Flexi Face signs. looking for advice.

[Chris Wilson]

They get a clear UV protecting coat over the top. That’s all I know. We order them in, nothing to scale of that and it is mentioned in the quote.

We don’t oversell them though. Tell the customers it’s what we would class as a short lifespan compared to a powdered coated tray with cast vinyl.

[RobertLambie]

I think Chris is correct Jeff, it will be liquid laminated/coated to protect against UV damage.
I do not know if the printers for this type of thing have a last pass with a UV protection liquid or if they are run through the likes of a liquid laminator/coater, but I imagine it will be one or the other.

I tried to get hold of a Liquid laminator a few years back for a project I was taking on, but they are like Hens Teeth and are hard to come by or in bad condition.

I think the old Spandex Gerber Edge thermal printers had a ribbon that allowed you to do a last pass over the print for added protection too.

[Jeff]

thanks for the replies guys. i guess it must be a liquid coating like you say and it must work well because i have never seen a faded flex-face sign in a retail park!

[RobertLambie]

Thought I would add to this…
This is a Flexi Face sign we did recently. Nothing spectacular or different other than we have retro-fitted an entirely new vinyl face on top of the existing Flexi skin using polymeric vinyl with high-tack adhesive with a matt laminate.

This sign was just part of a list of other signs inside and at the front of the building.

The issue with this is that the Flexi-face sign is 10 years old and the skin was slack but so over-tightened, it was pinching in the frame walls of the sign box. So I think the original skin was probably a bit too big.
The original plan was to change the skin but due to having about a week till he opened, the customer decided he will completely renew it or opt for something completely different in 12 months time, so we did this complete re-facing of the sign in printed black and white as a short-term fix.

you can see how loose the skin was in the video and installing it from a scaffold tower 25ft up wasn’t easy. The skins slack tension meant we couldn’t apply much pressure when squeegeeing it into place, coupled with gusts of wind and instant bond on contact adhesive, which made the job a delight to do. 🙄 We couldn’t use a cherrypicker because its weight would have cracked the slabs below us if driven over.

Anyway, we got there in the end. I am just posting this to show it can be done for anyone else faced with a similar issue.

https://youtu.be/Zv2yklZcD1M

[Gary Forbes]

that looks great rob. nice idea. 👍

[Adam McMonagle]

Hi Jeff

I used to run production at Macroart, we produced the Home Bargains and many other flex face prints seen on retail parks. We never coated them, they are just UV printed, sometimes with a blockout layer using three layers of black/white/colour so that only partial illumination is shown at night. Fading was never a problem. In the old days they were printed on solvent machines and these had to be laquered, by hand using a roller. The Burkle liquid laminator is sometimes used for this and also to coat large ACM panels as it is quick and drys in seconds.