Vinyl cutout decals for labels, need some help

Paradox916

Paradox916

Well-known member
Anyone know a good place to have vinyl decals made, the polish job on my faceplate came out better than I was expecting so I’m kind of not wanting to do water slides, the one place I contacted couldn’t do lettering under 1/4”. I was wondering if that’s a common issue with vinyl lettering and markings.
 
Paradox916 said:
Anyone know a good place to have vinyl decals made, the polish job on my faceplate came out better than I was expecting so I’m kind of not wanting to do water slides, the one place I contacted couldn’t do lettering under 1/4”. I was wondering if that’s a common issue with vinyl lettering and markings.
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I have no experience with this unfortunately although I am interested. I know folks who use a fully diy approach with something like a cricut and a regular printer. Have you considered that option?
 
giovanni said:
I have no experience with this unfortunately although I am interested. I know folks who use a fully diy approach with something like a cricut and a regular printer. Have you considered that option?
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I have done a fair amount of waterslides made on an inkjet printer and you can actually getaway with a lot especially if you choose the enclosure color carefully white is really forgiving, but I think highly polished aluminum you will see the film and might really take away from the aesthetics, no film would work but I don’t have a laser jet printer, or a Cricut. UV printing something this size seems to be ether an issue or expensive, so I’m trying to feel out what vinyl might have to offer.
 
Check out these, they're vinyl stickers I've recently bought.

darwin999

Thread 'Fuchsia Fuzz (BJFE / Bearfoot FX Pink Purple Fuzz)'

Here's my build in a Tayda Viva Magenta colored 125B w/ purple knobs and LED.
I've switched to UV printed vinyl stickers for my enclosure art, followed by 2 layers of sprayed satin lacquer.
Super easy to install, very crisp fine details (printed from SVGs), and wonderful colors. (Also quite affordable!)
And absolutely no bleed through from the enclosure's color underneath.
The stickers probably wouldn't hold up under a ton of hard gigging, but my effects get an easy life at home where the hardest shoe they'll face is probably a flip flop.
Q1 is a metal can 2N4393 JFET.
Q3 is a reclaimed...
  • Like
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  • This ROCKS!
 
darwin999 said:
@Paradox916 - I could mail you a small sample (part of a duplicate label) if you want to look at one. You're in the US, right?
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Yeah I’m in the US. This was the kind of thing I was looking for thanks! Did you ever try any vender state side? Or was it just the HongKong one?
I’m not trying to do anything fancy just something like this
IMG_2733.jpeg
IMG_2739.jpeg
Just the lines And I might even get rid of the numbers let that chrome shine! I’m going minimalist these days.
 
Those are slick @darwin999

As far as straight vinyl lettering from solid color, i.e. no printing on vinyl, I can confirm that I would not want to do under 1/4". The labels here are just under 1/4":

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The font is important too. That puny font would be a nightmare lol. To do it they way I have been doing it you have to lean into it's strengths, run full speed from the weaknesses.

The printed stuff like @darwin999 would be more suited to that style but I imagine if it was like one giant clear-ish label it might dull your mirror look.
 
Did you play with the Front Panel Express program yet? They can use customer materials , but I don't know if there are additional fees involved. But your art engraved and infilled onto your mirror panel would be very very sexy. Very.

Edit:
Likely not cheap though.
 
Hal Harvey said:
Did you play with the Front Panel Express program yet? They can use customer materials , but I don't know if there are additional fees involved. But your art engraved and infilled onto your mirror panel would be very very sexy. Very.

Edit:
Likely not cheap though.
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I haven’t, there are just to many variables on this build to drop that kind of coin on front and back panels. It would be awesome to go the full 9 on a build like this one day.
 
Paradox916 said:
Did you ever try any vender state side? Or was it just the HongKong one?
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I didn't try anyone stateside, I picked HerperTailer because (1) their pictured stickers looked the best to me, and (2) because they responded so well to the questions I sent them before making my order. But there definitely were US vendors on Etsy as well, so you can try teaching out to them to see whether they suit your needs. Search for "UV transfer stickers".

I have previously done my own vinyl stickers w/ letters as small as 1/8" (we have a Silhouette vinyl cutter, the Portrait 2) - those are on my earlier build reports. But you have to pick fonts with no superthin lines, use a thinner vinyl such as those made by the brand Make Market, and optimize the settings (force, depth, speed) on your cutting machine. And the "weeding" (removing surrounding vinyl) can sometimes be tricky. Thicker vinyl material such as Oracal 651, etc, just won't cut as small a letters.
 
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Hal Harvey said:
The printed stuff like @darwin999 would be more suited to that style but I imagine if it was like one giant clear-ish label it might dull your mirror look.
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The stickers I bought do not have large clear areas, they cut around the colored sections so there's only a narrow surround (<1mm) of the clear sticker material. (to improve adhesion of small features and letters) You can see that on the lettering on my Variac pedal face if you look close. I.e., the large clear areas have no sticker at all.
 
darwin999 said:
I have previously done my own vinyl stickers w/ letters as small as 1/8" (we have a Silhouette vinyl cutter, the Portrait 2) - those are on my earlier build reports. But you have to pick fonts with no superthin lines, use a thinner vinyl such as those made by the brand Make Market, and optimize the settings (force, depth, speed) on your cutting machine. And the "weeding" (removing surrounding vinyl) can sometimes be tricky. Thicker vinyl material such as Oracal 651, etc, just won't cut as small a letters.
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This makes sense, I've only used Oracal 651. I'll stick with larger lettering, I'm not a masochist. But I wouldn't use this stuff on pedals either. Film free decals, especially laser Film Free seems like a much better solution for smaller detailed artwork.
 
I've used UV DTF stickers from this company before. They cut out the print so images and letters individual stickers instead of the standard clear film, which is a nice option. The prints are a touched raised, I like the look.

To install you just pull the backer, place them, use the squeegee they provide and push them on, peel the top film. I start in a corner, peel slowly and if anything didn't stick, I can put it back down apply pressure and hopefully get it to stick. If it still isn't, I try from a different corner.

Just a heads up, they are extremely sticky. Once they touch a surface, they’re stuck. Try lightly spraying the area with water mixed with a drop of Dawn dish soap before applying, you will have some ability to move them. Also, it takes a minute to dry so I will apply, then move to the next pedal then when I am done, go back to the previous and peel.

 
CheapSuitG said:
I've used UV DTF stickers from this company before. They cut out the print so images and letters individual stickers instead of the standard clear film, which is a nice option. The prints are a touched raised, I like the look.

To install you just pull the backer, place them, use the squeegee they provide and push them on, peel the top film. I start in a corner, peel slowly and if anything didn't stick, I can put it back down apply pressure and hopefully get it to stick. If it still isn't, I try from a different corner.

Just a heads up, they are extremely sticky. Once they touch a surface, they’re stuck. Try lightly spraying the area with water mixed with a drop of Dawn dish soap before applying, you will have some ability to move them. Also, it takes a minute to dry so I will apply, then move to the next pedal then when I am done, go back to the previous and peel.

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You have any pictures so we can see how they look? I’m curious about small lettering and detail
 
Paradox916 said:
You have any pictures so we can see how they look? I’m curious about small lettering and detail
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This picture came out a little blurry, but this is a DTF sticker. The entire sticker is 1" top to bottom, so the text there is going to be less than 1/4". These were printed at a shop 5 minutes from my work, and they offer same day pickup (this order literally took 35 minutes from order to pickup) so I use them frequently.

f8966e98-98b9-443b-bd43-b6fce2b02812.jpg
 
vigilante398 said:
This picture came out a little blurry, but this is a DTF sticker. The entire sticker is 1" top to bottom, so the text there is going to be less than 1/4". These were printed at a shop 5 minutes from my work, and they offer same day pickup (this order literally took 35 minutes from order to pickup) so I use them frequently.

View attachment 104807
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Man that would be awesome to have that kind of convenience… aww I miss the amenities of living in a city sometimes….
 
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