Can anyone offer advice on fitting onto a curtain side?

[Robert Lambie]

quote :

If not viny, spraying or brushin ink using spray mask, is this a viable option.

this is probably the easiest, cheapest & your almost gauranteed no come backs after the works completed.
but there is a bit of a tecnique… not to difficult but best in long run. it also takes a little longer than the vinyl but at the end of the day its whats best and cost effective for you. if i get a minute tonight ill elborate on it…

[Deleted User]

I know Spandex do the pucker curtain vinyl but only for the rich, brave and adventurous! Whole surface has to be cleaned with meths.

Here’s a I did job where I had material printed with the graphics, then made in to curtains to replace the standard ones. The rear is a mix of print and cut-vinyl. Quite an interesting job but not cheap.

Peter

[TonyDwyer]

rob, could you elaborate. We have just had a banner come back with a couple of the letters hanging off. Each letter is 2.5M high and 2M accross. the banner has welded loops on the rear because its one part of a four part, which when linked together make it 60ft x 60ft. These anchor the banner to a rail system and make the job of applying vinyl impossible because you cant lay it flat. It doesnt help that its flapping over the river thames.
anyway, i have told the owner of such banner that we could probably make a stencil for each letter and then paint the banner using PVC vinyl paint.
Do you think this will work or will the paint split and peel off when the banner is hung?
also would meths damage the banner to clean and would the paint stick. 🙄

[Robert Lambie]

Excellent work peter! I like the design. Very different indeed mate! Very smart yet has bags of impact… 😉

I have thought about having curtains printed in the past but was not sure exactly how to go about it.
What I mean is,
ok I buy the curtain and send it to a printer etc but how do you work what the curtain size has to be before these guys hem it up and apply the cramps.. or does each truck just have a standard size
I would imagine the printer has to just have the raw material of the curtain to run through the machine.
is it a case of having it printed on an over sized curtain and let the guys that are hemming and applying the cramps to it to trim to size etc…

Hope you can make some sense of this post.. I read it back and wasn’t sure myself 😳 😳 😀

[Deleted User]

Here’s how the job on the Mercedes Atego curtain-side was carried out.
Initially, the job was originally done in December 2000 (different graphics) but 1 year later, one of their drivers failed to notice an impending low bridge! Result? The cab went under but the rear box area was wiped out!
The Customer decided a new set of graphics was in order so I laised with their promotions agency who held the photographed product images. All images were brought in to a Photoshop file where they were masked in to circles, outlined, overlaid and positioned. The existing logo name, which I had already installed as main building signage was also placed within the image. The circles looked a bit lost just placed on the curtain, so I added the blue square background but left the circles running off the edge for effect. The web address was rather lost on its own so I set it in a blue rectangle. I now felt I had created an image where the eye was still led to each part of it and overall it balanced well. I photographed the vehicle, brought the image in to the Photoshop file and placed the images and text in to position.
The individual image files and the Photoshop file with the final layout were all saved at one tenth actual size. The curtain size is 6.1m x 2.45m. All files and placement data was sent to Raccoon Digital in Kent for printing. They use a 5.5m Vutek for this, and after printing the new curtain material is liquid laminated for protection.
Once printed, the material was sent to the curtain manufacturers. The customer had arranged for the vehicle to be measured by them at an earlier date. The finished curtains, complete with straps and rollers, were then sent back to me for local fitting.

The rear was done the same way with the graphics overlaid on a vehicle photo to produce artwork.
The main graphic was printed as a complete Photoshop file, then laminated and contour cut.
This was fitted dry without application tape using the hinge-down method. A misting of Signprep helped keep out any air as being laminated, the vinyl could not be pricked to release bubbles. A felt squeegee dampened in Signprep ensured that the face finish was not marked.
All remaining graphics were applied in cut-vinyl, together with the Company name right across the front of the box (above the cab), a blocked web address on the front of the cab, and a phone number on the doors.
The total cost to the Customer was £2700 + VAT, which this time was covered by the vehicle insurance.
Yes, they were very happy with the result.

Peter

[Tim Shaw]

top qaulity job.

We are unfotunatley working on a 6 month old curtain, So should we apply mask to the curatin in situ and spray/paint pvc inks, or are we using the Spandex vinyls.

The artwork is all solid colours maybe a a couple of colours overlaid in places.

Which route should we be going down? Ink, digital prints or curtain sider vinyl?

Curtain off or on?

[Mike Brown]

Tim…not my field this (though I’ve done a few painted curtains with the help of a signwriter friend of mine over the years)…but if memory serves, Gray in Tasmania said recently that with the modern curtain sider vinyls you can’t overlay them at all! – so if there are multicolour elements to the design then these parts may have to be welded back from each other a few mm’s and applied like ‘crazy-paving’?

On the curtains we did – for the small text we used a computer mask straight onto the curtains and painted in the solution (keeps curtainsider paints and thinners) and for the larger we pounced in the traditional way and handpainted – my mate did the edge work and I filled in behind. The only thing to watch was that it dries very quickly and you can not work the paint it has to go on in virtually two strokes. Some of the inks/paints are a little translucent too – so may need more than one coat…you have to wait for the first to completely dry or the solvents re-dissolve the first coat – maybe 4-6 hours (guessing, can’t remember).

Can I suggest you buy a cheap banner first and try a miniature of the design on it – in that way you can give the customer a sample to see whilst you get to try out the process…

more soon

mikethesign

P.S. I have used both vinyls and paint of curtains and the paint/ink method is (IMHO) far superior. The curtains I did are 3-4 years old now and, though scared form trees and bushes, look great! – There is no peeling, fade or feathering and evdn where they are scared the decoration has not shown through – it’s as if this stuff really does ‘eat-in’ to the curtain and become one with the surface…

cheers!

[Tim Shaw]

Thanks Mike, never thought for a minute their would be a problem with overlaminating vinyls of the same kind, Guess we learn something every day.

I Wonder if the ink could be rollered on, over a mask !!! that would save some time.

The painted ink does sound like the best method for the letterings life, but digial prints allows more control over the design and layout.

Look like I will have to experiment and see what happens.

tim

[Tim Shaw]

Thanks Grey, had a look at you post, thought the strong light was a good idea.

I understand the puch welding process, i can guess from Mikes post there is a problem overlaminating colours,so it makes sense.

HAve you seen the vehicle lately? is it still in good condition?

Tim

[brian the brush]

Hi Tim, I signwrite curtain siders all the time, I suggest that you must firstly make sure the material is clean. A good tip that I use if the curtain is really dirty is to wipe it down with gun wash, making sure that no drips touch the vehicle body as this can remove the paint !!! do a test on an area of the curtain that cannot be seen to check that there will not be a rection between the curtain and the gun wash.A jet wash is used if the curtain is only slightly dirty but you must ensure that all the road grease is removed or else neither ink or vinyl will stick for long !!!
I paint all my work, so I would do the job with PVC inks, these stick well and come in lots of colours, using a paint mask if required combined with a mini roller ( these will be attacked by the ink, so take 3 or 4 with you when you start the job ) The ink smells, so the area must be well ventilated. I use a mixture of matt and gloss inks for each colour, if gloss ink is used it can stick to itself when the curtain is opened which is a nightmare, using the matt ink by itself seems to get dirty quickly but a combination of the two works for me. Good luck with the project and keep us posted.

Brian.