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View Full Version : Vinyl Lettering on Banner Example



Joe Pelonio
07-17-2007, 2:48 PM
I though that for those who have not seen or done vinyl work I'd show share of the steps for making a simple 4'x8' vinyl banner. Start to finish about an hour, much of that time was doing the shadow letters. The weeding example is from some parking signs, the rest from the actual banner job.

Too big to upload all the pics so here's a link:

http://members.aol.com/pelonio/vinylbnr.htm

Mike Null
07-17-2007, 3:23 PM
Joe

Thanks, I'm just about to start with vinyl so these things are really helpful.

The file looked as if you were cutting the shadow at the same time as the rest of the vinyl. Is that right?

Joe Pelonio
07-17-2007, 3:56 PM
Actually no. I set it up in the file that way, since my program creates drop or shade, drop, or cast shadows automatically. The letters were blue and shadows black so had to be cut with different vinyl. I find it faster and easier to hand lay the shadows onto the backing after weeding the letters, then apply transfer tape. If you weed and tape the shadows and try to apply them all at once they will never line up right.

Mike Null
07-17-2007, 5:13 PM
Thanks, that's what I thought but still have a lot of questions.

Joe Pelonio
07-17-2007, 5:40 PM
Ask, that's what this new forum is for!

Mike Null
07-17-2007, 6:22 PM
Joe

I hate to admit it but I've had my Graphtec for 6 months and haven't turned it on the first time. Every time I think I have a little time another laser order comes in.

Joe Pelonio
07-17-2007, 6:52 PM
When you get around to it then. For me too this is the busiest time of year, I have the laser and at least one plotter running all day and still can't keep up.
At least here at the house I have help, my wife works at a school so is home until late August. She's been great for assembling laser items.

If you're like me, the time will come in late fall when things quiet down enough to do some other things.

Mike Null
07-17-2007, 8:23 PM
That's about my timetable as well. Right now I'm just beginning my heaviest name tag season and with other work already scheduled for next month I doubt that I can get to it before October.

Craig Hogarth
07-17-2007, 11:11 PM
Joe, great idea for a forum. I came on to ask a question about signs and was surprised by this.

I've done a few 8 foot banners and they've come out pretty good. They've been pretty basic and I just stuck the vinyl on with transfer tape. My "starter kit" came with a solution called "splash" but I haven't used it.

I'm just wondering how you line up everything straight, especially with the shadows.

Also, what kind of alignment tolerance do you consider acceptable on banners ie. left side .25 inch higher than right?

Joe Pelonio
07-17-2007, 11:44 PM
Joe, great idea for a forum. I came on to ask a question about signs and was surprised by this.

I've done a few 8 foot banners and they've come out pretty good. They've been pretty basic and I just stuck the vinyl on with transfer tape. My "starter kit" came with a solution called "splash" but I haven't used it.

I'm just wondering how you line up everything straight, especially with the shadows.

Also, what kind of alignment tolerance do you consider acceptable on banners ie. left side .25 inch higher than right?
First, this was Keith's idea, and I agree it's a good one. Also, there are many others with sign and vinyl experience here, hopefully others will get into the discussion.

For me there is zero tolerance for alignment errors on signs and vehicle lettering. Banners though, may have faults in the sewing of the hems and therefore may not be perfectly square to begin with. For them I make sure that the lines of text are perfectly aligned with each other, and that the top line is aligned to the top. If anything is a little off it will be the bottom.

Some people will snap a chalk line, then lay down the vinyl using that as a guide, but that almost always requires wet application. I use application fluid only for multiple color alignment on backlit acrylic faces. Everything else I do dry.

What I normally do is measure off of the top or bottom edge of the substrate, to the top or bottom of the line of text. Then apply masking ape to hold in place and for hinging. Comes out perfect. Keep in mind you have to use flat topped/bottomed letters to measure from and not ones with descenders. Round letters like O or G are taller than flat ones like M. I have a whole supply of 6" aluminum rulers, they are easy to lose

Nothing looks worse than shadow letters where someone just puts two lines of the same text slightly offset, so you can see the edges underneath. I've seen shops do that on vehicles and it's really unprofessional. What I do is cut (but not bother weeding) the shadows, then with tweezers and fingers apply each piece to the weeded but untaped letters. Then tape over the whole thing and apply normally. It takes some manual dexterity.

Craig Hogarth
07-18-2007, 12:41 AM
What I normally do is measure off of the top or bottom edge of the substrate, to the top or bottom of the line of text. Then apply masking ape to hold in place and for hinging. Comes out perfect.


You mentioned hinging. Do you tape one side of vinyl to the substrate and apply from there? I'm only playing by ear right now and I'm ignorant to all sign making techniques.

Also, let's say you have a banner with 2 lines of text. The first line has 3 words in black, 3 words in blue and the second line is all gold. Do you apply it on the banner in 3 parts or do you adhere all colors to the application tape and apply at once?

probably more questions to come :)

Thanks for the help.

Joe Pelonio
07-18-2007, 8:39 AM
You mentioned hinging. Do you tape one side of vinyl to the substrate and apply from there? I'm only playing by ear right now and I'm ignorant to all sign making techniques.

Also, let's say you have a banner with 2 lines of text. The first line has 3 words in black, 3 words in blue and the second line is all gold. Do you apply it on the banner in 3 parts or do you adhere all colors to the application tape and apply at once?

probably more questions to come :)

Thanks for the help.
Hinging works two ways. The most common is to align, then run 1.5" masking tape across the top or bottom. Cut between letters to allow for application of 18"-2' of lettering at a time.

Then flip over, remove the backing, and lay down while squeegying. For larger pieces, as in the example on my link, tape across the center, and on one end. Lift the untaped half, peel off the backing toward the center, cut thru the backing, and apply that half. Remove the masking tape and apply the other half.

On something large, taping on one end would often result in poor alignment as a person applies it they could be pulling up or down.

As for your second question, it could be done either way. For text it's a lot faster to just apply one color at a time, measuring carefully to align them.
For complicated multicolor graphics like logos, I'll use registration marks and sometimes will apply transfer tape over them all, in layers if needed. Especially when selling multi colored transfers for someone else to install.

Aaron Koehl
07-18-2007, 11:14 AM
Looks good, thanks for posting!
I've only done one large banner so far, but it was all the same color vinyl.

Joe, did you lose the dot above the 'i' in Benefits?

Joe Pelonio
07-18-2007, 11:38 AM
Joe, did you lose the dot above the 'i' in Benefits?
I thought so at first, but it's their artwork (e-mailed to me) and that i dot would be right under the tip of the f due to their spacing so they left it off.

Scott Shepherd
07-23-2007, 10:51 AM
Thanks for posting that Joe. For everyone else, Joe's helped me privately to get going in the vinyl world. It started off with a small need for a certain client (and I planned to let it sit the other 39 hours a week), and now it's expanding more and more each week.

I started this clueless, and with Joe's help, am slowly progressing. Most everything I do is done from a common sense point of view, rather than from a technique point of view, so seeing things like this really help me to see the easier ways to doing certain tasks.

I'm working on a couple of large signs right now. As soon as the paint dries and I can get some more vinyl on it, I'll post some photos. Hopefully I'll make Joe proud :)