Last bit of material?

[mudmedia]

I have about 3-4 rolls of both calendared and cast vinyl material which if I had to guess has anywhere from 3'-8' of material left on them. Whenever I get low I just pop a new roll in.

Now they are getting in the way and becoming just a clutter. What do you guys do with the wee bit of material? I am all for chucking it but do not want to if it has a good use for something.

Typically I try to get the same project out of the same roll if possible and when I am on the go in production I always forget about the rolls that may have enough to do the job.

Just curious to see what you guys do with them. I hate to throw them away but heck I rather do that then deal with mess and them being in the way.

 

[CanuckSigns]

we try to make samples of them, small printed & die-cut decals with our info on them, it shows customers some different materials and processes.

 

[WB]

Samples or I use the smaller rolls to test colours!

depending on what Lam your using it changes the final colour product.. I've had to reproduce prints I never thought I would and customer always wants the same colour.. Plus your colours can shift over time on your machine if your using stock profiles and have no way to update them/

Other then that.. I always keep a few 5-10' rolls hanging around for the little jobs!

 

[CentralSigns]

We save them for die cuts. Sometimes it takes a while but nothing is wasted. We even use our misprints for die cuts, gives a unique pattern for some die cuts. We store all our colored pieces on a wall rack, set up so the pieces still on the roll hook into a 2 by 3 that the roll fits over. One can stack a lot of tubes this way, and still have them easily accessible.

 

[Bigdawg]

If you are just looking to get them out of the way - donate them to the art teacher at a local school. They ALWAYS appreciate anything you can give them.

 

[John Butto]

I like to take the backing paper off a small left over vinyl and wrap it sticky side out around my hand and press it agains my bellybutton to get the lint out. After I save up enough lint I send it to Africa where they make t-shirts for pygmies.

 

[royster13]

Sell it on ebay as "Cricut" vinyl....lol...

 

[tsgstl]

I use it as my white cut vinyl stock.

 

[d fleming]

If you are just looking to get them out of the way - donate them to the art teacher at a local school. They ALWAYS appreciate anything you can give them.

+1

 

[ProWraps]

toss it. i toss miles of vinyl every year. my printers need 3 feet just to spool up the roll to test the omas sensor.

they just get in the way an become dominoes when one tips over.

 

[Z SIGNS]

If anything in our shop is taking up space and not making money we pitch it

 

[Patentagosse]

Color charts, small runs of contourcut labels, testing colormatch, setup (calibrations...).

Few years ago, I had a bunch of 4-5ft cast wrapping film laminated that were at the beginning of the big jobs I sub out at a bigger place than mine. To start laminating (liquid, fleet grade), to had to run like 4-5ft of material... but the vinyl was perfect (clean, unprinted, gloss laminated) so I saved 'em for some kinda project. I finally decided to wrap my basement floor to cover old distressed commercial PVC tiles. As my shop was there at the time, it looked like a laboratory. So clean, you could spot a hair 10feet away (practical when you print w/o take-up reel...)

 

[Gino]

We use some for tests, some for mistakes [patches], some for samples, freebie stuff, stuff around the house and the rest gets thrown away.

Unlike John getting his belly-button lint out, I have seen a lady at a local farmer's market using it for a fly paper trap above the work tables.

 

[thesignexpert]

If you are just looking to get them out of the way - donate them to the art teacher at a local school. They ALWAYS appreciate anything you can give them.

Same here. The kid's art teachers always like the colored films. For white print media we trim em' up and use for feeder trips on the laminator.