Bright Bike

Step 4 Cutting

Once you have the measurements of your particular bike, you need to plan out how you're going to cut each piece. By careful planning, you can ensure that you don't waste any of the great retroreflective vinyl you've acquired. We were working with a section of vinyl 15" by 6', and we required the measurements we listed in the last step, so below is the plan we came up with for cutting the individual pieces. Some pieces we cut to exact measurements, some we gave a fair amount of extra area.

Do all of your work with the reflective side down. You can make any marks you want on the backing without ruining your vinyl, and it will be easier to cut. You should also number, and clearly label each piece that you cut, as you will end up with a number of them that are very similar, and you want to avoid confusion.

When actually cutting, always follow a few guidelines:
1. Make each measurement twice. You can measure as many times as you want, but you can only cut once.
2. Make one measurement, then one cut, then the next measurement, then the next cut. Doing all measurements and then all cuts can leave you with inaccurate pieces.
3. Make sure to really press firmly on you straight-edge, holding the vinyl in place. It's more important to keep the vinyl in place than to press down crazy-hard with the knife.