u/Kai-ni

Happy owner of a 2026 600, bringing it home very soon! The only upgrade I opted for at the dealer was the parking brake lock, since I'll be parking it outside and I want it to be a little harder to steal. I also got a cover for it, of course - what other quality of life upgrades do you guys prioritize? Floorboards? any favs?

Hello!

I just finished overhauling the photos for my shop, and I'm really proud of it! I'd like a gentle critique :)

https://benigngraphics.etsy.com

I'm a graphic designer and student pilot with a background in prepress and signage and yes I know it's another sticker shop, but I really like making pilot stickers and since I've left the graphic design industry as my day job (got a job in aviation instead!) I wanted something to do at home. I have a Roland BN-20A vinyl printer :) Some other ideas for vinyl graphics I could do up to 18x24 would be awesome too! Like back window decals maybe?

Edit: There is absolutely NO AI involved in my shop. In the photography, the graphic design, NONE of it. AI is what made me quit graphic design to pursue another career, and I am vehemently against it for professional and moral reasons.

Not necessarily to go to the airlines, although that too! But is anyone else working as a ticket agent while also doing their PPL training? I desperately wanted a career that kept me close to aviation :)

I'm looking to add 2" of Talalay latex to my mattress, but $275 is a lot.

2" of Sleep on Latex soft is $169. It's a lot more palatable, but I have a box of samples from SleepEZ and I don't like the feel of their soft Dunlop at ALL. I like soft talalay.

But I've heard SOL does something special with their Dunlop process that makes it feel more like talalay? Can anyone tell me what that feels like? More like talalay or dunlop? If I hate SleepEZs soft Dunlop will I still like SOL?

I've recently acquired a used but well taken care of BN-20A! I LOVE it so far. I have experience with Roland and Canon machines from previous jobs (sign shops) and Brother DTG machines from when I managed a T-Shirt shop.

This machine has been super easy to learn given I already knew how to maintain bigger machines, and I love the capabilities it has. 20" is totally enough for my purposes.

A few questions ​for other BN-20A owners - what all (supplies wise) do you keep on hand? The previous owner supplied me the dummy cartridges, a cleaning cart (though it's 3 years old, I'm going to replace it) some cleaning fluid, swabs, and one spare wiper/felt. Tons of extra blades, oddly. All the ink is below 40%.

I've ordered:

- Yellow and Magenta ink (the lowest carts)

- A new waste ink bin (it's nearly full and I need it asap)

- A replacement cap

- more cleaning fluid / swabs

- gloss vinyl (matte roll that's on it is nearly done)​

- cleaning cart

Is there anything I'm missing? What goes out the most? What prevents the printer from continuing if it needs replaced? Do I need another wiper/felt on hand you think?

I want to have extras of anything I need.

I'm mainly going to be working with gloss sticker vinyl. But I also have a need to work with cast vinyl for a specific application - I use Avery 1105 and 1360 gloss lam. Is UScutter the best/cheapest place to get these? 1105 is EXPENSIVE and I'm aware I'll need to cut down a 30" roll. Uscutter also seems to have a cheap hand laminator, which I'll need. Will their hand crank cold laminator be OK with 1105/1360?

Also swingdesign best place to get supplies for the Roland?

Anything I'm forgetting? Thanks :)) I'm really stoked to have my own machine. I've worked for sign shops and print shops as an employee for years and I enjoy the process a lot. ​

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I'm a graphic designer. Specifically a print production designer/prepress artist. I prepare files for print, I don't do deeply creative design. It's more procedural/cleaning up customer artwork. That's what I'm good at, I'm not good at long projects or projects that require a lot of creation from scratch/inventive ideas. I see a task/a file to prepare for print, I fix it and make it print ready, I move on. That's the kind of work I like. Getting things done. I'm very efficient and quick, and I can move easily from one task to another.

I used to love it. I do still love it some ways, but AI has made it miserable lately. Customers providing AI artwork that's impossible to fix/impossible to work with, bosses that have started embracing AI, etc.

And I'm not... actually that good at design, I feel. Anything that requires more than just 'fixing' bogs me down.

I just got fired from a job I enjoyed for over a year. Customer service/graphic design at a print shop/sign shop, doing prepress. I was told the reason was 'too many mistakes'. I will admit I'm not perfect, but I don't feel that was the actual reason. My boss had been pivoting to using tons of AI - writing all of our training documents with AI (things he didn't even read that suddenly became 'policy') and he'd started doing marketing with AI that misrepresented our products. I made some suggestions that maybe that wasn't a good move for a graphic design shop, to be marketing with AI. I wasn't never confrontational about it, but I clearly wasn't a fan and was concerned for the future of the shop. And since I didn't agree with the boss, well... Yeah, they let me go.

I had gotten a raise on my one year review too, and had been complimented on my organizational skills and my ability to follow procedure efficiently and my administrative/secretarial skills. I was good at getting back to customers promptly and took care of repeat customers in a really efficient way. I did get sometimes bogged down by new customers, though. but I could delegate well.

I'm struggling now to find a new job. I'd had two graphic design jobs before this one - the oldest was graphic designer then store manager for a T-Shirt shop - where customers could come in and design a custom t-shirt right there, and get it printed. I looooved that job. I was extremely good at it, it was very 'get it done right now' art and I loved the production aspect too. I was very valued as a store manager for my ability to resolve customer complaints, and take care of my employees and manage them and make sure things got done correctly and efficiently. I was told by my employees then that I was the best manager they ever worked under, because I took care of them and defended them and expected a lot! but wasn't a tyrant about it. I was supportive and would help them get it done.

The second to last job I had was a last-minute panic position that I got because the t-shirt shop went out of business (through no fault of time - landlord raised the rent and the owners decided to get out). I called up a woman who had tried to poach me from the t-shirt business (which should have been a red flag) and got a job. I got fired at exactly 90 days, the company was a disaster. I was asked to do anything and everything, including building online stores, being my own IT department (they got me a new computer and expected me to set it up from scratch for graphic design) and do shipping and receiving and a lot of other things they expected me to just.. do without training. It was terrible. They gave me no tools and no training and then fired when I didn't magically do everything amazingly. Again I'm not perfect, but I did my best with what I was given and feel I was doing as well as I could be expected to.

So now here I am - I've been fired from my last two jobs, which isn't a good look. I don't want to do graphic design anymore - even before the friction with the company using AI, the clients using AI was really starting to depress me. People don't want design anymore, they want AI slop and it was soul crushing. I don't want to deal with it anymore. But my resume is all graphic design / production design, and like... that's my niche. I'm a production designer. That's what I do.

I could get another job in that field, but it doesn't even pay that well and I'm... I'm over it. and apparently not actually that good at it according to my last job.

I'm also a student pilot. I LOVE Aviation. I love everything about aviation, the maintenance, the safety culture, flying of course, and the comradery. I would LOVE to get into an aviation career. I can't be a pilot for hire, due to not being able to get a class 1/2 medical (I have a special issuance class 3 due to autoimmune disorder) so I can only FLY for fun, but there are other jobs in aviation. I WANT a career in aviation.

But pivoting is... so hard.

I've applied to every FBO (desk job at the airport) in my city. Got rejected by all of them. I'm applying for ticket agent at every airline at our international airport I can. Keep getting rejected. I've applied for ramp controller at our international airport, rejected. I'm in a hiring round for flight attendant for a major airline, but it would be unlikely for me to get in. I can't really do rampie/bag smasher due to my disability. I'd love to become an A&P, but I'm not very physically strong or able and I can't afford A&P school. You can get your license by working under an A&P for I think 3,000 hours? so joining a shop just as a pair of hands is an option, but doesn't pay very well. there's someone I can talk to at an avionics shop, but it's a 45 minute commute. I've applied with the city to be customer service at the international airport (employed by the city and not the individual airlines) and haven't heard back. I live 3 minutes from the international airport so that'd be a great place to work, I just... I keep getting rejected.

I know what I want, but you can't just... pick what job you get. it's depressing. I need more ideas, are there any other avenues I could get into in aviation?

I've also been looking at just... general front desk jobs. For any company. I've been most complimented on my administrative skills and my efficiency when dealing with clients, so that seems like a good choice. I'm good at managing people. But I've also been told my tone in emails needs work to sound less sterile and more 'friendly' lol.

Idk. I'm jobless and have two terminations on my record and I just feel hopeless and lost. I don't feel like I'm truly good at anything but MAN I love managing that T-shirt store. I had great staff that I vibed with and that is the one thing I feel I did a great job at.