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How'd They Do That?

I am interested in using my VC to personalize metal lunch boxes and water bottles (see sample pictures below).  Does anyone have suggestions as to a durable sticker material to use?

I assume the decals would need to be laminated for water and scratch-resistance.  Would something like a Big Squeegee work? 


Thanks for any help!


Diane

Tags: decals, laminating

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Permalink Reply by Steven Jackson on February 9, 2010 at 12:47pm
I would use Oracal 3165RA for those and definitely laminate them! The big squeegee would work for all of that.
Permalink Reply by Diane Hook on February 9, 2010 at 12:51pm
Thanks, Steven!

Any specific laminate?

At the risk of sounding very naive, I assume I would print/cut the media, laminate, and then cut the decals by hand? (Obviously I have never laminated before!) :)
Permalink Reply by Steven Jackson on February 9, 2010 at 1:39pm
I think the recommended laminate is oraguard 220. You will need to print, with print cut resgistration marks, then laminate it, then send it back to cut. It will look for the registration marks and cut through the laminate and material. I hope to have a multi part video series out this weekend that goes through versaworks and will explain how to set this up.

I hope this helps!

Steven
Permalink Reply by Diane Hook on February 9, 2010 at 1:49pm
I just found the 3165RA in the Fedder's catalog, and I see they suggest Oraguard 210 laminate...I'm guessing this is similar to the 220 you suggested.

I will look forward to your registration mark/cutting tutorial. Thanks so much!!
Permalink Reply by Steven Jackson on February 10, 2010 at 7:12am
you are right, I looked it up and 210 is the recommended one! They are pretty similar but I always try to go with the manufacturers recommendations.
Permalink Reply by Wendy on February 10, 2010 at 11:59am
where would you get the lunch boxes and metal water bottles?
Permalink Reply by Diane Hook on February 10, 2010 at 12:06pm
I'm not sure about the water bottles, but I have found a few online vendors for blank metal lunch boxes. If you have any ideas, feel free to share! :)
Permalink Reply by Roland R. Irish III on March 6, 2010 at 8:15am
The first bottles look like just cut vinyl, not digital print. Might be laminated but can't tell from the picture. I've done laminated 'solid' color vinyl easily-just laminate a couple feet of the roll first, then cut. No printing.
The second 'quin' bottle I can't tell from the picture but it looks to me like a direct printing (similar to many of the catalogs I have for ad specialties I rep-so that's my guess)
The lunch box, without having it right in front of me...might be just the 'name' is added on as a multicolor print and cut, to get the drop shadow. The lunchbox itself looks like it's all precovered, either direct print or a 'wrap' effect. As Steve mentioned, print with reg. marks, laminate, then cut. But for 'onesy' jobs you are getting into a lot of waste and labor time...keep that in mind for pricing. For water bottles, they are now 'sold' as ad specialties fully printed in quantities starting at 50 or so for under $5.00....ad specialty market is very depressed right now with all the 'big accounts' out of business-means the suppliers are sitting on tons of inventory they have got to move. So if you have 'quantity' orders for bottles, you may be competing against ad specialty sellers (like me). If you don't already sell ad specialties as an independant rep, look into it-costs you NOTHING to register with www.upic.com and add it to your business. I do a lot of 'proof' printing on my versacamm to show the client, then sub out the order for the bulk quantity and pocket the profit. Sometimes trying to do it yourself just isn't profitable enough!
Permalink Reply by Diane Hook on March 6, 2010 at 1:49pm
Hi Roland,

Thank you for your help! Yes, the "one-off" jobs will be labor intensive, but I think I can price my items near or below most of my competition and still make it worth my while. I was thinking that the bottles might be sublimation, but I will experiment with vinyl to see if it works well. I just received some blank lunch boxes and my Big Squeegee, so once my Versacamm is working again (connection error), I am hoping to give it a go. I appreciate your advice! :)


Diane
Permalink Reply by Roland R. Irish III on March 10, 2010 at 8:32am
I have decaled on water bottles for local boy scouts, they picked up a couple cases of blank bottles through a discount chain store-still paid more than I could get them blank but it was too late. I did a 'shaped' logo with full color image of their troop logo and scout logo, diecut after laminating, then they applied them to the bottles with a 'sponge' squeegee and sold them for $10 donation. Made a lot of money, and I've seen
them in use, decals holding up great. Also have a couple of them we take jeeping so we give them a workout. Without laminating, it is just going to wear off fast because of abrasion when getting thrown around. But with the price of 'print included' from ad specialty houses you may want to see about selling them ad speciaities. More profit, less work.
Permalink Reply by Diane Hook on March 10, 2010 at 10:33am
Good to hear that the decals held up long-term. I just applied one to a bottle this week and have sent it through the dishwasher once with no ill effects. Now I just have to figure out the correct force to cut through the laminate and vinyl cleanly. Do you use a 45 or 60 degree blade to cut laminated vinyl?
Permalink Reply by Roland R. Irish III on March 10, 2010 at 1:34pm
I use the same 45 blade that's in there all the time, set speed to 10, pressure to 150 or more, depending on your laminate. Use your 'test' button before you run the final cut, to make sure it goes through the laminate and the vinyl. At times I've gone up to 175, beyond that means time for a new blade.

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