Mountain of an adventure with custom vinyl stick on letters

nice job Lee-
I have a vinyl cutter- have not tried .25" lettering...

Question for rogerpete

To rogerpete:

     What brand of vinyl cutter do you have, and could you please post their web page address. I have seen vinyl cutters for the commercial sign and printing industry but not for home use.

Thanks

I have a sign shop as a side business. We do signs, magnets, banners etc. I looked at purchasing a large format printer to speed things, but for the amount of work we do, (I want to keep it a side business), I couldn't justify. It is a commercial cutter- not a home use machine.

Have a look at the vinyl cutting machines I mentioned in this thread. The post is the one with the two videos embedded in it.

They're the Silhouette "Portrait" and "Cameo". Actually they can cut a number of other materials, but vinyl is one of the things they're used for.

---PCJ

Trainroomgary

  Google digital craft or die cutters they will cut vinyl , paper ,card stock, and fabric some engrave , emboss and punch holes in things. I just bought a used Silver Bullet  I an hoping to use to cut paper buildings and backdrops I am guessing you can use it to punch lines of rivets into shim stock or card stock

  Galon Tonell 

If I had a larger workshop I might buy a machine, but I am out of room for new tools, etc.  And frankly this internet-based custom ordering is working out well.  It is not cheap, but I doubt I will ever spend what a machine would cost, so I;m okay just continuing to use it.  

Someone who had a machine and specialized in RR logos and all could probably do a lively business once word got out.   

All I can say, is that's a beautiful Engine....Is this a Legacy Locomotive?

My "small" cutter is a Roland 24". The only issue you run into with die cut vinyl, is the smaller the cut, the less the amount of adhesive. Example, if you cut the PRR herald .5" tall, the insides of the P would be pinpoint. I have done some Isaly logos for buildings, if you look almost to the end of this thread- 

https://ogrforum.com/t...078#5512461170247078

I did the Isaly logo for Jim Teeple. I think it is maybe 3/4" tall. If someone is looking for something, I am happy to give it a try. 

I have done vinyl lettering, and removed the lettering leaving the outline sheet, applying it, painting it, and removing the vinyl, essentially using it for a stencil. Lots of possibilities. 

I don't know anything about the hobby based cutters, except that I was pretty disappointed with my low end ebay cutter. Did an awful job. I had to upgrade almost right away for what I needed.

Yeah, it was the recent Legacy NYC L2a Mohawk #2791 (6-11411).  It is just a very good running loco.  Sound is only average for Legacy (which is to say really good) but not quite as good as Vision locos.  Whistle is good but nothing special, but it just looks fantastic with lots of piping and tanks and equipment on it, the lights are quite good, and it has great lines - a very handsome loco. 

could you repost that web site for the letters please. thanks

doityourselflettering.com/

Lee, I notice if you "weed" the vinyl letters, it's very cheap.  While that looks to be a bit of a PITA, it appears they do cut the vinyl, but just leave all the stuff there. 

Quite a contrast between the two prices!  

For those prices, I can see the vinyl lettering being quite practical!

Yeah, i think I might weed it next time.  It would save a lot of money that way.

I'm interested in how they turn out, it's sure a lot cheaper!  I asked for 1/4" letters, just to see what I got.

Let me now how yours turn out.  

I;m going to order some Union Pacific ones - so far i only ordered Santa Fe.

Lee, once again you did a beautiful job.

I'm also going to place an order for some 1/4 " letters.

How did you specify you wanted the thin vinyl?

Somewhere there is an option to pick three different types.  I picked the thinnest premium available.

When you get to the end of the ordering process, there are three different kinds of vinyl, but I wasn't sure which was the "best".

Lee, which of the three did you pick?

if you weed yourself- be sure you have the transfer tape to remove the lettering from the backing & transfer it to the object. Can't use a regular masking tape- too tacky. John- if you need lettering, contact me offline- you treated me so well with my recent MTH repairs, I feel like I owe you... If I can do it, I will.

the first time, I ordered the standard - whatever the default was.  The second time, I ordered the thinnest (2 mil I think) premium.

Both work well and I am not sure the premium is worth it: I think it is mainly aimed at outdoor applications like the sides of trucks where it will stick better.  

Regardless, I did notice that this second batch was much more difficult to apply, I think because the tape is noticeably thinner/more flexible.  Do understand that I had no significant difficulty, but there are two areas where care was required and watching for this becomes the main thing I pay attention to . . . 

-peeling the backing off the tape in order to get ready to stick it on.  The standard vinyl wanted to stick to the backing more than the tape it is supposed to be on once in a while.  It's usually the serif points that want to come off and then they start bringing the whole letter. the thinner tape wants to do it much more often.  Frankly it was a pain.   I watched for this and would try from the other end if serious or could use the tip of a #11 X-Acto to coax the serif point off the backing onto the tape.  

When I get it off the backing successfully and apply it to the loco (you basically just take the tape which is translucent - you can see the whole two words "SANTA FE" through it and that helps you position it and then you attach and press down.) You are supposed to be able to just peel it off and the lettes are supposed to stick to the loco.  Again, sometimes they want to come off the the tape at the edges and serifs.  II was just careful, caught it every time except the very first try, which I ruined and had to remove and replace (but I ordered an extra in every case, thankfully).  

For the cheap option, I think I'd probably order about three of everything I need, it would still be far cheaper than the ones that are prepared.  I think the trick will be picking the type of tape you use to transfer them, you want something that doesn't grip all that solid so you can easily peel it off the letters.

Roger, I was asleep there, I just noticed you replied as well.  You're right, I was thinking the masking tape would probably be too aggressive.

That's what I did...extras of what I wanted.  I went the cheap option of doing it myself.  There is a lot of vinyl lettering transfer tape listed on eBay and online sign supply sites.  Since most of my signage is under 6", I went with a 6" tape.

As I said in previous post I'm also going the the cheaper option. I contacted diyletering.com and was told that "white" masking tape is a suitable transfer tape. She also provided a non affiliated vendor for more professional application tape at very reasonable prices to individuals. They have many types of tapes and application tools.

they can be found online at http://www.signwarehouse.com/

Your link is bad.

John, sorry about that, I thought I copied the correct link, apparently not.

Try the following.

www.signwarehouse.com

Gerry

Lee, is the zero in the 3750 smaller than the other numbers, or is that just the picture? How does the vinyl compare with making your own decals with a printer?

No, it is smaller than the other letters, and a bit unacceptable.  Although their font "Cooper" matches the SANTA FE letters well, for numbers it did not look good, and i picked another font (the next one down on their list is all I remember) that looked good, but I didn't pay enough attention tot he zero, which is terrible - it has an even worse zero, for some reason.  I've ordered some zeros in another font i hope will be better. 

They have a bewildering array of stuff, any idea how to find the clear transfer tape?

Old school perhaps, but sometimes a phone call works best.

Brad

John,

Application tapes are listed under sign making supplies/application tapesas R-Tape Clear Choice At 60, AT65 and AT75. I beleive the R-Tape Conform w/RLA is  translucent. I'm waiting for an Email reply to confirm.

I have done some vinyl decals for various projects through a local sign shop that does full size vehicle graphics.

I created the image in the size I wanted and size of stripes or logos etc. and sent that to the shop in the format they required.

For the VIA custom paint passenger set I went to the shop and got the correct vinyl they use on the real train and then had this cut.

The logos had transfer paper with it. Was easy just peal off the back and then use clear transfer paper it was mounted on to correctly locate and rub on the image.

 The stripes I just got cut to the the width and cut off the ends myself.

Have done a few other trains with various designs as well.

The vinyl is really thin decals are cheap and easy to mount.

If you are doing really rough surfaces with lots of rivets grills etc. then water slide decals and lots of decal softener is the way to go.

Do use dry transfers but that is a lot more difficult to work with.

I'm interested in doing some of these, I'll wait for a few more user reports.

That's cool!

I placed my order on the 23rd and it arrived today.

Was hoping to remove the lettering on one of my items, but I can't find my 1200 grit sandpaper. Need to get a Magic Eraser to try that method as well.  Need to hit the hardware store this week.

One of the projects will get worked on ASAP the rest are most likely going to be for Winter.

Anyway, below is what I ordered.  Very cheap.

Font for all "Michigan & Ohio Valley Lines" is Caxton

Font for Black "LIONEL LINES" is Century Gothic

Font for white "LIONEL" is Rockwell (regular and bold)

I'm very interested in seeing how this all turns out. What type of vinyl did you order.

If you like the results, this is a cheap way to get lettering done.

I like these.  Thanks again Lee!

John,

I went with the standard lettering.  I was afraid to go to thin, thinking I would make a mess of the letters.  Next time I might try the thinner.  Looking at the standard vinyl on my tank car below, it doesn't look like the vinyl letters are to thick.  I can feel them though.

Here is the car that I started with:

I removed the "Interstate" lettering.

New lettering sheet.  As soon as I start to lift the excess vinyl, I could see the first letter holding on.  Quickly, I realigned it on the backing.  Then I put transfer tape on the letter set and ran a plastic squeegee over it.  Cut the set to size and laid it on the car.  I then rubbed the letter with a burnishing tool and peeled the tape back.  Transfer tape is on the top left set.

That looks superb - certainly not like stick-on letters. Nice LL car now. 

I did another loco today with some of them I had ordered: transformed hy Legacy C&O USRA 2-6-6-2 to Santa Fe. Road  number is pure fantasy - I had those numbers to spare and frankly one four-digit number is about as good as any other.  Using these letters seemed a lot easier today than last time: I think I am getting more used to handling them .

I was always under the impression that you remove the excess vinyl from around the lettering before you apply the transfer tape to lift them off the backing paper?

---PCJ