Cast & Calendar vinyl whats the difference?

[Nigel Pugh]

Ivan you can use sprocketed vinyl on a friction fed cutter, but what you should do is order 610mm width and have it slit in half by your supplier.

Nigel

[John Singh]

Ivan

Its the process of how it is made

Not an expert here but from what I can remember calendered has a ‘memory’ i.e if you stretch it a little it will want return to it’s original shape whereas cast has no ‘memory’ and is useful on vehicles where there are a lot of gulleys and curves to deal with

Although Oracal are doing a high quality premium calendered (741) that many here rave about because of its elasticity and conformability

Oracal now do a 741 ‘cast’

[David Rowland]

i actually would like to see inside a vinyl factory… have a ‘blue peter’ tour of one? anyone got any sites or pics? it’s our primary tool and most of us have no-idea how it is made.. well i don’t

[Nicola McIntosh]

the oracal cd from europoint lets you see how its made 😀

nik

[Carrie Brown]

what cd is that then Nik? I dont have a cd …….. where did you get yours from?

😀

[Nicola McIntosh]

cameron sent me one 😀

nik

[John Singh]

Do you get a Europoint badge though?

Eh! We could pick up a europoint badge from their stand next year at the NEC

Be a good place to meet wouldn’t it Nik

[Nicola McIntosh]

quote John Singh:

Do you get a Europoint badge though?

Eh! We could pick up a europoint badge from their stand next year at the NEC

Be a good place to meet wouldn’t it Nik

:lol1: :lol1: 😳

nik

[Carrie Brown]

quote Nicola McIntosh:

cameron sent me one 😀

nik

Ooooh …. hmm wonder if he has anymore …… will have to find out!!??

[Nicola McIntosh]

im sure you can download it from here :lol1:

nik

[Phill Fenton]

Calendered vinyl is “rolled” to it’s final thickness (a bit like getting dough and using a rolling pin to flatten it out). Cast vinyl is simply that – it is poured and sets at its final thickness (a bit like melting candle wax and pouring the molten wax onto glass – on cooling and solidifying it sets at its final thickness). Consequently cast vinyl has no memory of being any other size whereas Calandered vinyl remembers the days before the rolling pin and wants to return to the size it was before the rolling pin flattened it out (this is why Calendered vinyl shrinks over time but cast doesn’t)

At least thats how I understood it to be – maybe I just imagined it though :lol1:

[Nigel Pugh]

Calendered vinyl is extruded and that’s why it pulls back after been stretched (call it memory).

Cast vinyl, the name says it all really………no, well cast vinyl is not extruded but laid down onto the backing sheet so therefore it is not stretched at the time of been made like extruded (calendered) and so is much more forgiving when stretched or heated into recesses.

Can I have a PM button now Rob 😀

Nigel

[Nicola McIntosh]

http://www.oracal.com/global/CF_video.jsp

thats the link above carrie 😀

nik

[Nigel Pugh]

I should have typed quicker 😳

As above above

Nigel

[John Childs]

Dave,

Don’t worry about a tour of a vinyl factory. There’s sod all to see.

Because the material is so highly flammable, and the gas given off in the heat of manufacture is explosive, all the machinery is sealed. Basically the machine is a monster tin box with chimneys at regular intervals. Pellets go in one end and rolls of vinyl come out the other. That’s it – tour over and down the pub!

[Carrie Brown]

thanks Nik!!!

Maybe we should have a day out to a vinyl factory …….. if its like John Childs said ….. “Pellets go in one end and rolls of vinyl come out the other. That’s it – tour over and down the pub!”

😛 That sounds like a good day out to me …. day at the pub!!!

:lol1:

[Ivan Morley]

Many thanks for your replies, it has certainly been useful.

Ivan

[John Singh]

quote :

“Pellets go in one end and rolls of vinyl come out the other. That’s it – tour over and down the pub!”

A day at the pub:
Ham rolls go in one end and pellets……..

[Marekdlux]

quote John Singh:

A day at the pub:
Ham rolls go in one end and pellets……..

😮 :lol1: :lol1: :lol1: :lol1:
Nice one John. 😀
-Marek

[John Childs]

Carrie,

It’s even better than that. The particular factory I was shown around belongs to Avery and is in Leiden. Leiden is just down the road from Amsterdam.

That quick tour took three days from start to finish! 😳

[Carrie Brown]

:lol1: Three days … now thats what I call a good trip to see how vinyl is made!!!

[Graham.Scanlan]

maybe orafol should include 5 gold tickets in the rolls of vinyl and whoever wins the tickets get the tour

oh hang on thats been done before i think

hehehe

[Cammy – Europoint Display]

Good thinking Moonbrat — i suspect that isn’t your real picture though ???

Cd’s available just contact your branch and ask , it can be downloaded from Orafols web-site as well i believe.

[Tim Jay]

So as another newbie, I’ve just read all of this and was wondering why, when and where you’d use calendared vinyl when cast sounds like it’s much more useful.

I’m sure there’s much more to it than just this.

Sorry for knowing ‘nothing’ please enlighten me 🙂

thanks

[Martin Pearson]

Calendered vinyl is used on flat panels Tim, so graphics on vehicles can be done with calendered if you stick within the panels, window graphics things like that, the main reason people use a calendered vinyl is cost, its far cheaper than a cast vinyl so if the customer doesn’t want his signs to last for donkeys years or it is short term graphics you are doing then you are better off using calendered vinyl. If you used cast vinyl all the time you wouldn’t be very competitively priced for a lot of jobs.

[Tim Jay]

Thanks Martin,

I’ve so much to learn!