Coping with recesses and vehicle wraps

[Adam McGuire]

Pre-dril holes in the van!? If you mean the indented sections around where a window would be if it were a minibus, I’d probably use a small pin to make a hole to push the air towards. (Only if I had small bubble remaining though)

If I remember correctly, you can work the wrap into the recess and then work along the recess pushing the air towards the back of the van say, then peel the wrap back to the edges of the recess (at the back of the van) to smooth the end of the recess in. If that makes any sense? I think drilling the van is a bit of a rough ar$ed way of doing it?

I don’t do wraps, and haven’t done one yet either, but that’s the way I’d approach it. At SignUK, Grafityp showed how well the wrap could be pulled away from the vehicle and re-fitted.

Hope this is of some help

[Simon Clayton]

quote martin armitage:

on a course i went on recently I was told to lay the vinyl over the recess and then work in with heat and pressure, wich is fine, the question is getting rid of the trapped air – the way they dealt with this was to pre drill holes right through the side of the van. I was wondering if this is standard practice or if there is a better solution to it.
Thanks
Martin.

That don’t sound right to me… i wouldn’t be happy someone drilling holes in my £20k van.
I would just Pearce the vinyl to let it escape, (but i have never done a wrap)..

Simon

[Andrew Ritchie]

:yikes: drill the van?

Pierce the vinyl with a pin, has to make more sense having a little white hole in your vinyl wrap, hidden in a spot that wont be seen. rather than a rusting hole in each recess on the van. 😕
who run the course you went on?

[Dave Bruce]

Hees havin a larf 😀

[Martin Armitage]

I thought I might get that reaction, The recesses were well over an inch deep and with the tension the vinyl was under would it not mean the vinyl splitting when pierced with a pin

[Lee Ballard]

Probably recommends to drill a hole in glass to let air escape when doing windows 😀

[Adam McGuire]

What type of van was it? I don’t think I’ve seen one with recesses as deep as that!

[Lee Ballard]

The new LDV’s are fairly deep.

[Adam McGuire]

I’ve not seen the new Maxus up close, so that’s probably why! We have a VW T4 and I recon they’re quite deep….

[Simon Clayton]

If using wrap vinyl it wouldn’t be under tension, as it conforms to the shape, As Adam says tease it into the recesses once heated and formed it would/should stay…
If i were tackling it i would get some spare material and test out the best way to do it first, then once happy i would tackle the printed version.
What course did you say it was again??
Simon

[Tim Painter]

I sure I nice sized sledge hammer could flatten the panels out to avoid the need for drilling a whole.

Pin and the correct vinyl for the job me thinks.

[autosign]

I have heard of that hole drilling method before. I wouldn’t want to do it though.

[Lynn Normington]

drilling holes in vans I’d sooner stick pins in my eyes 🙄 which course was it ? because I don’t think you would get sign makers telling you to drill a hole in a van unless they were pulling your leg !!!

Lynn

[Ewan Roberts]

Hi Martin, why not cut the whole panel out and fit a window. 😀 Seriously, when i wrap i work the sides of the recess in first then the centre part and suck the air out with a hypodermic needle and syringe.

Cheers

Ewan

[Peter Normington]

quote martin armitage:

Hi all, I was wondering how you all deal with recesses in panels, on a course i went on recently I was told to lay the vinyl over the recess and then work in with heat and pressure, wich is fine, the question is getting rid of the trapped air – the way they dealt with this was to pre drill holes right through the side of the van. I was wondering if this is standard practice or if there is a better solution to it.
Thanks
Martin.

I think you should ask for your money back from whoever tried to teach you this cr@p it is totally unacceptable, and if they are condoning this method, some one is in for a large bill in the future to make good the damage.

Peter

[Robert Lambie]

Here is an old demo i did about 3 years ago…
as you can see these are very deep recesses. i see this van to this day, still perfect!

full demo can be found here:
https://www.uksignboards.com/viewtopic.php?t=17578

In my opinion, the advice was bad… hell i cant even begin to think what would happen if i said to some of our guys… “oh and by the way, when your doing those recesses, just drill the van and let the air out!” 😕
then walk back in ten minutes later as an apprentice asks, “rob, have you got another 10mm bit, this ones going blunt?” :yikes:

pop the vinyl with a pin, do it at the top shelf of the recess where it wont be seen by someone standing looking at the van. holes very small…

[MartinDenton]

I have never done a full wrap, but I saw a spandex demonstration last year, and the guy used a plastic straw which he laid under the vinyl so it gave a vent from the recess to the edge of the vinyl, when he had got all the air out he simply pulled the straw out and was left with very little air to remove, he then used a pin to get rid of the last bit. It seemed quite neat I don’t know if anybody else has seen that method before?

[jamesdeacon]

Hi my name is James Deacon and this is my first reply to a thread I have over 5 years experience in vehicle wrapping (you may have seen me on the grafityp stand at sign UK!). Never cut holes in vans – that’s for starters the air with the grafiwrap system can be pushed out after the recess has been done just ensure its in the flat section of the recess and is in a least noticeable area/colour etc I also use the straw technique and also flapping back the wrap to a corner and passing air to it.

(mod-edit) please read board rules

[John Simpson]

quote jamesdeacon:

Hi my name is James Deacon and this is my first reply to a thread I have over 5 years experience in vehicle wrapping (you may have seen me on the grafityp stand at sign UK!). Never cut holes in vans – that’s for starters the air with the grafiwrap system can be pushed out after the recess has been done just ensure its in the flat section of the recess and is in a least noticeable area/colour etc I also use the straw technique and also flapping back the wrap to a corner and passing air to it.

Hi James……………….I have had the pleasure of watching James wrapping ……..absolutely brilliant………….just wish i could afford to employ you mate.

L J

[Phil Halling]

I can only echo what everybody else has already said, If anybody working for me even thought about drilling a hole they would be looking for another job – totally unacceptable