I have a plotter I've used a bunch for tshirts and now a friend asked me to do window decals for her horse club. I read the threads about what kind of vinyl to buy...I like the Denver sign folks... It sounds like there is another step involved with the window decal. With tshirt it's weed, stick to shirt, heat press. How does the tape come in. Is anyone willing to break down the steps for me? Thanks
Design, cut (do not mirror), weed, apply transfer tape. When you're ready to apply it to the substrate (window, sign, banner) peel the backing off the decal, line up straight (you can do many different methods, dry hinge, dry and stick, wet) and squeegee onto substrate, then peel off transfer tape.
Check out youtube, there is some great instructional videos posted on there.
First you don't mirror cut, then weed then put transfer tape over the decal, I use the clear type, its easier to see what you are doing,, when you apply the transfer tape pulls the image off of the carrier paper and apply,, its simple easy, some people use a fluid , this allows you to align the decal without it sticking, but I dont have a problem with using the clear transfer tape.
Hope this helps,
Thanks. I found some good examples on youtube (and some pretty interesting clips too...go figure) What are your favorite products for car window decals?
Thanks. I found some good examples on youtube (and some pretty interesting clips too...go figure) What are your favorite products for car window decals?
One thing you need to know is the difference between 'calender' vinyl and 'cast' vinyl. They are manufactured differently and have differences (they look identical) Calender is cheaper and works for almost everything and actually works for window decals for short term (people trade or crash their cars before the vinyl wears out ) but cast is a better quality and doesn't have a memory, therefore it won't shrink in the weather. The price difference in a roll is from $20 (shipped) and about $40 (shipped). There is a lot of margin in a roll of vinyl so the choice is yours. A 10 yard roll of 24" vinyl costs $20/roll---> 30 linear feet comes out to $.67/linear foot. So doubling that won't break the bank. Use good materials and people will be very happy.
Happy customers MAY use you again and may even talk well of you, but an unhappy customer will ALWAYS talk about you.
Remember the chinese proverb of "an out-of-tune bells carries twice as far."
Thanks signage that is good information. Which brand do you prefer? So far I have followed the recommendations on this forum and I know I have saved myself time, grief and money...and I really appreciate that. I'm a small home based business that perfers to do small orders but I like to do them right and I don't like anyone to be disappointed in the product I give them...
One thing to remember is rather the decal will be placed on the outside or inside of the car window. If outside do not mirror cut. Inside DO MIRROR unless you want it to be read backwards!
I do a ton of vehicle decals and generally prefer the Oracal 651. It holds up well for most people's needs. Also, it's not impossible to remove should they change their decal or sell their vehicle.
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Jenn ~ Phire Branded Apparel and Graphics
I'm big on R-Tape, too. I particularly like the AT-60 which is clear. I do a lot of multi color applications and it makes it so much easier to line up the layers. You can use the same piece of tape to apply multiple layers as well so that helps to offset the slightly higher price. I use the paper tape when I'm doing banners and other larger applications.
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Jenn ~ Phire Branded Apparel and Graphics
I'm big on R-Tape, too. I particularly like the AT-60 which is clear. I do a lot of multi color applications and it makes it so much easier to line up the layers. You can use the same piece of tape to apply multiple layers as well so that helps to offset the slightly higher price. I use the paper tape when I'm doing banners and other larger applications.
We use the AT-60 and like it. It has to be cut with a knife rather than ripping, but it works well on small parts of signs because you can reuse it 5-6 times. But beware, some of the most common mess-ups I make it trying to be cheap on tape and I end up getting wrinkles, dirt, air under my mask.
We are testing some calender vinyl in an outdoor (and friggggggid at that) setting and after over a year it still looks great. I've always heard of the problems with this, but decided to do it to a sign of my own and I am not seeing any shrinking or problems.
More questions about window decals 
) but cast is a better quality and doesn't have a memory, therefore it won't shrink in the weather. The price difference in a roll is from $20 (shipped) and about $40 (shipped). There is a lot of margin in a roll of vinyl so the choice is yours. A 10 yard roll of 24" vinyl costs $20/roll---> 30 linear feet comes out to $.67/linear foot. So doubling that won't break the bank. Use good materials and people will be very happy. 
