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Vinyl by the yard

Stacey K

I like making signs
Is Fellers the only place that sells vinyl by the yard? They basically have nothing in stock anymore under 10 yards...intermediate or cast. What am I to do as a one person shop? Are you just buying a few 10 yard rolls and saying that's what you have to choose from? Or just printing it if you can't get it?
 

petepaz

New Member
:popcorn:fellers is the only company that i know of that has offered vinyl by the yard. hope things get back to normal soon this material shortage is a pain in the a$$. no rhyme or reason just different random materials
 

Gino

Premium Subscriber
When you guys print your custom colors, do you notify the customer the product(s) isn't as long lasting and much thicker due to laminates ?? Hahahaaa.... but costs more anyway ??
 

Gino

Premium Subscriber
Now, you're an expert on pigs...... and roosters. My goodness but you get around the barnyard quite a bit.

Anyway, no..... I never taught a pig to sing, but I've seen them flying overhead with lipstick on................... Ya need to move over outta the way, cause a pig poop hurts a lot more than a bird poop. :doh:
 

ikarasu

Active Member
I dont think 99% of our customers know the difference between a print, and cut vinyl.

I'm not sure on the long lasting part either. Technology has come a long ways... I have some prints / wraps out there that have been out for 8+ years on a police vehicle, and it looks almost exactly the same as a new wrap we did. Will a non printed vinyl last longer? Sure... but will a wrap or sign outlast how long the ink does? The 8 years is probably the oldest sample we have because their vehicles dont stay in the fleet for that long.... but its the only thing we have a side by side comparison for.

We have a wrap by our shop that we did when we moved in 12 years ago... Full print wrap, it looks perfect to this day. Of course I cant do a side by side to see if its faded... but it looks just as vibrant as the day it was installed.... I can see it getting another decade before it gets replaced.


That said... I'm aware BC doesnt get as much sun as say, Texas - And I'm sure it makes a much bigger difference there. But a good vinyl / overlam with a print should still last a decent time... so I dont see the need to tell the customer! At least not in our area.

But yes... it costs us more to produce a color than it does to bring it in. But then you only need to bring in white, and not 10 yards of 50 different vinyls... so win win?
 

Notarealsignguy

Arial - it's almost helvetica
It costs more to buy a 10yd roll of vinyl that you're gonna use 2' off of and set it over in the corner than printing it does. I run through a lot of black, white and silver, the rest tends to sit. Some of it for years
 

Stacey K

I like making signs
When you guys print your custom colors, do you notify the customer the product(s) isn't as long lasting and much thicker due to laminates ?? Hahahaaa.... but costs more anyway ??
This was my next question. To be honest, I'm getting sick of explaining things to people and super sick of trying to find a yard of this and that. On top of that I am doing the same thing with apparel.

I couldn't find lasagna noodles this morning for my valentines day lasagna. I had to buy those stupid no-boil ones. I just made a chart of the in-stock colors and all others will be printed, at the same cost but at a possible less life. It makes no sense but then it makes no sense that there are elbow noodles and no lasagna noodles. The lasagna noodles are more expensive just like the cast vinyl.

I'm still waiting for my intermediate roll that was supposedly "in-stock" 2 weeks ago. Apparently, it wasn't in-stock, it was ordered direct from the manufacturer. It's super frustrating.
 

binki

New Member
Is Fellers the only place that sells vinyl by the yard? They basically have nothing in stock anymore under 10 yards...intermediate or cast. What am I to do as a one person shop? Are you just buying a few 10 yard rolls and saying that's what you have to choose from? Or just printing it if you can't get it?
We only buy 25 or 50 yards and if it sits, it sits. We mostly do printed anymore so the single color cut sits around waiting for a special job. At some point we will put it on Craigslist to get rid of it.
 

Notarealsignguy

Arial - it's almost helvetica
One nice thing about the synthetic liner stuff is it can set for an extended amount of time and still work just fine. We have some old old old 3m violet that was special taco bell program material. I'm not 'allowed' to use it anywhere, not that a lot of folks spec purple, but regardless its from 2011. I just cut some hearts for my daughter's valentine's box this weekend, it still weeded fine, can't speak to the adhesion. I have had some not stored in a climate controlled room and it was essentially welded to the backer...
I hate that stuff with a passion, I can never get it off of the liner without a fight. The only nice thing is that it doesnt wrinkle up in the humidity.
 

gabagoo

New Member
I hate that stuff with a passion, I can never get it off of the liner without a fight. The only nice thing is that it doesnt wrinkle up in the humidity.
It can be a real beatch to get off the backing paper...in fact after it has been cut, if they sit too long you can virtually peel the premask off and not pull a single letter with it. You need to use high tac premask and if you have issues removing it I found if you put it in the freezer for 30 minutes then after taking it out you squeegee the back side, it can remove somewhat easier by peeling the backing paper away as to pulling the mask.
 

MNT_Printhead

Working among the Corporate Lizard People
We only buy 25 or 50 yards and if it sits, it sits. We mostly do printed anymore so the single color cut sits around waiting for a special job. At some point we will put it on Craigslist to get rid of it.
I inherited a large volume of unopened rolls of cut vinyl when I took my position; I have opened up 7 year old vinyl and found it still had great tack from being kept in the plastic bag in the box.
 
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