Years ago professional decal installers were taught to install vinyl graphics in a relaxed state without stretching the film. While vinyl films today are much more robust and can withstand the stresses encountered when wrapping a vehicle, you are much less likely to experience film failure, if you adhere to some of the old rules. […] Read more »
Application Temperature Range
To avoid problems with vinyl or any other pressure-sensitive material, carefully read the vinyl manufacturer’s technical data sheet. Product bulletins will usually contain all of the information you need, including application temperature range. The application temperature range for most vinyl films is usually between 50⁰ and 90⁰F (10⁰ to 32⁰ C). For some films, the […] Read more »
Premask Puckering on Screen Printed Graphics
A number of factors can cause puckering and tunneling of a premask or application tape laminated on a screen printed vinyl graphic. These factors fall into three broad categories: environment, material processing and product selection. Read more »
Adhesion Testing
Testing the Bond of an Ink or Paint Whether you are screen printing or painting, the coating must bond to the substrate for the service life of the product. Depending on the physical properties of the coating that you have selected for a project and the substrate to which the coating will be applied, the […] Read more »
Boat Wraps Boast Big Opportunity for Vinyl Installers
Wrapping boats may be the next big thing as the vehicle wrapping trend extends itself from the highways to the waterways. You’re already wrapping cars, why not venture into the wonderful world of boat wrapping and expand your business? Read more »
Wrapping Vegas
The basic elements are the same with wraps of all sizes, but large mass transit wraps offer some additional challenges that offer valuable lessons from graphics installers of all shapes and sizes. Read more »
Problems Transferring Graphics?
Are you having problems with you application tape transferring all of the letters from the release liner? Here are a couple of suggestions: 1. In applying the application tape, use either a 3M gold nylon squeegee or a Teflon squeegee. Softer plastic squeegees and felt squeegees do not have sufficient hardness to cause the adhesive […] Read more »
The Difference between FlexCut Sticky and FlexCut Sweet
Both FlexCut Sticky and FlexCut Sweet are 100% polyurethane films. Other than that one similarity the two films are very different. Each product has its own unique performance properties. And these differences make one film a better choice for a specific application versus the other. Still both films have their place in the product mix. And […] Read more »
How Calendered Vinyl Films are Made
I usually compare the calendering process to rolling out pie dough. In reality, the manufacturing process is a little more complex than that. In the calendering process, PVC material is squeezed between gigantic, heated, polished-steel rollers that form the vinyl into a very thin sheet of film. Read more »
Wrapping Oil Rigs
A Texas sign shop is wrapping the big rigs and we don’t mean trucks. Discover the ins and outs of wrapping in an oil field. Read more »
