Tips & Tricks: Slice up graphics for easier application

Whenever we have to apply a long line of vinyl lettering—across a 4-by-8-ft. panel or long banner, for instance—we’ve learned that the application goes a lot smoother if we position the lettering, tape it into place, then cut the application tape into smaller panels of four or five letters. Then we peel the liner and apply each panel of letters separately. It makes the whole process a lot more manageable.

Chris Lovelady, Vital Signs, Tallahassee, FL and Thomasville, GA

Here you see the vinyl lettering sandwiched between the application tape and the liner paper, held in place on the banner with a top hinge of paper tape.

I cut the application tape/vinyl film/liner paper sheet into individual panels about 18-in. wide. Note that the panels are still held in place by the top hinge of paper tape.

As I peel back the liner, I squeegee the vinyl lettering to the banner.

Here’s the first section, applied and squeegeed down.

I peel off the application tape and I’m done.

The finished product

This article appeared in the September/October 2009 issue of SignCraft.

Chris Lovelady