knife in the box

June 28, 2003

can someone tell me about the knife in the box tech. how you place the knife? And how do you know it will cut straight and not get off, and how much daylight is normal on each of the sides of a window? :shoot2

June 28, 2003

Knife can be either an olfa or just a razor blade. For the olfa, extend out your blade, slice into the box on the side of where the film will be pulling out blade side toward film to be cut. Put your box on the floor with the side of the blade towards the film, and the tip facing the floor, pull the film out, holding both sides of the cut film, carefully pull it out. If you pull too fast, your knife can pop out. If you have two people, just have one person hold the end of the knife. Do not use your cut from the box as your final film edge. You'd be amazed how many windows are NOT square, you'd have gaps from heck in places if your relying on cutting it straight and having it fit. Even the factory edge, which is supposed to be perfect can be way off, if the window is tweaked, as many are. You need to slightly overlap your edges, and cut on the window to ensure a perfect fit. If you are concerned about cutting it right, you can precut it in place on the window, BEFORE you pull the liner off. For example, cut your film at least 1" wider overall for the whole piece, (you'll have an extra 1/2" all the way around) then wet your window down, put your film on the glass, make a cut on your corners, to avoid creasing, if you have to. (Refer to the flat section of this forum for details on this) Then using a tool, preferably one that is tapered to a thin edge, holding it against the frame, with your knife on the other side of it, run your cuts around the perimeter of the glass. Pull film off, clean glass well, with razor blades, using a soapy solution of some sort, flush your sides and bottom with your sprayer, (not top, just lightly wet it and clean off with a paper towel, otherwise the water will pull lots of contamination down.) wipe down your edges with a paper towel, squeegee it off, might want to do the last few steps a few times, to ensure it is good and clean. Now wet the glass down, get your liner off, either using a drop roll technique, (used to have a description of that on here?) or have someone help you get it off. Put film on glass, wet it down, squeege, taking care to check your edges, making sure film has not slid. After squeegeing well, take your guide you used to cut with, wrap a towel around it and bump your edges, to get a little extra water out. Normally I don't precut film, but if I'm working on old nasty windows with putty edges I do. If your a novice, you might try it this way, will give you a little more room to make errors if you need to adjust anything.

As far as normal amount of daylight, I'd say maybe a 16th of an inch, but sometimes that can be too much. I freehand cut, so my edges are very tight. If your new to this, I'd recommend you get a guide, and cut with it. What I mean by a guide would be something made of plastic, like a small yellow card, or even a wallpaper 5 way tool, but if your using that, make sure you find a real thin one, so it doesn't take up too much room. You hold the guide between the knife and the edge of the window frame, then run the knife and the guide down the window itself. Go to the flat glass section of the forum and look at some of the threads there. There is one talking about how to cut corners to keep them from buckling and creating creases.

June 28, 2003

what tint boy said...................

GusTheTinter · June 28, 2003

Ya lost me when you said wet it :lol

oldtinter · June 29, 2003

Yeah...What tintboy said...Cut it, peel liner, install film, squeegee, then drink beer. See how easy that was to keep under 20 words tintboy? :lol

Mr paladin · June 29, 2003

Yea like tint boy said :lol

pierce8468 · June 29, 2003

when I put my knife in the box . I actualy put it inside of the box. I put it accross the roll. and push the tip into the box . just enough to hold it inplace. and keep it from falling out. while im pulling. unless im using security film . then I just push it threw the side of the box. this way I never have trouble. holding the knife in place. ive tried slicing into the box. but ive found it tendnds. to slip out from time to time. especialy when using security

June 29, 2003

Pierce, I do it the same way, just didn't explain it well enough. See, if I'd done it in 20 words like OT, then there would have been no need to misunderstand!