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Vinyl registration

J

Jcurry

Well Known Member
Hello,
I am looking for a reasonably priced graphics shop that uses 3M or Avery products to cut me a registration number. Does anyone have any recommendations?

Thank you
 
Vinyl

Jcurry said:
Hello,
I am looking for a reasonably priced graphics shop that uses 3M or Avery products to cut me a registration number. Does anyone have any recommendations?

Thank you
Click to expand...

Pretty much any vinyl printer can cut based on an Adobe Illustrator file. Most use 3M.
If you can't find one, call this guy and mention my name.
He has done several jobs for me and always good work.
Most was mailed.

Daniel Lugo
5D PRINTING
(512) 903-0803
[email protected]
720 Bastrop Hwy #226
Austin, TX 78741
 
Aerographics

Bsquared said:
http://www.aerographics.com/ They do good work, prices are reasonable and usually ship the same day.
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That's a coinkidink.
They are near me.
I had my panel done by another local. Alphagraphics
They also do good work. 3M 180 usually but they were willing to print on a section of 3M 1080 Carbon Fiber vinyl. Came out nice.

Daniel Lugo printed the control labels.
20231009_155404.jpg
 
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Graphics.......

Jcurry said:
Hello,
I am looking for a reasonably priced graphics shop that uses 3M or Avery products to cut me a registration number. Does anyone have any recommendations? Thank you
Click to expand...

militarygraphics.com does VERY nice work and has a huge catalog of just about anything you would want to put on your airplane.....or car.....or motorcycle...or....

They are fast and reasonable. I've used them for several jobs.

Let me toot their horn a little bit: I had some custom-colored graphics that I had ordered. (They will make the color of anything you order as close to what you want as they can.) I sent in a second order and, after it was sent, someone in the graphics department noticed the color they had already shipped was slightly off and send me a second set to match the color of the original order! THEY discovered the problem and THEY fixed it without me even knowing! CUSTOMER SERVICE!!! Can't beat that!!
 
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I have had good luck using Etsy. There is a bunch of sign makers selling products on the platform

“PlummerDesigns” charged me $7 for a 3” vinyl EXPERIMENTAL placard
 
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Cutting a registration number is very simple. I am selling the basic vinyl cut decals on my website , and am happy to take any custom requests or material. For decals a thin cast film is going to hold color and last a really long time. Getting a perfectly cut decal and transfer paper applied with todays machines is very easy. I am putting a together a RV decal sheet that has the basics we all need, fuel caps, experimental, no step etc. The registration is an interesting one because of all the regulations surrounding the font. It doesn't seem like it is actually enforced by the FAA because I see very few registrations that actually meet 45.29 to the letter of the law. I send over proofs of everything first.
 
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N number vinyl....

Jcurry said:
Thanks to everyone for the responses. I really appreciate it. Merry Christmas
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You will have to give feedback as to which one of the many choices you picked and send pictures of the final results!

Merry Christmas back at you!
 
I have a friend whose daughter (burgeoning pilot) is starting a vinyl business. She has the equipment and has done some small installations too.

She's just getting started, and I don't want her (or me) to run afoul of the advertising rules, but I can put you in touch with her if you wish.
 
mountainride said:
The registration is an interesting one because of all the regulations surrounding the font. It doesn't seem like it is actually enforced by the FAA because I see very few registrations that actually meet 45.29 to the letter of the law.
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You are correct in that many N numbers do not meet the regs. Back when I was an instructor at the FAA'a DAR initial training course, I wanted to do a study of how many non-compliant N numbers I could find at the EAA convention in Oshkosh. This was back in the day when I had a large digital camera with a not-so-large (by today's standards) storage card in it. Well, I didn't make it halfway through the grounds and my camera's card was full! Even several factory-new aircraft did not meet the requirements of Part 45!

This is something that it talked about at DAR training, and some FAA offices actually pay attention to it during initial airworthiness inspections. Some are a bit less vigilant. Be prepared to have your numbers checked during the airworthiness inspection.

And watch out for numbers cut by local sign shops. I have found that most sign shops, not being familiar with the requirements for aircraft markings, space the individual characters of the N number too close together. Everything else about the number may be correct, but spacing is not. So if you are having numbers cut at a local sign shop, make sure to inform them of proper spacing - 1/6 the height of the number, so 1/2 inch spacing for a 3 inch tall number. And don't forget all the other requirements of Part 45!
 
jnorris said:
And watch out for numbers cut by local sign shops. I have found that most sign shops, not being familiar with the requirements for aircraft markings, space the individual characters of the N number too close together. Everything else about the number may be correct, but spacing is not. So if you are having numbers cut at a local sign shop, make sure to inform them of proper spacing - 1/6 the height of the number, so 1/2 inch spacing for a 3 inch tall number. And don't forget all the other requirements of Part 45!
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And….I hate to mention it (because “let he who is without sin cast the first stone”), I seem to remember the word “painted” in there somewhere……

Paul
 
Ironflight said:
And….I hate to mention it (because “let he who is without sin cast the first stone”), I seem to remember the word “painted” in there somewhere……
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Easy, just be sure to tell your vinyl shop to use Microsoft Paint.
 
Beware of printed vinyl

I ordered red n numbers for our Hummingbird from the same company that did a beautiful job on our rv-10 n numbers in 2009. They came looking a bright pink. They remade them. Same result It turns out they no longer use colored vinyl, they ink dye the vinyl to the correct color. It didn’t work. I had to find a company that uses the vinyl colors.
 
mountainride said:
I see very few registrations that actually meet 45.29 to the letter of the law. I send over proofs of everything first.
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100% agree. Another Texan posted pictures of what his plane's paint job was going to look like. He had just dropped his plane off at the shop and I told him I could hardly see the registration letters since they were just a shade off of the color of rest of the plane and sent him a link to the FAR. He said he liked it like that so he was leaving it. He's been flying all over for over 3 years now, even went to Oshkosh twice, and nothing from anyone.
 
Ironflight said:
And….I hate to mention it (because “let he who is without sin cast the first stone”), I seem to remember the word “painted” in there somewhere……

Paul
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If they're using wrap material, like these stickers I had made, the letters are actually painted onto a white vinyl, so there's always that.
 

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Colored vinyl

Pilot135pd said:
If they're using wrap material, like these stickers I had made, the letters are actually painted onto a white vinyl, so there's always that.
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That is true. Most shops print color on white. However, every vinyl shop has a cutter. Buy a yard of the color you want. Generate the AI artwork. They can run it. Some want the cut line a certain color. Most shops can cut as many as will fit across the 60" panel so nothing is wasted. Call and ask.
Read my article. It's A Wrap
 
I used a local Fastsigns franchise a couple of times for cut vinyl letters. As best I can tell, they have franchises all over the country. At least I see them all over the place.
 
Ironflight said:
And….I hate to mention it (because “let he who is without sin cast the first stone”), I seem to remember the word “painted” in there somewhere……
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Paul,

The exact verbiage is "....painted on the aircraft or affixed by any other means insuring a similar degree of permanence;"

So the "any other means" allows vinyl. Most all the manufacturers are using vinyl nowadays, as are most homebuilders. It has become the norm.

Just get the spacing and other requirements right!! :)
 
jnorris said:
The exact verbiage is "....painted on the aircraft or affixed by any other means insuring a similar degree of permanence;"
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Given how easy it is to peel vinyl letters off, I doubt they would meet a reasonable person's evaluation of "similar degree of permanence" compared to paint. And yet I too have vinyl letters on my tail that nobody questioned when it was inspected (requirements slightly different in Canada, i'm not sure if it has the "painted" wording).

The point of them being painted on is that unscrupulous people can't fly somewhere, change them, fly somewhere else, change them, etc. in an effort to deceive.
 
jnorris said:
Paul,

The exact verbiage is "....painted on the aircraft or affixed by any other means insuring a similar degree of permanence;"

So the "any other means" allows vinyl. Most all the manufacturers are using vinyl nowadays, as are most homebuilders. It has become the norm.
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Yeah, me and the instructors at the OKC course had a “nervous chuckle” over this in the hallway during a break…..tape/temporary numbers are the norm for many manufacturers! ;)
 
A Funny Little "Side" Story to Vinyl Numbers

I know a back country pilot (who shall remain nameless) that temporarily tapes one of his N-numbers from a 3 to an 8 when he goes flying into places that maybe he shouldn't be ?. That way if he gets reported - he was never there ...

YMMV - But that's what he does!

HFS
 
Thanks to everyone for your suggestions. I decided to go with Fellers for my materials since their warehouse in Orlando is only 45 minutes away from me. I had no idea. As wisely suggested, I ordered samples first. Their samples cost $2.09 per 12"×12".
 
Pilot135pd said:
Maybe the old school type but I had to use a heat gun and a plastic blade to get the ones off of the RV8. It took a while.
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Still, a lot easier and neater than stripping paint. See the post above yours for an example of what some yahoos will try to get away with.
 
Snowflake said:
Still, a lot easier and neater than stripping paint. See the post above yours for an example of what some yahoos will try to get away with.
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I agree 100% it's easier than removing paint, I was just commenting that it's not as easy as before. The materials and sticky stuff they use now is impressive. I just replaced a decal I had installed on glass just 2 months ago and I had to use a heat gun.
 

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I had a fed inspect and sign off my -8. We talked about vinyl marks because he had me add "open" to the canopy skirt for the handle. FARs say, "paint or affixed by any other means insuring a similar degree of performance." Vinyl is sufficiently visible and has yet to blow off in 23 1/2 years. These are the only two performance criteria.

As for those intent on violating the law, who couldn't paint over painted numbers if they were planning on commiting some specific crime that required obscuration of numbers. Or just steal a plane and do what they need to do. Smh.
 
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Low Pass said:
As for those intent on violating the law, who couldn't paint over painted numbers if they were planning on commiting some specific crime that required obscuration of numbers. Or just steal a plane and do what they need to do. Smh.
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It's more the people like those mentioned earlier who "regularly" swap registrations for some purpose or other... Swapping temporarily and then swapping back on an airplane they own.
 
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