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Well I failed to complete a small job today for my buddy who has a body shop. A Dodge short bed pick-up with a vertical stripe behind the wheel well 13" wide from top of box to bottom of box behind tire. Sort of like the SuperBee. The shape is just slightly spherical and I couldn't get it to lay flat. I needs to stretch a little in the center portion. The vinyl is silver high performance with transfer-rite tape with lettering cut into the stripe so I need to use transfer tape. I know you all know how to do this and are just chuckling to yourselves. Any Help? John
-------------------- John and Diana Grenier Up North Studio Les Cheneaux Islands Art Gallery P.O. Box 83 Hessel, MI 49745 906-322-2886 www.lescheneauxislandsartgallery.com Posts: 50 | From: Hessel, MI (Eastern U.P.) | Registered: Apr 2003
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sounds tricky to me too. Without seeing it, it's hard to say if it is doable at all. If the lettering cut out of it to show the truck color, is a color that exists in vinyl, I might consider spending for the extra layer of vinyl if keeping it appearing level was part of the problem,while fighting the convex challenge. If the truck was all beat up, I might have wanted to allow for some careful trimming after the install, but not something I like to do on any vehicle really. I can see some slight convex issues being done by squeegeeing the areas that lay down properly, & leaving the outermost edges unstuck, if that is a minumum amount of area that won't lay flat... remove trans. tape, careful not to strech the unstuck section, then 2 ideas for how to attempt to finish the job. The better choice would be to hope with some heat gun or hairdryer that you could finesse the edges to shrink up just right to lay flat. If that didn't work, this might, but may look too flawed to pass. A small slice here or there (keep it straight & short to minimize unsightlyness) may allow one half to lay down, then the other half slightly overlapping it. I have done this & explained that due to the "flat map vs. the globe" lesson in 6 the grade... what they want is impossible (except in paint) & then they may accept it as their best option.
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Thank you for the ideas. This would be alot easier to explain with a photo but posting a picture is beyond my abilities as well. Brand spanky new 4x4 Dodge Red short bed, the stripe has copy that reads three lines 5.7 Litre , HEMI, Magnum. 600 miles and it rolled. The graphics were appied originally at a dealer downstate Michigan by after market guy.
John
-------------------- John and Diana Grenier Up North Studio Les Cheneaux Islands Art Gallery P.O. Box 83 Hessel, MI 49745 906-322-2886 www.lescheneauxislandsartgallery.com Posts: 50 | From: Hessel, MI (Eastern U.P.) | Registered: Apr 2003
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posted
If I'm reading this correctly, I'm assuming that you can't make the bend because of the tape? Depending on the severity of the bend, I've had success in the past bending it by soaking the hell out of the tape where you need to make the curve. If it's not a huge angle you need to make, you should be able to get the masking soft enough to give you some play.
Good luck!
Kevin.
-------------------- Kevin Alan The Sign Shop Lethbridge Alberta thesignshop@shaw.ca
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Thanks Doug, Monday I will return to the job and I will soak the transfer paper as suggested, that just may work. I don't have a picture yet, thnks for offering. If this wasn't my pal I wouldn't do the job, no money and a pain. Our evolving sign shop philosophy is jobs that are small and very expensive with our own deadline. And you know what, it is happening.
Thanks again, John
-------------------- John and Diana Grenier Up North Studio Les Cheneaux Islands Art Gallery P.O. Box 83 Hessel, MI 49745 906-322-2886 www.lescheneauxislandsartgallery.com Posts: 50 | From: Hessel, MI (Eastern U.P.) | Registered: Apr 2003
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