Large Scale Central

Help with Lettering

General Discussion
#1

I looked back about 6 months and could not find this discussion. I KNOW someone mentioned that his wife had put him onto the Cricut cutter to make self-adhesive letters. Whomever also said they found it on clearance for $99.99. Well, A.C. Moore had them for $99 so I ran over and picked one up along with white self-adhesive vinyl.
My questions are this:

  1. Which font best resembles Railroad Roman? Fonts are on sale tomorrow.
  2. Am I losing my mind and made this all up? (could be a whole new thread)

Thanks all, Lou

#2

Jerry Barnes usually is on this forum and uses the Vinyl lettering so he could probably help you out on this. Later RJD

#3

that would be Mike OMalley lownote to some

#4

Im curious about these things, too. Can they do small enough font sizes for weight/etc dates? It looks like they only go down to about 1/4"?

Inquiring minds want to know.

#5

A bit of digging and googling, and I found this site

http://www.scrappingtable.com/home.html

that has “Sure cuts a lot”. It, allegedly, lets you use ANY fonts that you have on your computer, instead of buying each one separately. So the RR Roman that I have should work.

Need to talk to SWMBO and see if we can take a trip to AC Moore.

#6

Wow, this is great! I will buy that software instead of a lot of cartridges. Will let y’all know how it works out.
I will also see how small it will go. My main task is to “print” white letters.
Thanks for all the help. I will update with results.

#7

and don’t forget that AC Moore also gives register coupons good for 20% off alot and there store paper has coupons. This is usually on any purchase. You may have to buy a $10.00 item like wire mesh for walkways and then go back in the store for your major purchase. :slight_smile:

#8

According to Del Tapparo of G Scale Graphics, the smallest that you can cut vinyl lettering is about 1/4 inch. Even at that, it is kind of dicey.

#9
Steve Featherkile said:
According to Del Tapparo of [url=http://1stclass.mylargescale.com/DelTapparo/]G Scale Graphics[/url], the smallest that you can cut vinyl lettering is about 1/4 inch. Even at that, it is kind of dicey.
I've been working in a sign shop for about a month. They do a lot of cut vinyl lettering. I asked the expert who has been running the vinyl cutter since they opened. His answer was similar to Del's. The machine will print smaller, but the problem is "weeding". Vinyl cutters make the cut lines in a solid sheet of vinyl. You then need to weed out the unwanted vinyl around and inside the letters. The smaller the letter the more difficult. It was suggested that if I wanted really small letters I should cut 10 sets and I might end up with one good one. Weeding under high magnification with very small tools is also needed.

More interesting to me in the old Gerber Edge thermal printing system. It can print spot color, including white, on any color vinyl, including clear. It also has a companion cutter.

#10

I can produce most fonts down to 3/16" in height with very little if any scrap. But it has taken a lot of practice, the proper tools, and some tricks to accomplish that.

#11

I bought a cricut and the surecutsalot software. I’ve been quite happy with it, although it’s not quite as good as the results I’ve had dealing with Del. I posted a review over at MLS:

http://www.mylargescale.com/Community/Forums/tabid/56/aff/17/aft/116557/afv/topic/Default.aspx

#12

I think Mike was the one I had seen because I remember the “Old Dominion”.
I believe that software is is better than buying cartridges that don’t have the font I want.
I will post a review when I try this. Supposed to rain tomorrow, so that may be the day.
Yes, we found the product at Michael’s, too. Only one AC Moore had white vinyl. If this works, I’ll have to pick up more.
Mike - where did you get that gold vinyl for Pennsylvania?
Thank you everyone. Lou

#13

Lou:

Yes, the software is much cheaper than the cartridges, which really don’t have any RR-appropriate fonts.

You can use any adhesive vinyl in the cricut, including shelf paper or contact paper. Cricut sells vinyl in various colors, but they are hard to find around here. For the gold I used Oracal brand that I got online from an ebay seller: I think it’s “signal yellow.” I bought a few different colors. Sometimes sign stores will sell you small pieces of vinyl

#14

Well, I ordered it, so I’m committed, or should I be committed? (relates to question #2 above)

#15

You’ll like it–it takes a bit of fiddling with the pressure and depth of cut settings, but once you get it right it works well.

You need to take care when you lift the letters off the backing–the serifs don’t always cleanly separate from the vinyl matrix. The letter “S” is often a problem. I usually peel them off gently and use a small flat blade screwdriver to make them stay in place.

#16

Mike - When you use the Cricut to make letters, do you apply them one at a time?

If so you should check out the low-tack tapes used by sign makers as a carrier for vinyl. You first weed away all but the letter shapes you want, then apply the carrier tape across the group of letters. Trim the tape and vinyl backing to a convenient shape, then remove the backing a little at a time while applying the letters. Burnish with a plastic squeegee then once everything is stuck down, carefully remove the carrier tape. Keeps everything lined up nice.

#17

Well, so far I have found you can only go so small in the RR Roman. It has such fine lines that some horizontals cut over themselves. I had to go to Arial to get clear letters. Still experimenting, but I will post results when I’m satisfied. And I’m picky, I’m ready to lift off one set because I think I made it too small.