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3D acrylic letters on vinyl surface : problem
Hello everyone,
3 months ago I have applied 3D letters onto glass surface that has been covered with 3M series 80 vinyl. I have done this because the glass surface reflected to much the sunlight and lettering would not be visible…
The 3D acrylic letters were ordered with an self adhesive backing, so just peel of the backing paper and place the letter onto the background.
So far so good and everything went well until I have received an email, my client has found one letter on the ground, adhesive on the back is still sticky.
Now my question :
Does anyone has experience with mounting 3D acrylic letters onto surface that has been covered with vinyl… (3M series 80)
> should I reinforce lettering with 3M VHB
> perhaps bannertape?
> Tec7?I think that the vinyl has some silicones in the surface that react with glue!
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13 Replies
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I would suspect the sun heat on the dark surface that affected the adhesive, not especially a problem with the 3M vinyl. How did you prepare the vinyl surface before applying the letters?
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I have cleaned the vinyl surface with Image Perfect Surface Pro cleaner from Spandex…
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How have the letters been made. Are they built ups or solid? How heavy are they? How much d/s to reverse did they have? What tape did they have on them?
Applying lettering to vinyl normally sticks like the proverbial sh1te to the blanket.
Could be a couple of things to consider…
As already mentioned – Heat.
Not saying it is but it could be down to the amount of pressure applied to the letter when fitted.
Wrong or not enough d/s tape to reverse of letters.Good luck!
Kev
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Kev…
> 3D solid letters, lasercut – back lettering = complete adhesive
> Letters height approx. 7 inches (18 cms) – thickness 19mm
> Tape : awaiting answer from supplierThere are bigger letters that did’t fall at this moment, fingers crossed it will stay with only this one…
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Laser cut = metal letters = very heavy???
was the adhesive a clear gel or white?
Which letter came down by the way?Kev
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Just went to the client, checked all the rest and it seems that at this moment all other are okay…
None were loosing contact with surface and did stick nice onto surface.
It was the ‘S’ in the wording FEYS.There was no visible damage onto vinyl surface, and the adhesive that letters was in my opinion dry!
The adhesive on the back was complete transparant.
Will go get some industrial double sided tape and place it back, and with fingers crossed hoping that others will stay in place!
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What makes you think ‘industrial’ tape will work? Surely what was supplied with your lettering should have been enough to hold your work in place! VHB clear gel can fail in
Certain circumstances (frosty weather conditions) Never happened to me though!!Are the letters metal & heavy? As I’m thinking to much for d/s tape!
I’m thinking that you should have advised acrylic lettering in this instance as it is a lot
Less heavier and will stay in place with the correct adhesive. -
The letters are acrylic Kev, says so in the first post, like you I wouldn’t trust an industrial tape & if VHB won’t hold them then they may need to be bonded onto the vinyl/glass.
If just the one letter has come off & the rest are secure it may be simply down to not applying enough pressure when fitting, letter "S" can be difficult because of the shape.Never done anything like that myself but if I were I might be inclined to plot the letters out of the vinyl so the letters themselves were fixed directly to the glass & not just stuck to the vinyl.
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What thickness was the tape?
Years ago we had a problem with acrylic pockets falling off our displays (especially near heat sources)……… we had been using 1 mm thick clear, double sided tape from 3M thinking this would be more than enough
It turned out that the weight of the pocket over time was effectively making the 1mm thick tape sag and then the pocket would fall off..in most cases bringing the tape with it. We were advised to use half mil thick tape as this would reduce the shear on the adhesive and it solved our problem
What were the conditions like when you revisited the shop to check the other letters?…….It may be worth going back on a hot day to see if there is any movement on the letters because the gel tapes will contract again and stiffen up when they cool
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This weekend I have glued the fallen letter onto vinyl surface with loctite®…
Have tested with different types, and Loctite had best result, it was simply not possible to pull off the glued vinyl from the letter without leaving vinyl on the back of the letter.
Today 3M has also answered my email that there some tapes that should do the job.
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if you were worried about other letters falling I would add a bead of clear silicon to the join between letter and vinyl, do this on the upper faces only it wont be visible from below this would be a quick and easy way to add an extra measure of security now the job is already complete
John 😀
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I agree totally with Mr Harding, even the smallest bead of silicon would have solved this and I would have done this while on site fixing the one that fell off, its lucky that the letter was not damaged.
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Thanks Mate 😀
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