Cutting gatorfoam...

[bendeane]

Hey Everybody...

I have a customer who wants a foam sign with printed vinyl cut in the shape of an egg. Roughly 2ftx3ft. I've only cut gatorfoam in straight lines with a razor knife. Should apply the vinyl and then cut the shape with the vinyl adhered to it, or cut the gatorfoam to the shape first and then apply the image.

Newbie to the rigid substrates world...

 

[J Hill Designs]

I would apply then cut

 

[Gino]

Cut the gator down to within 1/8" of where your overlay will go. Apply the overlay and then sand with a belt sander or orbital sander and bring the edges into the print.

 

[Billct2]

We usually apply,leave masking on, then cut.
Sometimes we'll do a paper pattern , cut, then apply.

 

[Rooster]

Apply vinyl and then go at it with a jigsaw and the highest tooth count blade you can find.

I did a bunch of cardboard cutouts for a tradeshow this way and was amazed at how easily and well it cut. I was expecting the edges to be frayed and crappy looking, but they were clean and smooth.

 

[RN]

We also apply vinyl then cut with jigsaw.
Leave a line or edge to follow, then sand the edges.
Have someone hold it down, vibrates a lot during cutting.

 

[bendeane]

Success!

Cut the gator down to within 1/8" of where your overlay will go. Apply the overlay and then sand with a belt sander or orbital sander and bring the edges into the print.

Thanks for all the tips...applied vinyl (egg shape about 22 inches wide through the middle and 30 inches tall through the middle) then cut roughly 1/8" - 1/16" around image with a bandsaw using a pretty general woodworking blade. We were going to sand it down to the image, but the white "border" created by cutting larger than the actual image (my guy I used for cutting has been doing scroll work for 30 years and he's really good, so this egg shape was easy for him) made the egg shape pop a little better. We just ran 180 grit around the edges by hand and it looks pretty darn good.

Thanks again for all the input.