Can someone advise fitting vinyl to magnetic panels?

[dazdek]

Hi

We too are very new to this, but we would weed before applying and also apply dry.

Saying that we have never tried wet application yet.

Hope this helps
Darren

[Robert Lambie]

i would do it dry mate, but thats me and i do have lots of experience…
if you have a large panel to apply and being new, its safer wet applied.
i would also weed before applying..
take an offcut of vinyl and have a mess around with it, get your confidence up a bit before tackling a live job.

if you ahve any further questions feel free.. 😉

[Andy Gorman]

I wouldn’t weed once applied as I find that vinyl sticks very well to magnetic and it is easy to damage the panel when picking out the letters. It does make things easier if you can place the mag on a steel sheet when applying, to keep it nice and flat. Also, make sure there is no dirt or other cack under the mag when applying as this can leave dents in the soft underside when you squeegee over it. Wet or dry, depending on the conditions or coverage, either way is OK. I usually leave a panel sized weed border on the vinyl to give me a cutting guide and then cut the magnetic to this shape once everything is laid up.

[Robert Scullion]

Thanks for the advice and help. Weed and dry it is

Cheers

[ttj designs]

quote big G:

I usually leave a panel sized weed border on the vinyl to give me a cutting guide and then cut the magnetic to this shape once everything is laid up.

Dont mean to steal this thread or anything, but got some of this mag sheet coming tomorrow. Never used it before…..

again, may seem a dumb ass question, but do you just cut using a standard scalpel?

(:)

[Andy Gorman]

Yes, well I do.

[Jill Marie Welsh]

I will throw a monkey wrench into this.
I’d apply a solid red panel WET,
then apply cut-out white letters. (dry if you must)
Any time I do a reverse-cut application, wet, dry,
or upside-down, I get crinkles.
And this way if a phone number needs be changed,
it can always be picked off.
The idea of using a steel table is a good one.
Have fun!
Love…jill
PS
magnetic sheeting also comes in colors!

[Robert Lambie]

yep, i just use a stanley knife and a good straight edge. cutting ontop of a metal bench stops it slipping.
always use a NEW blade in knife 😉

[Carrie Brown]

I will chuck a spanner in along with Jills monkey wrench ….. we do mag panels as Jill has described …. red panel then white graphics on top.

Goes to show we all have our own ways of doing a job!!!

Carrie 😀

[Andy Gorman]

Actually, you’re right there. The standard white magnetic material is a bit dull and white vinyl is usually a bit brighter and glossier (real word?) so that’s another good reason for doing it that way.

[signworxs]

I’m with Jill, Carrie and big g, full panel and white letters.

[Gordon Forbes]

an am sittin on the fence cause a’ve never done one

Goop

[John Childs]

Going against the flow again. We would take the letters out of the red.

I always make it a point of principle to use as few layers of vinyl as possible.

[Chris Wool]

i would prefer to put the white on top but when the cuctomers say is that your best price i knock a couple of quid off a cut the letters out of the red and tell them its then there choice. look nicer or cheeper ?

chris

[Rodney Gold]

Here’s my 2c:)

As a novice and with just a vinyl cutter, I would do a 2 layer application , red then white , for a few reasons.

1) Applying a solid sheet of red wet is very easy , you dont even need app tape for this . it doesnt even have to be applied square , you can just draw your square atop the oversized red with a pencil after application and cut it.

We use a thick steel rule and a heavy duty NC cutter (stanley kinfe) to cut magnetics ( the thick rule is cos I have already sliced my hand doing this)

I initially score it and then follow the score line deeper and actually never cut it thru , but break it out , gives a nice square edge etc. I find trying to cut in a single pass often makes the blade “wobble” cos of the pressure and we didnt get dead straight lines. We also never cut square magnetics with sharp corners , but radius them slightly , stops the magnetic “peeling off” at high speed. (has happened to me) as well as not providing a “bend point” (often the square corners bend down or up)

2) I would then cut the white and apply it wet too to the red , cos of the white mag dullness and the fact that the white magnetic , if scratched , shows a horrible brown/black.
Magnetics are removeable signs and thus are subject to handling and abuse – hence not wanting to leave uncovered areas.

With my soljet , I would do a digital print on clear , overlam and apply to the white (done tons of em this way)

I must say , I generally find magnetics to be “cheap and nasty” especially bearing in mind price.(decent mag material is expensive here) They often shift slightly on the vehicles and always look like an “add-on” , difficult to cut in anything BUT square (unless you have a CnC machine or a laser) and thus never following vehicle curves
Seeing a vehicle with a magnetic sign makes me think the purveyor of the service is not in there for the long haul or could be a fly by night. Dirt under the magnetic scratches the paintwork as well.
Apart from that , often the magnetic we get is very tightly rolled and seems to “remember” this roll and is not perfectly flat , no problem for application of graphice (we also use a metal sheet) but often a problem on the vehicle as it “springs” sometimes. We always make sure the “roll” is the same direction and bulge as the door/panel curve
One can often achieve a more elegant solution on the vehicle itself at a lesser price.

[kev hoy graphics]

I HEAR WHAT EVERYONE SAYS, BUT JUST CUTTING FROM RED PANEL AND APPLYING THEN CUTTING ROUND IT WITH A KNIFE SEEMS CHEAPEST AND FASTEST METHOD TO ME? 🙄

[Carrie Brown]

Using just red can be slightly quicker and slightly cheaper, and for very very temporary usage I think is fine. But using white graphics on top of the red will give a much better looking finish making the product look good quality, which is what I would prefer my products to be known for. 😀 Just my opinion.

Carrie 😀

[Boraxx]

Are you talking about raw (natural) magnets? coz we do have magnets ready for solv print. I’ll need to grab a pic some day.