Wind Slits in Vinyl Banners

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Opinions about wind slits in banners vary. The purpose of these semi-circular cuts in the vinyl banner material is to relieve the wind load that can shred a banner to pieces. Sign makers often use anything from soup cans to coffee cans as templates for cutting slits with an Xacto knife or utility knife.

To understand how damaging high winds can be, read my story: The Effect of Wind Loads on Vinyl Banners.Amazingly the pressure of a 75 mile per hour wind on a 3’ x 30’ banner spanning a city street is about 1890 lbs.

Concerned that high winds could send banner material, cables and anchoring mechanisms flying putting passers-by at risk of injury, some well-meaning communities have required wind slits in banners. To some extent, these wind slits do reduce wind loads by 6% to 15%, according to the estimates of experts. Read more »

Using Car Wax On Printed Dry Erase Vinyl

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My story, How to Minimize Ghosting on Dry Erase Boards,  explains how to condition EZ Erase dry erase vinyl film with Rain-X liquid car wax.  After writing on the film with dry erase markers, you can also use the car wax to wipe the surface clean with no residue or ghosting. Read more »

Graphics Troubleshooting

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Yesterday I received an email with a couple of pictures of applied vinyl graphics with what looked like bubbles underneath the film. See the photo below. The message that accompanied the pictures read: “Could you please take a look at the enclosed pictures and help us with your assessment.” Read more »

Getting Past the Gatekeeper

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Gatekeepers can block you from speaking to prospects. Learn how to improve your sales prospects in Jim Hingst’s article… Read more »

Removing Vinyl Graphics

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Tips For Strippers I would love to tell you that I had an easy way to remove vinyl and adhesive, along with a sure fire formula to make millions in graphics removal.  Although I have a few tips to make the removal jobs more trouble-free, they are never easy or fun, rarely profitable and frequently […] Read more »

Screen Printing Acrylic Sheet

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Painting is not the only solution for decorating plastic signfaces. For high-volume jobs, screen printing with either solvent or UV curable inks is an economical solution. In selecting an ink system, ask your screen print supply distributor for a recommendation. The ink manufacturers’ technical bulletins will give you printing specifications. The type of mesh, squeegee, […] Read more »

Safety and Latex Paints

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In my articles on wall graphics I make a few recommendations on painting with latex paint. What I did not do was make any recommendations regarding safety. Who would  think that there are any health concerns when painting walls with latex paint? I never did. After all, latex paint is water-based and that’s safe, isn’t […] Read more »

Dimples in Paper Application Tape

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Dimples on a person’s face are usually regarded as being attractive and desirable. But dimples on the surface of paper application tape…not so much!  In fact, dimples in the application tape are aesthetically unappealing. In most cases, however, a little dimpling does not mean the roll is bad and can’t be used. Generally, sign makers can […] Read more »

Application of Vinyl Graphics to Acrylic Signs

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When decorating acrylic sheet, selecting the right vinyl film for the job depends on a variety of factors: Read more »

Sign Media & Floor Graphics

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In Sign Media Canada , Jodie Sawyer of Flexcon writes: “Floor graphics have been used in the retail sector for years to help shoppers find products on shelves or to direct their attention to special merchandising promotions. Studies have shown they typically result in a seven to 16 per cent sales lift. Read more »