinyl cut signs look impressive when they are new, but after a while outdoors the corners generally start to lift away. It's faster and cheaper than painting, that's all. Doesn't hold up very well, regardless of who does it.

[Browncbr1]

There are some films that have some kind of UV resistance...  It's big in power sports in general.  most RVs, boats, and quads also use vinyl graphics.  The problem is that wax buildup occurs at the edges if you wax over them.