Felt Squeege

[Chris Dowd]

Hi Bryan, we use the Mactac ones all the time, never had a problem….. until today that is.

Laying down some 1mtr square vinyl panels printed on the Mimaki (bought in), the felt pad scratched the colour off the vinyl in places.

Thinking perhaps there was a bit of grit or something on the pad I got a new one, and it still happened.

Not sure if this is a problem with the printed vinyl tho, as we have never experienced this before.

[Robert Lambie]

hi bryan
i have used a few different types…
from the two you have shown ide buy the mactac.
with a rectangle squeegee you have four edges to use, make that 8 if you are the habit to use the short edges like i some times do on bits and bob.. with the shaped one you only have 2 edges, so will be binned sooner.
mactac did 2 thicknesses of squeegee. the one in your picture looks like the slim one but i could be wrong. the slim is good in many ways but goes really soft after a short while, but i still use the thin on occasions.
the thicker one either has become very hard to get hold of or it isn’t made anymore. i preferred that one 😕
the closest i have found in comparison to mactacs thicker squeegee is oracals new one. they cost about £3 over here, i think the mactac one is about £2.75
Avery do a nylon with one side felt. these are pretty good for applying but hopeless for me due to the way i use my squeegee. they also wear down pretty fast… again, i have one in my fitting box but i tend to use it for removing badges from the rear of vans. :lol1:
kpmf did a fairly decent type of felt squeegee. it maybe different over there but since it changed from fineline converting as the supplier to kpmf direct they hiked the price up tover £6.25 each 😮 as i said the felt on these seems to be softer than oracals and mactacs but the downside is they are very thick. no flex in them… but good for flat panels.

sinsol
could you be trying to apply the image to soon after printing mate? leave it a minimum of 24hrs.
i find you can cause scratches if there is fine dust on the sirface of the print. i don’t mean like a crumb… just very fine almost invisible dust.
leaves big streaks even on laminates.

[Bryan Cabrera]

Thanks for the info guys.

quote :

with a rectangle squeegee you have four edges to use

I was thinking the same.

I noticed in the pic that the mactac did appear to be a bit thin and will call around and see if I can locate some of the thicker ones.

BTW, what is your thoughts on using the felt covers? Not the teflon ones, I found those still scratch the vinyl. The actual felt covers don’t scratch but I have never used an all felt to compare to.

Thanks again, and welcome back Robert. I will call the authorities tell they you’ve been found.

Bryan

[Robert Lambie]

:lol1: :lol1: cheers mate 😉

regarding felt ones.. i will be doing more video demos so ill save the explanation for then as I’m hopeless at typing and explaining proper.

something i often do with my 3m gold squeegee….
look out an OLD pair of denim jeans. the bit right down the front of each leg, the most worn/light part. cut this away on each leg about 5 inch wide then cut into 1 inch by 5 inch strips. now put a bit of thin double sided tape on the edge/Blade of the nylon squeegee. take the denim and run it the Length of the squeegee blade folding it half and half over the edge.
next using sharp scissors trim the excess denim at each end but leaving a small bit each end over hanging. you will find this betters the coverage of the Avery wrap squeegees and lasts longer too. its also costs you nothing other than sacrificing your old 501’s 😉

the solid felt ones are pretty differnt to reg nylon squeegees, on glass and multilayer work they are far more forgiving. i use them regular but still use nylon too…

[David Rowland]

hi, we have mimaki’s .. the print can be wipped off if you are ‘really’ rough with handling or if the ink is not been left long enough. We tell everyone to leave the prints 24 hours before any applying.

the older inks 220ml are not as durable as the 440s and some vinyl arn’t the best media.

However saying that. the mimaki is a good machine on a good budget

[Robert Lambie]

im i wrong in thinking the jv3 is full solvent machine… i know i know… not FULL solvent but you know what i mean? :lol1: :lol1: 😉

[Bryan Cabrera]

quote Robert Lambie:

its also costs you nothing other than sacrificing your old 501’s 😉

Finally a use for the jeans I keep telling myself I will fit into again.
You are a wise man.

[Robert Lambie]

:lol1:

the way i looked at it mate was… felt is good. its hard wearing and soft. but the toughest, soft, hardest wearing hase to be denim. proven and tested for a hundred years. :lol1:

something i have found… if applying lots of app tape free images. you tend top find a glossy sheen on the blade of the denim. its just picking some sorta grease up from the surface. in one direction in dragging motion rub it over smooth conctrete or slab gentle to remove.
when you eventually wear through the denim rip it off and replace the denim. but always start with a new nylon squeegee. 😉

[Chris Dowd]

Thanks for your feedback Rob and Dave on the Mimaki prints. These were printed Wednesday morning, delivered to us Wednesday afternoon, and fitted Friday afternoon, so should have had a good time to cure.

I remember that the vinyl was Avery, I also noticed that when I cleaned the mounted panel down with white tissue and just water, some of the colour came off onto the tissue (I could understand that if I was using an aggressive cleaner, but not water!).

The same supplier also printed some banners for us on the Mimaki, we never got to see these as they were delivered straight to another sign company in the north for fitting. These were up for 1 week, and when the company came to take them down, reported that the ink had run?

Sorry to change the subject from the original post, but felt it was probably better to reply here than create a new post.

Chris.

[Andrew Boyle]

if you’re using the Mimaki JV3 SP with the 440 inks, the ink will not run……..even right after it’s printed

did double sided banners today [rush job] turned the material straight after the first side had printed [plenty of solids] no problem

[similar jobs still looking good]

something’s not tying up

Cheers

Andrew