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having problems fitting hexis vinyl help please?
Hi,
New to this website.
Had a few problems with Hexpress vinyl recently!
Can anyone give me a few fitting tips please? 😥 -
29 Replies
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Hi Nancy and welcome
I have just enquired about this material and just received a colour swatch book. I can’t help you (sorry 😳 ) but am interested to hear more about your experience as I was going to order some tomorrow. It is suppose to be a bubble free wrap material so would have thought it was easier to apply.
What problems are you having and what experience do you have
cheers
Warren
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Thanks Warren,
Been in trade over 20 years – so thought I’d give this bubble free vinyl a try. It’s really easy to apply (you can actually stick it together & pull it apart!)
Trouble is – it hasn’t stayed into the van’s contours.According to the supplier – I’m not the only one having problems with it.
It pressure marks quite badly & apparently it has to be heated into contours twice to ‘cure’ it. Which they don’t tell you on ordering.
(There is an application guide on Hexis website – but it’s hard to find).So, although It saved time & was more expensive than other cast vinyl, I now have to do the job again & I’m reluctant to use the same stuff! 🙄
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Hi Nancy
i haven’t used this wrap vinyl, but sounds pretty much like all other wraps on the go.you do need to apply heat when stretching into the recesses. once in place and cooled. it is imperitive to re-heat the recessed areas only with a heat gun to a minimum of 100 degrees. some vinyls state higher so best check…
laser hand held temp gauge are best for checking the temp.
you do not heat it in one place constantly or you might scorch the vinyl. you must take it up to the heat waving the gun gently along a recessed area of about 12inches long…by pressure marks, i assume you mean sort of lines in the vinyl where you have taken it into the recess in steps? this happens as the vinyl is very soft when hot and when you press firm onto the vinyl spreading the adhesive below leaving these lines. some wrap vinyls suffer this problem more than others. sometimes it can be worsened by the technique used when applying though, so be careful. maybe do some test bits with scrap off-cuts of the vinyl?
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Thanks Rob,
Maybe I should invest in a wrapping course. We’re based in the east midlands. Is there one you could recommend around that area please?
The pressure marks on the vinyl occurred even on the flat panels.
The rep came out to have a look & said they’d just launched a new vinyl which they were happy to replace me with.Like you said – I think that everyone should test new products before stomping in on a big job. Would save time, money & hassle of having to do it again!
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Hi Nancy
I recon the Roland wrapping course is a good one… i have been on a few but not that one. however, i know its run very professionally due to Roland’s association with it, reports from folk that have went on it and so on… i also know the wrap instructor James deacon who is very good at his job and a very good tutor. If you frequent signuk each year you may have seen James on the grafityp stand doing demos for the crowds gathered around the stand. hes the guy with the headset speaking through the speaker system to everyone as he works… 😀
If you have a live wrap job needing done and hire James to come to your premises and fit the job. he will do so but also train you up as you assist him in the fitting… personally i think this is the best way to do it as you have a one on one course with the tutor as opposed to sharing him with 5 or 6 others.
info on the Roland course can be found if you click the Roland advert at the top of the screen. if you need James contact detail to get a quote for him, please feel free to pm me and ill look out his number.
best of luck…
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Thanks for that Rob.
Yeah, I’ve seen him at the sign exhibition. But didn’t go myself this year, was too busy!
Seems a good way of training, I’ll let you know how I get on.
Cheers
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Hi Guys
Just thought I would update this thread.
Today I used this vinyl (Hexis Hex’press series HX10000) on my van and must say I am actually very impresses with it. It went on so easily with little effort, had no problems except one small area where I over stretched it and it lost a little bit of colour. It makes wrapping as an amateur so easy.
I reheated the recesses but was not able to check temperature as I don’t have a temp gun so now will see if I have any problems in the future (also fitted outside) . It is only on a Transit van so not really deep recesses but will keep you updated to any problems that might arise.
cheers
Warren
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Hello Nancy,
Im rapping my transit black right now. I ordered some polynumeric vinyl off my supplier but they sent me out some kpmf 9710 gloss s/v perm 5-8year £2M 1220. I have never used this before. It is pritty hard feels like oracle vinyl. After rapping half my van so far I have got the feel of this vinyl, I have heated and streched it right into the number plate recess and what I call window recess very easy. But once this sticks you wont be pulling it up with out snapping. For vehicles I would say this is a very good vinyl.
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quote Luke s Bremner:Hello Nancy,Im rapping my transit black right now. I ordered some polynumeric vinyl off my supplier but they sent me out some kpmf 9710 gloss s/v perm 5-8year £2M 1220. I have never used this before. It is pritty hard feels like oracle vinyl. After rapping half my van so far I have got the feel of this vinyl, I have heated and streched it right into the number plate recess and what I call window recess very easy. But once this sticks you wont be pulling it up with out snapping. For vehicles I would say this is a very good vinyl.
Never heard of 9710? and no idea what Polynumeric is, am I missing something? I dont have a KPMF brochure, but I cant find it on their website.
at 2quid a metre I doubt if you have a wrapping vinyl, But if it is let us know how it is after a few weeks.I dont understand how you can say oracle is "hard" especially the 751, it is very soft.
Peter -
Hello Peter
I ordered intercoat polynumeric 5-8year vinyl but my supplier portlands was out of stock so kpmf 1220, on the back kpmf is in blue. I dont know what type of vinyl this is the code I put down was on the invoice for £2.18M 1220. Im very happy with how it has worked. I would say that you need experienceld be vinyl with out getting cought out.
I use to use oracal in australia years ago and it was always a pritty thick vinyl. I also use to use avery that was alot nicer to cut and weed.
I think the 751 is a high quality vinyl (8yr cast?) so should be quite thin, I use to use alot of 651 I think it was called. Use to buy through asg.com or asg.com.au . What I found was in australia the numbers would different
to europe so a 8yr vinyl woud be a 5yr in oz. -
Hi luke is 1220 not the width?
that is what I was assuming, and like I said very cheap for a good quality wrapping vinyl, or indeed any cast.Not sure how you can recommend it if you are not certain what it is?,Most vinyls can be heated into recesses, but the question is how long will it stay put?Do you have any more info on it?
Peter
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My experience with vinyl is if it is out side over night in the cold air and it does not pull out of recess then it wont. 2 nights so far.
On the back doors I stretched the vinyl across the number plate recess then heated it in and it did not become lighter in colour or become very thin it seemed to just keep stretching and sticking plus the tight recess and curves stretched well it looks like it has been painted, very glossy, but would have to say you need to have a good amount of experience to use a vinyl not made for vehicle rapping, I started rapping buses about 10years ago with a 3 part system from a company called colorcorp before inkjet digital printers were affordable, I also installed the first tests of 3m pressure sensitive vinyls with dots of glue for 3m and colorcorp. The original vinyl we used was very thick and not very conformable, but there are methods to make the vinyl conform.I am impressed by this vinyl but if you dont know how to rap vinyl then you should buy the best vinyl you can get.
I will find out tomorrow what this is, I expected the vinyl I ordered.
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yes £2.18 1220wide
(I once had a vinyl supply company complain because they could not send me 20M/1.22M because it would not fit in the van) I told her to try roll it the other way.
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Sorry luke.
I have to disagree, I would not fit a vinyl to a customers vehicle without knowing the specification, It matters not how good you are a fitting, if the vinyl is not up to the task, then you are going to come unstuck (pardon the pun) in the future.
Conversely, if you are a beginner at application, The best vinyl in the world will not make you a good fitter.One or two nights without the vinyl popping is no indication it will stay there for any length of time.
Sorry for the hijack Nancy,
but there is a relevance here,
Peter -
Hi Luke,
Have not been on the forum for a while, just become a dad! 1st time!
I used to use intercoat vinyl many years ago, but stopped using due to poor supply, and I do believe the Intercoat supply in the UK is going to become much easier, Vinyl Logistics in Newark have become an official supplier of the product and I have also been reliably informed that it should be in stock and available from October 1st, I know one thing is for sure, I will be changing to Intercoat! Apparently there are some new colours in all 3 ranges and they also have a vehicle wrap, not just digital but also colours with the chanelled adhesive! can’t wait to try.
Dave
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Hi Peter,
Can’t agree more with your last post!
Still having problems with Hexpress – rep offered to replace the vinyl with a newer version, sounds like they know it doesn’t stay put?
If anyone has had any success with the brand – I’d love to know please?
Still have to re-do the van, so ended up wasting time & money on a product that was supposed to make life easier.
Using avery this time (better the devil you know) & I’ve been fitting vinyls for over 20 years.
Congrats on becoming a dad Dave!
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Hi Nancy
Thanks !
Being a first time dad is harder than being a sign maker! Mind you at least when Baby is asleep baby can’t complain!
I am sure that if you contact VL they would be happy to send you a sample, I asked and I got one, although I can see reasons why they don’t like sending samples, ie: for digital products there is always the contamination element and if the material is contaminated whilst a sample is being produced it sometimes will not perform as good as it can.
If you don’t have their details PM me and I will gladly pass them on, any way I am going to prop my eyelids up with matches and try to get a van proof ready for the morning,
Good night all !
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Hi All
I can make a quick update on my experience with the Hexpress vinyl. The last update was just after fitting and it was nice to work with but has since pulled away from the recesses very slightly (see picture attached) I do think though this is due to my application as it was done outside and even though I reheated it again I don’t know if it was hot enough.
The second (worse) problem I found is on the flat areas, it’s hard to explain the effect but if you can imagine scraping down a painted wall but not scraping all the paint off and not smoothing it down before painting a new coat of paint over it, there is a mottled type effect from the glue I presume that gives it this appearance, it is only visible from certain angles in the light but does not look right, generally a person looking at it would not even notice it but it’s there.
I have not complained to Hexis as it was not fitted in accordance to their spec sheets so have no argument although I’m generally happy with how it turned out, might try it again one day to see if it is me or the vinyl.
cheers
Warren
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Most of the bubble free vinyls have a slightly mottled effect. That is the air release channels.
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quote JonM01:Most of the bubble free vinyls have a slightly mottled effect. That is the air release channels.
it’s not that mate, it’s random and in large patches, not an overall texture. It looks as though some of the "channels" have all been flattened in some areas and not others, like a camouflage effect with many large patches 😕 if you know what I mean 😉
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quote Warren Beard:it’s not that mate, it’s random and in large patches, not an overall texture. It looks as though some of the “channels” have all been flattened in some areas and not others, like a camouflage effect with many large patches 😕 if you know what I mean 😉I know exactly what you mean Warren, I’ve just fitted this vinyl to the back doors on my own van and had the same happen to me!!! 😕
I still have to do the sides so I’ll see what happens and keep you posted.
Neil
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That’s very interesting Neil, please let me know how you get on. Are you fitting indoors and following the spec sheet? Not sure that would create this problem though 😕 Maybe might be worth a call to them after all 😕
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No same as you, outside.
I’ve applied wrap vinyl outside such as Easyapply by 3M without ever seeing this type of problem.
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quote Warren Beard:quote JonM01:Most of the bubble free vinyls have a slightly mottled effect. That is the air release channels.
it’s not that mate, it’s random and in large patches, not an overall texture. It looks as though some of the “channels” have all been flattened in some areas and not others, like a camouflage effect with many large patches 😕 if you know what I mean 😉
Hmm. Have you tried giving it a good squeegee all over?
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quote JonM01:Hmm. Have you tried giving it a good squeegee all over?
Yes mate, squeegeed really hard to see if it made a difference, tried different pressures on different areas but the same happens, even tried heat and squeegee to see if that made a difference but NO 😕
I think I might speak to them as it was nice material to work with so would be a shame not to be able to use it.
cheers
Warren
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OK I just got off the phone with Hexis and they call the problem "bushing" they are aware of it and did say that many people have commented on it and they have now just introduced a 2nd generation material that will not leave this "bushing" effect. They say it is because it has to be applied exactly as per the instructions which is different to how you would apply normal wrap vinyl 😕 However the 2ng generation material will be applied as normal wrap vinyl and that problem will disappear. They will also be doing a window etch and maybe even window coloured films (transluscent I presume)
So the official word is YES there is a "problem" but is not bad enough to warrant replacement (so it seems) as it is not that visible and customers should be happy with it.
The new 2nd generation material will be the next best thing to sliced bread apparently :lol1:
cheers
Warren
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I’ve looked at loads of vehicle wraps in the last year or so and I don’t recall ever seeing one that hasn’t popped out somewhere. In real life it is virtually impossible to apply a wrap or ordinary vinyl for that matter according to the conditions specified by the manufacturer. I would be interested how the ‘2nd’ generation material fares. How often do we get a product that just isn’t quite as good as we were lead to believe.
Alan D -
quote Warren Beard:OK I just got off the phone with Hexis and they call the problem “bushing” they are aware of it and did say that many people have commented on it and they have now just introduced a 2nd generation material that will not leave this “bushing” effect. They say it is because it has to be applied exactly as per the instructions which is different to how you would apply normal wrap vinyl 😕 However the 2ng generation material will be applied as normal wrap vinyl and that problem will disappear. They will also be doing a window etch and maybe even window coloured films (transluscent I presume)
So the official word is YES there is a “problem” but is not bad enough to warrant replacement (so it seems) as it is not that visible and customers should be happy with it.
The new 2nd generation material will be the next best thing to sliced bread apparently :lol1:
cheers
Warren
How does the application differ Warren?
I had a similar thing happen with mac9800 bubble free, but I thought it was down to some form off surface contamination as it was only in a few places, it was as if the adhesive pattern wash showing through the vinyl,
only used it the once, so may have been contamination and as it wasnt really noticeable, I let it go
Peter
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Peter I’m not 100% sure, I’m just quoting what the tech guy at Hexis told me. I did get a 2 page instruction sheet with it and he did mention something about preheating the vinyl to 100 degree first. I think they must have realised the problems too late and now have a creative answer along with the 2nd generation material coming to hoard off any unwanted conflicts, JMO.
I do believe though that due to the pattern on the adhesive it can leave a pattern on the finished product on some bubble free wraps but that is a uniform consistent pattern as the glue is uniform and consistent across the vinyl.
I’ll try dig out the spec sheet I got with it and have another read to see if there is anything really different. I only phoned out of interest as because I fitted outside and don’t have a heat gauge I have no recall on the product myself.
cheers
Warren
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