Discuss the various aspects of heat pressed vinyl transfers. Popular and new types of vinyl media, suppliers, vinyl cutters /plotters, press times, quality, how to instructions and more can be found in this heat press sub forum.
i've viewed a couple of threads on this but nothing to describe the actual technique of applying a vinyl design/sign to a vehicle.
one forum member said after cutting and weeding your design, you spray an adhesive and then tape the design in place on the vehicle.
then what? do you burnish it? do you use a heating device to assure a permanent bond? or is there a material that has an adhesive backing already?
just curious because i've been doing heat press transfer work for awhile now but have just stumbled across the vinyl cutting aspect of doing tees and signage with a cutter such as the roland gx 24.
thanks for your time.
The vinyl you use for cars would have an adhesive already applied to the back side. There are different ways to apply vinyl, some people use what's called a wet method where a water and soap solution or a premade solution just for applying vinyl is sprayed on the prepared surface. Then the taped vinyl is applied and squegeed and the tape is removed. I use a dry method where the surface is cleaned then I tape the vinyl in place with 2 pieces of tape, peel it halfway and cut the backing out of the way and using a squeege I place the vinyl on the substrate or car. Then I remove the tape and peel the other half and squeege it down. Then I squeege over the whole graphic and remove the transfer tape.
You can go to SignWarehouse.com and look at a video of vinyl being installed for a better explanation. But if I was just starting out I would get some practice before attempting a big job on somebodies car.
Ill give you the run down.
After you cut and weed, you need to apply an application tape to the design. This will lift the design from the backing paper when its time to apply the decal. Next you want to make sure your surface is clean and within the temp. requirements of the material. Minimum of 50*F is wnat I go by. You can apply in colder but lets start simple. If you are doing a wet application, mist to spray the area with an appication spray ( I use a 16oz sprayer with hot water and a few drops of cheapo dish soap) Peel the design from the backing paper with the appication tape and line up the design to the area. Now with a roller or a light touch with a squeegee, apply a little pressure and test to see if the decal is sticking. If not wait a little longer, apply a little more pressure and try again. In the colder temps the wet style takes much longer but allows you to repostion until you have it right.
A dry application is without any spray. What I do is leave a little of the application tape longer at the top to act as postioning tape. You can apply it to see if the decal is in the right place. Once you have it where you want it, pull one corner of the backing paper down and away. With your other hand, smooth the decal down lightly. After you remove all the backing paper, use your squeegee to remove any bubbles of air trapped by pushing them to the nearest edge lightly. Once its in place, peel the application tape away and you have a placed decal. Hope that made sense.
thanx terry and monkeys. you both made alot of sense. it's weird because when i was just a kid out of the army in the 80's i started working in screen printing and i always thought that those cheesy 1 color signs on truck doors were screen printed. but then wondered how a screen frame could be made to fit the contour of the vehicle. WAHLAH!!! vinyl. -peace guys.
I know many of my sign buddies use the dry or wet method. I use the wet method but I just use plain water. Either way you go just make sure you go with the contour of the vehicle. It's pretty easy once you get the hang of it.
applying vinyl signage to vehicles? 
