ANY INFO ON POST HEATING!!!

[Roche' Du Plessis]

Anyone?! :peek:

[Hugh Potter]

are you talking about regular cut vinyl or digi print?

on regular calendared or cast i don’t bother unless it’s tough recesses or onto plastics etc.

digi print, i can’t recall the temp required but generally -from what i’ve seen and do- smallish circular motions with the heat gun and bring the temp right up for a second or two, for real accuracy use a digital laser temp gun, it’ll tell you how hot the vinyl is under the heat gun,

someone with more knowledge than me should be able to tell you the proper temps etc, there are threads about it on the forums so perhaps a search of them is worth doing.

Hugh

[Roche' Du Plessis]

Thank you Hugh for coming to my aid…….Ill go search for the threads, just so many to get thru…another Q, once youve done a wrap….are you supposed to post heat the entire surface, or just recessed areas?!? I got the wrapping part down (almost), Im just paranoid that my post heating is wrong and the wrap ends up failing down the line… (<(

[Warren Beard]

Hi Roche

Anywhere the vinyl has been stretched needs post heating, the heating makes it lose it’s "memory" so it doesn’t want to pull back to it’s original flat piece of vinyl. Follow the manufacturers heating guides to make sure you heat it up enough.

I trim before post heating but not sure if it’s right or wrong it’s just how I do it. I use a heat gun with a variable temp on it.

Cheers

Warren

[Roche' Du Plessis]

Thanks warren,
ive been trying to do that, tho i have had a few instances where i trim(say, along the side view mirror) and post heat, then it seams to pull back… is that from over stretching or contaminated substrate or what?!?!

Im sure all these questions are quite simple, but im new to this, so please bare with me n my ignorance.. Haha

Thanks
RoAcH!

[Roche' Du Plessis]

Soooo, anyone got anything else for me?!……. :wave3:

[Jason Xuereb]

You will need a heat gun. Most heat guns will do the job.

You need an IR gun to measure the temperature of the surface.

Make sure all air is removed from under the vinyl. Don’t try to post heat anywhere you have bubbles etc. Hot air expands and will pop your vinyl.

You need the specs of the vinyl that will tell you to post heat to a certain temperature. Usually in the range of 90-120 degrees from Avery/3m to Arlon.

Don’t keep the heat source on the same spot. Keep moving the heat source until you reach this temperature.

Post heat anywhere the vinyl has been stretched.

These are just general guidelines. The specific vinyl manufacturer should have more info.

[Roche' Du Plessis]

Awesome! thanks Jason!! youre the man! :2thumbs:

Keep em coming…..ill take any advice out there.

[Andrew Gamble]

Hi Roche,

Apologies if my late response if of little use to you now!! For post heating always request a spec sheet of the vinyl you are using, if there aren’t any specified temperatures for the post heating stage then be very wary!!
I use 3M IJ-380 90% of the time for wrapping and for a recessed panel van its pretty much the only thing i would recommend personally, especially for deep recesses as found on Mercedes sprinters/vitos/LDV maxus etc.
3M specify a minimum temp of 80 degreesC though I have found you can get to around 150 degreesC before the vinyl will start to blister! Don’t be afraid to heat it well and whatever the specified heat I would always go 5-10 degreesC over. I have tried every different heat gun on the market and found the Bosch PHG 600-3 the best and the longest life span. When you use them all day every day you can soon wear them out but the Bosch guns seem to serve me well. Be very wary of the heat guns that have a built in LCD temp display or adjustable heat settings as these don’t give an accurate surface temperature reading. An infa red digital thermometer is the only way to get an accurate reading. I concentrate on getting a starting point/area up to my desired temp and then move around the panel in no more than 1" sections, this is where it helps to heat 5-10degrees above so that if you happen to jump too far you will minimize the chance of the 1" you’ve missed falling below the desired temperature. Post heating isn’t a quick or glamorous process but its the most critical point of ensuring the recessed areas do not fail. I always post heat and let the graphics cool before any trimming so that you’ve removed the vinyls memory, this will stop it from creeping back from trimmed edges.
Hope this helps.

[Roche' Du Plessis]

Mr gamble! thank you very much :thumbsup: ….That helps loads!
Ive just started vehicle wrapping (started this job thinking id be on graphics) so ive pretty much just gotten thrown in there n ive been winging it so far….. Hasnt gone too badly, ive just been skeptic of my post heating procedure.
So once again, thank you for sharing ya wisdom and allowing me to pick ya brain!! You Rock!!
:punk: