Sailing Fan wrote:
I'm a signmaker. I work mainly in vinyl decals applied to a varity of
substrates,

Snip of woeful tale

I've done a bit of vinyl application and vehicle wraps, so I may have
some insight.

If you've got a plotter, I assume it's probably in the 48" range. As
such, you should be able to produce the sign in vinyl. As the jobs
come up, it'll be a lot of work until you have a full complement of
templates, but here goes:

Plot all the letters in the sign and cut them on vinyl.

Apply the vinyl to some 1/2" MDF (not MDO), applying the letters to get
the most out of the sheet of MDO.

Cut out the letters slightly oversize with a jigsaw.

Use your sander(s) to get them to the exact size of the vinyl cutouts.
As you know, the *exact* size is not so important as smooth lines.

You now have a set of templates to be used with a jigsaw and router.
Like I said, it's a lot of work on the first sign, but MUCH less on the
second (you can reuse letter templates that you've already made) and
even less on the third. You probably will "lose money" on the first
half-dozen or so, but it's one less middle man, and one less scheduling
hassle.

Hope it helps,

-Phil Crow