posted
i used to make my own but it took longer before you could remove the application tape. so now i just charge a little more and use rapid tac.
-------------------- Jimmy Chatham Chatham Signs 468 stark st Commerce, Ga 30529 Posts: 1766 | From: Commerce, GA, USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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posted
I don't think Roger has to defend anything. If you like it ... use it. If your happy with using something else ... use it. Roger will send you free samples to let you decide for yourself. Personally I mount about 90% of my vinyl dry. Yet use rapid products somewhere on almost every job. (preping mostly) Buy it or don't ... if you are getting the results you want then keep doing it that way.
Maybe do a search, as the rapid bashing has happened a few times before
-------------------- Compulsive, Neurotic, Anti-social and Paranoid ... but basically Happy Posts: 2677 | From: Rochester, NY, USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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posted
in an obe wan voice....noooooooo, jedi you will never be...untill you learn......
-------------------- joe pribish-A SIGN MINT 2811 longleaf Dr. pensacola, fl 32526 850-637-1519 BEWARE THE TRUTH.....YOU MAY NOT LIKE WHAT YOU FIND Posts: 11582 | From: pensacola, fl. usa | Registered: Nov 1998
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posted
I see it's all going to start up again. A friend in the business who never learns, asked me for some more gray vinyl he borrowed off me last time. He said it is bubbling. I reminded him that it was cast vinyl and there was no way it could do that. He admitted to using the soap/water formula you describe. Figures. I told him about Rapid Tac, but I am sure it will fall on deaf ears.
For the little money these products cost, why take the chances. What's next, second hand xacto blades or recycled paint thinner?
-------------------- Wright Signs Wyandotte, Michigan Posts: 2785 | From: Wyandotte, MI USA | Registered: Jan 1999
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posted
I use Rapid Tac, it works better than the homeade crap plain and simple, I don't do that much vinyl, the savings would be nil, I cut directly from Corel, the money I saved on software allows me to be frivolous
-------------------- George Perkins Millington,TN. goatwell@bigriver.net
"I started out with nothing and still have most of it left"
posted
When it comes to prep and adhesive removal I use Rogers Bug juice. For application I use Splash. I wouldn't think of using home brew. Companies like Rapid have done the homework for us. They know it works.
Bought my first bottle six years ago...made $198,000 on it in the first year.
[ April 18, 2002, 07:22 PM: Message edited by: Robert Larkham ]
-------------------- Rob Larkham Sign Techniques Inc. Chicopee, Ma Posts: 607 | From: Chester, Ma. | Registered: Apr 2002
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posted
Glenn, I never thought of that, great idea!
As for making your own....
How much money are you really going to save here? Let's say each 'spray' costs 2 cents. a 4x8 area needs about 10 sprays. Are you really that worried about 20 cents?
I just don't see what the big deal is. You can nickel and dime yourself to death with this line of thinking. I'm all for saving money, I send my plotter blades off for re-sharpening. But if I thought for a second that re-sharpening would cause any kind of ill effect later on down the line, I'd pay the few bucks extra to get new blades.
--shane
-------------------- Halo Graphics Clearlake Oaks, CA http://www.halographics.com ntshane1@halographics.com Posts: 308 | From: Clearlake Oaks, CA | Registered: May 2001
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I recycled paint thinner for many years when I was in business for myself. I strained it into two 55 gal drums. After sitting for one year it was like new again, all the solids having settled.
Since I didn't separate my used thinners, but put them all together into the same drums, I didn't use them for thinning paint again, just as a wash. But if I had had more drums and had went through more thinner, I could have separated certain solvents out, like VM&P and lacquer thinner, which I used for all my spraying. Even so, just using the recycled stuff as a wash, I saved several hundred dollars during the course of a year. Moreover, it made me feel good, since the vast majority of the solvents we use, presumably including Rapid Tac ingredients, are manufactured from either oil, natural gas or coal tar. Petroleum, of course, is a non-renewable resource. Once it's gone, it's gone.
Also, I think we should save the rain forest. And the whales.
Brad in Kansas
-------------------- Brad Ferguson See More Signs 7931 Wornall Rd Kansas City, MO 64111 signbrad@yahoo.com 816-739-7316 Posts: 1230 | From: Kansas City, MO, USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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posted
Hey, no bashing from this corner! I readily agree it's a good product. A bit pricey though. Just curious what the consensus was and how many brew their own. I haven't experienced bubbles from my own recipe, nor any kind of failure. I would think that too much soap would be a bad thing though.
My apologies if this rekindled something from the dark side. Guess I came along after whatever bru-ha-ha took place before on this subject. Wasn't my intentions to enrage anyone and didn't know it was a touchy subject.
I'll leave this apology public for a couple hours and hopefully I can remove the post.
I don't think I worded this in quite the right light. Sorry.
posted
I use ALL of the RapidTac products from start to finish. My customers want quality craftsmanship plus work,and they pay for it! Perhaps you are not taking in to account that the application fluid in Rapid Tac has a glue activator in it along with the "slippery" effect you are trying to achive with your home brew. When it is all said and done. The customer pays for EVERYTHING,ALWAYS!! If fluid cost xxx amount,customer pays,PLUS 40% If vinyl cost xxx amount,customer pays..... Pays for my time Pays for the design EVEN pays for the price of gasoline.
I am in the business of making signs,so I can buy STUFF!(not cut corners)
I have NEVER understood "Flea Market Mentality" If you ALWAYS get what you pay for,is a true statement world wide. Why would you want to treat your customers that way?
-------------------- PKing is Pat King The Professor of SIGNOLOGY Posts: 3113 | From: Pompano Beach, FL. USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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I use Dawn too! For my dishes. I am afraid of using it in an application fluid recipe because of the ammonia content. When I first started I used Ivory dishwashing liquid and water until I received Rapid Tac samples. Even as a newbie I could really tell the difference. Just my uneducated opinion.
-------------------- Kathy Joiner River Road Graphics 41628 River Road Ponchatoula, La.70454
Old enough to know better...Too young to resist. Posts: 1891 | From: Ponchatoula, LA | Registered: Nov 2000
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posted
I use Rapid Tac. It's Rapid, and it Tacs. Plain and simple.. it allows you to de-mask graphics after just a couple minutes of being applied.. soapy water doesnt do that.. I dont have the time to sit and wait for soapy water to dry up enough that I can pull the masking off.
If you really wanna make your own, go for it.. but you will never duplicate the formula. The magical ingredient cannot be found on a grocer's shelf.
It *really* does activate that vinyl adhesive.
As far as the cost.. $30 a gallon.. 24 cents per ounce.. The last job I did that I used Rapid Tac on required maybe 8 ounces of it.. $1.88 worth of RapidTac on a $250 job? I'm not even gonna worry about it.. especially not when I can flat out resale 2oz bottles of RapidTac for $5 to people that wanna apply their own graphics.
-------------------- "If I share all my wisdom I won't have any left for myself."
Mike Pipes stickerpimp.com Lake Havasu, AZ mike@stickerpimp.com Posts: 8746 | From: Lake Havasu, AZ USA | Registered: Jun 2000
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I just noticed you're from Ponchatoula. I've been there a handful of times when I was a kid to visit some relatives. I won't give their names because they happened to be the "skeletons in the closet" if you get my drift. The ones we specifically visited have passed on now.
It's a whole different world down there. I remember going to the town square back in the mid seventies and seeing the largest gator in captivity. My Ol' cousin used to take us into the bayou's...he was kind of a bayou expert or something.
In fact, I remember being there in 1976, because a bunch of us kids entered a city "fireplug" painting competition. They wanted you to paint the fireplugs to celebrate the Bicentennial year.
Also, remember the town was famous for growing strawberries wasn't it?
Have a good one. P.S. I didn't realize Rapid Tac had some kind of adhesive activator in it....makes sense I suppose, hence the name.
The home brew has worked well for me...but I think I'll get another jug of RT and keep it on hand.
-------------------- Todd Gill Outside The Lines Potterville, MI Posts: 7792 | From: Potterville, MI | Registered: Dec 2001
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posted
Until I tried Rapid Tack II for applying decals to cleared over... I used to experience bubbling under the decals after baking. Now... I don't have that problem. Great product...
Roger, I just wish I could run down to my jobber of choice and buy a gallon...
Painter John
-------------------- John Fiorentino DBA Painter John Jacksonville, Fl
posted
hey PI-ZAN....see you found the place.....now try the green button chat about 10 pm....or later....lota people to yak with
-------------------- joe pribish-A SIGN MINT 2811 longleaf Dr. pensacola, fl 32526 850-637-1519 BEWARE THE TRUTH.....YOU MAY NOT LIKE WHAT YOU FIND Posts: 11582 | From: pensacola, fl. usa | Registered: Nov 1998
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