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whats the best way to fit a Large Glass Etch Film Job
Hi All
I have an order to do a large glass etch film job.
It is going in internal office windows that are 2000mm high. There is a horizontal band of 1200mm that runs in the middle of the glass. It has horizontal stripes that are 20mm wide with a 10mm gap in between. It is gong to be a night mare to cut as the vinyl cutter has to run all the way up then all the way down for each strip and there are like 50 across the 1200mm. We have 165mt to do like this it is 3 floors of offices.My first problem is what vinyl to use. I have given them samples and they want a plain grey type. Not the one with the sparkle. They also want the cheaper 3-5yr not the 7-10 year cast. Because of the size of the job and the application time I’m not too sure which vinyl to use and what app tape to use. I want it to be as easy as possible as well as cheap as possible so i can maximize profits.
My options at the moment are:
I use Avery crystal Glass Film with a med tack app tape and apply wet only problem it it takes long to dry and also sometimes when squeegeeing, a strip comes away from the app tape and then it ends up skew. then you have to manually straighten them which could take hours. I want a high enough tack so that it doesn’t move when applying and a low enough tack so that i can remove it easily at the end.The next option is to try and apply dry. Has anyone had success with applying dry. What method do you use. My experience has told that you often get uneven pressure marks on the adhesive side once applied. Do they ever go away? Also what squeegee do i use. Can i make a wider one successfully.
the last option is. Mactac has released a bubble free sandblast film. It is
30% more expensive but it could solve my application problems. Because with my experience if you try and pop a bubble which you will almost certainly have in this large quantity it ends up leaving a little cut mark that splits open. Also i am worried about cad cutting this bubble free. It has been made for printing onto. Has anyone cut bubble free vinyl before. Does it weed successfully.Would appreciate some of your advise on this as i don’t want to go and purchase all this vinyl and then find once it is all cut that i have application nightmare.
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9 Replies
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If you sit down and think about this for a minute its not actually that difficult to apply.
Bit of a pain to cut and weed I would agree but as for installation if you measure and tape the graphics in place where they will go because the stripes run horizontally from one end to the other you don’t need to apply each graphic in one go. You can simply decide how many stripes you want to apply at a time and cut the application tape to suit. I would do it dry and however many stripes at a time you feel confident applying. -
thank for the advise.
think it will be better to cut it down to 600 wide then apply dry with a felt block squeegee.
Regards
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Hi
you could inquire about the cost of LG’s LT4500 etch if it lives up to its description then at the right price may be the material to use.http://www.allprint.co.uk/Allprint%20Sign%20Vinyl.htm
Kev
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I am not sure if this is of any help, but we recently did a 145 meters of grey vinyl on to external glass 2 meters high but very odd shapes that then had to have stripes cut along the same outline as the building ( Curved) We applied the vinyl at 610mm wide using a big squeegee also 610 wide we then cut the vinyl using a template we made from cor flute and edged with plastic. So in your case maybe apply a full roll then measure your stripes then cut Hope that makes sense.
Cheers Mike -
most good suppliers now offer the air escape/bubble free type adhesive films.
as you have said, its mainly for wrap and print films which have a Grey back adhesive… have you actually asked Mactac if they do an etch with this type of bubble free adhesive?could you post a picture of your glass etch design?
Personally, i would do it dry… but thats easy for me to say as ive been doing it a long time. however, it does just come down to technique of application.
a felt squeegee is more forgiving, so if doing it dry that maybe a better choice for you.
do NOT do it, if the window is in direct warm sunlight, this will just result in the initial tack being high.here is some etch work i have done in the past… all done dry.
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Off topic but really like the "Mark Hill Window" design – might need to liberate that idea for a client we are working with at the moment 😉
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off topic again
Robert if you can find the time and you don’t mind How did you do the large circle one.
many thanks
mike
ps Really impressive work -
mod-edit see board rules
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Sorry been off the boards for ages.
Am busy with the job at the moment. We ended up going with the Mactac bubble free glass etch film. Great product. It is more designed for printing so the backing paper is a bit thin, it does not roll off the vinyl cutter very easily crinkles quite a lot. Not the easiest to vinyl cut. But we are managing.
After cutting the strips we apply 1200mm wide app tape.We mark the glass 600mm from the floor measure with first window and then with a water level mark all the rest of the windows. This makes the stripes level right through the whole floor.
As the client has requested the the stripes be trimmed 20mm in from the edge of the glass we stick a strip of 5mm sign writers tape down the edge of each side of the glass. We then apply the vinyl dry. (Best decision to go with bubble free has saved us hours.)
We then have a aluminum straight edge 20mm wide we cut down the edge by hand and then pull the 5mm tape this lifts up each little stripe automatically, saves time instead of pick each little stripe individually.
Remove app tape and voila! DONEJob has taken about 5days to do. 😀
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