1 Placing The Car Body Decals example essay topic

Decaling cars may look easy but in reality it's quite difficult. Throughout the years people have used decals to convey messages. How do people use decals to get this message across? Well to decal a car there are certain things that the person dealing the car should know: How long the life span of the vinyl you want to last, where the decals are going to go, window or body decals, how much vinyl you need, how to prepare the car for the vinyl, designing the decals and weeding the cut vinyl, applying the finished decals "Vinyl is a plastic spread with a sticky adhesive spread onto the back of it"-Chris Walker. There are different types of vinyl ranging from a one-year life span to a twenty-year life span. All the difference is between the different types of vina l is basically the thickness of the vinyl.

It really depends on the person dealing the car. Other decals last longer in the weather than others so this too must be taken into consideration. First decide weather the decals should last a long time or just for a temporary thing. Now for the dealing. First decide what type of decals is going to be made i.e. window decals or car body decals.

Second choose which type of vina l would be best for this project. Should the vina l last a long time or should it be temporary? Now before placing decals on the car it would be best to draw them out on paper first. By doing this it helps to eliminate any errors that may acquire.

Draw up a quick sketch of the car that is being decal ed from different angels, front view, side view, rear view, and top of the car. With these sketches the decals can be placed onto the car without error. After that has been taken care of draw the decals onto the sketches where they should be placed on the car. To help decide witch design (pearce) to it is best to look in books and magazines or if wanted they could just create there own design. Check and decide to see if the decals are going to look good when placed on the car.

Once the decal's placements has been decided measure each decal to see how much vina l is needed to be able to cut these decals out. First measure the length of the car, the height, width, and measure the windows. Once that is done decide how big the decals are going to be needed to be able to accomplish this project. With the decals measured the color of the vinyl can be decided. When everything has been decided the vinyl can now be ordered or can be prepped for being cut out. Getting the car prepared for the placement of decals is pretty easy.

Rubbing alcohol works the best to get all that grime off of the car, but alternative cleaners can be used to get the same affect i.e. Windex, car soap, eat. Take a washrag apply the rubbing alcohol to it and go over the surface areas of the car where the decals are going to be placed. Make sure that all the dirt and grime has been removed from the car. If dirt and grime remain on the car it can affect the placement of the vina l. The dirt will cause the vina l not to stick onto the car well. This will result in the decals coming off of the car before their life span is up.

To design and cut the decals out onto vina l can be a little frustrating. The best computer program to get the done is Corel Draw to design my decals. First scan the pictures of the decals into the computer. When that is done open up the scanned pictures in Corel Draw. With this program the designer is able to create his / her decals.

The scanned picture has to be turned into a line drawing (see diagram 1.1). This tells the vinyl V (X Y plotter) how thick the cuts to the decal should be. After the picture has been converted into a line drawing use Corel Draw to export the pictures into a program called Sign Designer. There the drawings are turned into signs. With this program the operator can tell the vinyl cutter what to cut, how big it must be, and how much of it. Give every separate piece of the decal its separate color, different from the other colors is preferred, so they all don't get lost in them selves.

It also helps the designer know which part he / she is working with (preferably make the decals the colors that they will be on the vina l). Now place the color vina l (color depends on what section of the vinyl is going to be cut first) onto the vina l cutter (X Y plotter). Export the section of the decal to the cutter and press the start button to make the plotter cut out the decal. When it is done send all the other section to the cutter using there special colors. Here comes the fun part, now the project operator gets to weed the vina l. To weed vina l means to get rid of all the extra vina l that you will not be using for these decals.

Simply take an exact-knife and pull off all the pieces of vina l off of the paper leaving only the pieces that you want. When all of the vinyl has been weeded, place a sticky transparent paper onto the front of the decal and smooth it down. This paper makes placing the decals onto the car much easier; it helps hold the separate pieces together so they don't shift while being placed. Now the decals are ready to be placed onto the car.

1.1 Placing the car body decals are pretty easy. Just make sure that the vinyl is weeded and has the sticky adhesive paper placed on it. With that done go ahead and get t ready to place the decal where you want it to go on the car. Before doing this, make sure that the car is clean.

Using rubbing alcohol works very well. Just wipe the rubbing alcohol on the surface area of the car where the decals are going to be placed. After the areas are cleaned take the decal and measure it up onto the car using tape to help hold it in place. When properly measured peal the backing of the decals off and place the sticky side onto the car.

When the decal is in place use a squeegee to help flatten the decal and to help remove air bubbles that might have gotten stuck underneath the vinyl. If an air bubble does occur under the decal don't panic, just take an exact knife and poke a small hole on the side of the bubble and push the air out of the bubble (see diagram 1.2). Repeat these steps for the rest of decals. 1.2 Window decals are a different story. Windows curve so naturally the decals will have to be made at a curved angle to fit the window.

So here's how to do this, take a piece of paper and draw a sketch of the decal that is going to be placed onto the window. Draw the decal the size that is wanted. This helps you see if the decal will be straight (this also helps save money on vinyl). Repeat this step until a design is found that works with the curve of the window. Now when one is found that looks straight, scan it into the computer and get it cut out onto the vinyl.

Now follow the steps that were taken to place the car body decals and this project should be on a roll. (see diagram 1.3) 1.3 Decaling cars are not only for looks, people decal cars to advertise, give advice, etc. In professional racing the racers cars are covered with company decals. So decals can be used for advertising, sort of like a big bill bored that everyone sees on Sunday. For example decals can also be made for money. Dale Ernheardt's car was worth thousands of dollars easy in decals alone. Because companies found out that dealing cars for advertisement can be a cheap and affective way to advertise companies and brand names.

Nowadays companies will pay you to drive a car with there logos all over them. They will give you a car, pay for gas, insurance, etc. Everyone is trying to get in on the action, soon almost every car will have some sort of decal or lettering on there car to help advertise or make something known to the public. But don't think that the only type on decals are made out of vinyl, there not. There are air brush decals that are just as good if not better (Gann). Using stencils (de simone) and sponges work just as well. I. Placing decals onto car sII.

Life span of vinyl a. 1-20 years of life. Weather proof. Where to place decals onto a car a. Window b.

Car body IV. How much vinyl is needed a. Measurements of decals. How to prepare a cara. Using rubbing alcohol to clean a car VI. Designing and weeding the decals a.

Corel Draw. Sign design VII. Applying the finished decals a. Placement of decals b. Removing air bubbles.