Yep, never fails no matter how careful I am, I cannot get a peel and stick decal on a rod straight. I have tried many different methods and they all come out crooked. What methods do you all use to keep them straight? How do you do it? Sure wish rod companies used water slides decals.

Try taking a ruler and put a straight line above and below where you want the sticker with a pencil/china marker, then find the center where you want the sticker to go and put a small line vertically on the blank in the middle of the blank for your center.

If the sticker has flat edges just line up the bottom line with the flat edge of the sticker and lay down carefully to keep things straight. If its just a logo or circular sticker the center line in the middle of the blank will give you a good starting point.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/31/2013 01:12PM by Adam Curtis.

Jim, Same way they put window tint on, a little soapy water sprayed on before you lay down your decal. Let it dry. Coat with C P. Finish with epoxy.

Dennis J. Danku
(Sayreville,NJ)

Jim,
Just thinking a bit out of the box.
In these days of implants, maybe we each need to have a laser sighting device implanted into each eye, so that we will have Laser Vision to better align these pesky decals!!

If you get the decals that are on a square sheet, you can just lay a piece of thin tip on the under side of the rod to align the square piece of peel off to insure that the decal is straight. Simple and straight forward. Sorry for the pun.

Actually, I used the tape and align method to put decals on several rods yesterday before coating them.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/31/2013 03:59PM by roger wilson.

I put tape on the edges and on top or the bottom of the decal to help get the thing streight
An edge to follow

Bill - willierods.com

Peel n Stick/Vinyl Decal application fluid.

[www.decalconnection.com]

I know, i have trouble also.

The alignment is not the problem, it`s the one corner catching just off the angle a little bit.

Ohio Rod Builders

Canton, Ohio

Jim,

Here is how I apply peel and stick labels. Your mileage may vary..

Remove the decal from the backing.

Hold it by the extreme edges. I usually wrap over the edges of the decal, so fingerprints aren't much of an issue. If you don't wrap over the edges, take extra care with clear labels.

Carefully center one end with the blank and lightly touch it to the blank. With only a small amount of adhesive on the blank, adjustments can be made.

Now adjust so the other end is centered over the blank but not touching.

Starting from the end that is tacked down, use your thread packing/burnishing tool to tack down the centerline.

Once the centerline is tacked down, you can use the tool to work from the center to the top and bottom edges to finish the decal. You also shouldn't have air bubbles to deal with.

Some of the clear media supplied by manufacturers can be stretchy, so you have to be careful not to stretch it. For that reason, I prefer to use the ink jet media and produce my own labels on the white vinyl or metallics.

Another thing that helps when you make your own labels is to have things on your decal that make the centerline easy for your eye to find, like lines of text of the same size and font at one end, and maybe an oval with the owners initials at the other. The layouts used by some manufacturers make the centerline difficult for your eye to find naturally. Another thing you can do if you make your own and wrap over the edges is to put small alignment marks at the edges of the decal, especially if there is an irregular pattern in the background.

Joe

I do very similar to Joe.

I hold the decal by the edges and just lay it down straight. Then just use my burnishing tool to set the center line, and burnish to the outer sides.

I hold the edges of the clear strip with these

[www.mudhole.com]

Bill - willierods.com

Decal connections decals have a carrier sheet that is larger then the decal, so never any need to touch the adhesive. Also helps with the alignment issues.

I have a peel and stick decal decal that I have applied and coated with one coat of flex coat. However it is slightly crooked and it is bugging me so have decided I would like to remove it and start again with a new decal. Can anyone suggest the best way to remove the decal and the flex coat without damaging the blank? Thanks.