Pick Template Decals

[Richie Rich]

I have a plotter I use for making signs and T-shirts - I figured I could use it to cut out templates for picks.

Anyone tried this?

Simply cut out a set of picks in sticky vinyl, stick to your chosen pick material, then grind / file to the template.

Saves on cutting, glueing and scaling.

I'm going to try this out when I get a chance. If it works, then I'll post the templates up - you'll only need to download the files and email them to your friendly signmaker who will load the files to his plotter and have them automatically cut out. They should come out super cheap and you could have a few sets cut all at the same time.

The files need to be vector, so I will create vector files from the jpegs in the template thread and post here. As a vector, they will be to scale, straight out the box.

You will also be able to print them out and cut by hand, should you so wish. But without any scaling issues.

[mikus]

I have some templates redrawn in cad if you want them. they are up to scale. there is ike 40 picks in there from romstar system, peterson and few more

[Richie Rich]

Well, that was easy!

I used @Snikrepmada templates for the first test.

I still need to add weeding boxes, to make it easy to remove the excess vinyl from the sheet. Your sign maker will probably add a transfer sheet ontop. You then peal off the backing, lay the decal onto your tool material and then remove the transfer paper

Here is what I have so far:



Apologies for photo quality.

The metal should be cleaned very well, or I think they will shift during grinding / filing. Any household degreaser should work fine, or something like carboreta or brake cleaner spray.

Now to find myself an old wiper blade..........

[Richie Rich]

Sure thing, mikus - the more the merrier!

I'll have to find a nice bogotar template, too. - I'm looking forward to trying one of Raimundo's beauties out

[Richie Rich]

I'll be using a hand file for my first test - I don't have a bench grinder here, so I'm not sure how the adhesive would stand up to heat. We'll have to experiment

[mikus]

What year autocad are you using?

[Richie Rich]

What year autocad are you using?

Ahh - I'm using adobe illustrator CS6.

A PDF would be preferable, then EPS if you can't do that

[Richie Rich]

So I'm cleaning up and vectorising 2 sets that Mikus emailed me. Many thanks, Mikus.

I'll post pictures below of what I'm working on right now. I'm mainly cleaning them up so that they will cut nicely if you give the file to a vinyl cutter. I may be done by tonight

If there is another pick you see not included that you would like added to the RR Vector Collection, let me know and I'll see what I can do

I will cut out a few sets once I am done on my plotter. I won't have the resources to try grinding my own pick and testing the decals, but if anyone regularly makes picks, send me a pm and I can post you a set to try out. You can then post your results here and let us know if this a technique that is useful. Photos in your review would also probably be useful for others

The edges look a little rough, but that is the resolution of the photo I took, not the design.

[Richie Rich]

Cut out from the Vinyl:



Excess Vinyl weeded, leaving picks and individual weeding boxes:



Weeding boxes removed, leaving pick set. You can see I left some space for extra picks. Perhaps a bypass tool needs to be added? Now ready for application to steel to act as a very accurate and self-adhesive grind and file template:



I'm just working on uploading the .ai vector file to a host so you can download it at your convenience.

Richie

[Richie Rich]

OK Guys,

Here is the file.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/66tsalez7ezvq ... %20Pack.ai

Someone please check the link and make sure it works - I am permanently logged into my dropbox, so I can't check!

You'll need a vector program to open this.

Adobe illustrator is the leading software - you can try it free for 30 days.
Alternatively there is Inkscape - which is a reputable and free opensource software

The cool thing about these vectors is once you get used to the software, you can start to make adjustments to the shapes of the picks and create your own unique pick templates. You'll want to use the pen tool for this. (It does take practice)!

If you download inkscape you can open the file...select some of the templates...open a new file the size of your paper....paste the templates in. Now when you print, as long as you choose the same paper size for your printer they will all print to correct scale.