Transfers and Bumper Stickers - Letter Xfer to car window

[Gary Gilbert]

I would like to make my own transferred letters for an ad on my car.
I know the vinyl cutting people basically cut out the lettering on an adhesive material, you take it to the window (or surface) and carefully apply it.

Now - what material can I use to make a transferred letter on my laser machine? I would like an adhesive that I can transfer to my car and apply it, but not cut through the material so I have it on the transfer.

I would like to use white material for my back window.
I would like to use a lighter color (white, gold, silver) for the back
or side of my car.

I didn't see any technical libraries on this, and the LaserFoil products would be just fine - but I need to be able to transfer that to the car.

Let's just say I want to say "Gary's Lasers" in letters as a vector cut, then keep that whole alignment, transfer to my window, and apply it.

Any tricks, traps, or guides that have already been posted?

Thanks,

Gary

[Joe Pelonio]

Laser foils, sign vinyl and even laserlights can be "kiss cut" on the laser so that it goes through the material but not the backing, but it's not easy. The setting has to be perfect and the material perfectly flat.Then you still need to weed and apply transfer tape to apply to the car.

You can get around this by cutting through the whole ting, then weed, put the letters back where they were inside the weeded background backing, then apply the transfer tape.

The problem with other than sign vinyl is that it may not be outdoor durable
for very long.

Sign vinyl (cast) will go 7-8 years on a car window. Laser foil is meant for awards and may not last long outside, and I don't know about laserlite's outdoor durability either.

[mike klein]

I've tried some of the laser thins from Rowmark b4 I got the vinyl machines but it didn't hold up very well outdoors. In about a year is started fading real bad, and not only that, its a bear to get off the vehicle compared to using reagular vinyl.

Mike

[Kevin Huffman]

The main thing you want to watch out for when cutting vinyl is make sure you are cutting PVC based vinyls. You want to use the Polyester based vinyls. Engraving/Cutting PVC is harmful not only to you but also your machine. It rusts all the stainless steel in the machine.

Other than that, I have a lot of customers who are doing this application.
Tips are going to be usually 100% speed and a mid to higher power (depending on wattage of your machine). The trick is getting it not to burn to much (especially the white). You just have to do a couple of tests before you find the right setting.

[Tracey Bakewell]

Kevin, who is a good vendor to purchase the polyester based sign vinyl from? I have a customer who wants to create interior art like signs. She will be painting the wood, and I will be cutting out the letters to place on the wood so there is no issue with outdoor fading. I don't think any of the foils would be good for her projects, just regular vinyl colors.

Thanks!

[Mike Null]

I'm sure the warnings about cutting vinyl are well founded but at the last place I worked we had 2 Epilog 100w machines and we engraved our vinyl glass masking all the time. Where we could, we applied the vinyl to the glass and engraved then did the sandblasting. If, because of a compound shape we couldn't do that we would use spray adhesive on some scrap metal, put the vinyl on that and kiss cut it.

This was done on thousands of awards and the was no apparent harm to the machines. They're 12 years old and still in use.

Still, I think all mfrs. advise against engraving it so you have to be the judge.

[Joe Pelonio]

I did a lot of research on it including talking to vinyl manufacturers.

I found that vinyl films do not contain a lot of PVC, premium 2 mil if used on an occasional basis is probably not going to cause problems. I would not do it 8 hours every day though.

[Kevin Huffman]

Hey Joe,
It doesn't matter if it has a small amount or large amount, the effect will be the same. I can always tell when a customer has engraved/cut PVC or Teflon. Their machine's stainless steel parts have started to rust. I know what your thinking, stainless steel doesn't rust......... But it does if it is exposed to burnt PVC or Teflon it does. The chlorine gas turns liquid and starts eating away. It takes a while but you will have to eventually replace parts due to the rust completely eating through them.

[Tracey Bakewell]

It doesn't appear that Johnson Plastics carry any type of material to use for sign vinyl. Is there a good vendor anyone is using for this purpose? I searched google last night but came up with nothing but sign makers.

[Scott Shepherd]

Tracey, a good source for vinyl is www.fellers.com . You'll have to look for a polyester product. They are limited, but you can buy things by the foot or yard or something like that. You'll get killed on shipping for a small amount.

Having a vinyl plotter and a laser, I can honestly say I wouldn't consider doing any vinyl work on the laser. The plotter is just so fast, it's not worth the trouble. There are a ton of people (a lot more than laser owners) who run plotters out of their homes. Find a local guy and work up a partnership and you may come out ahead.

If you have something in mind, or want something that I have the color for, shoot me a PM and I'll be more than happy to cut it and send it to you for free. It's just too simply to cut it on the plotter and be done with it.

[Mike Null]

Kevin

I think it's more likely that a high carbon content in the stainless is responsible for the rusting rather than gas. I did the maintenance on the machines I described and there was no rust.

Also interesting to me was that when I was there the tubes were 10 years old, using a water chiller, and in a commercial environment and still going strong.

[Scott Shepherd]

I haven't cut any PVC on my laser, but I do have some slight rust on the vector grid. When I cut clear acrylic a few times, I wet the paper on the back side of it. Noticed the next week that my table had some minor rusting down in the honeycomb.

[Mike Null]

I was under the impression all the grids were made out of aluminum.

Yours is steel?

[Scott Shepherd]

Appears to be stainless. It's non-magnetic.

[Marc Myer]

Have you considered simply using acrylic? Lots of colors available, and they look much better because they're 3-d. Mirrored isn't bad either.
I make automotive emblems and then chrome them, and it works great. You can find some really effective doublesided tapes to attach them with. It only takes a couple of tiny pieces to hold a big item on your car. I've been doing this for years.