help please i have bubbles everywhere?

[David Rogers]

You’ll get bubbles for a few reasons.

You didn’t get enough of the fluid out/ missed patches. The remaining fluid reacted with the adhesive.(especially with water based adhesives). It was exposed to heat/sunlight and so any tiny blemishes swelled up. There was dust on the window or vinyl giving the appearance of bubbles when the fluid dissapated.

We all have different ways of applying large flood coats of vinyl to glass. I like the full wet approach & use a window cleaners squeegee instead of a vinyl squeegee (wider, even pressure, no scratches & very, very fast). Scrupulously clean glass is obviously a must!

Most people will use either a new scalpel blade or a needle/pin to pierce the bubbles and the push the air out if they appear.

If there are a lot of VERY small blemishes/bubbles the may dissapear after a week or two in the sun.

Hope that helps a wee bit

Dave

[Hugh Potter]

i doubt i’ll be the first to say this, but i only apply dry onto glass, had too many probs doing it wet, dry is so much quicker to apply too.

the only exception is when i’m floodcoating a whole pane to the edges, then i’ll do it wet.

bubbles… as he says above.

[David Rogers]

quote Hugh Potter:

i doubt i’ll be the first to say this, but i only apply dry onto glass, had too many probs doing it wet, dry is so much quicker to apply too.

the only exception is when i’m floodcoating a whole pane to the edges, then i’ll do it wet.

Ditto. When I’ve got text (taped) to apply to a pane of glass (shop or car) it’s done dry 99% of the time. Quicker, easier & far less hassle. Above was for flood coating without application tape.

[Shane Drew]

good advice here.

I agree with doing it dry too. If you floodcoated the pane wet, I’d suspect david is correct with the bubbles just being a collection of water that has remained. If they are not too big, they’ll dry out eventually. Wouldn’t use this method with water based adhesive if I could avoid it.

If the tape is a polymeric or monomeric, the bubbles will take forever unless they get a good dose of sunshine. If they are big, just pr!ck them with a pin on the bubble edge.

I always recommend cast only for floadcoating in this instance (wet) as it will release the bubbles quickest in a day or two of sun, and being thin, will squeegee the water out better than thicker materials.

cheers

[Sign Age]

i read with great interest about vinyl application and bubble and everytime I will read that small bubbles will vanish after a few days of baking in the sun.

Hmm, however, over here in the tropical, the sun will only exposed the bubbles more in the vinyl if they are not apply properly and I don’t seems to recall the bubbles being baked off under the sun.

So normally, we will try to squeeze the water out of the vinyl as much as we can if we apply wet and depending on the amount of heat on the window (someplaces, with direct sunlight, the glass panel can be really hot), we will then adjust the level of liquid soap in the application fluid so that the liquid will not evaporate faster than the vinyl is put on.

David: I read that, you will use a window cleaner squeezee to get the water out. May I know, are those squeezee soft black rubber or did you change the rubber squeeze to a harder type?

[David Rogers]

quote Sign Age:

David: I read that, you will use a window cleaner squeezee to get the water out. May I know, are those squeezee soft black rubber or did you change the rubber squeeze to a harder type?

I use a standard rubber strip, but a VERY rigid holder (steel), it’s not so good with the cheap ones. I use this method for large flood coating – it’s never let me down yet.

ps. the top side (non-sticky) has to be wet too to allow the rubber to glide over the surface.

Dave

[robrogers]

thanks for your advice everyone, tomorrows d-day – I have to put the other half on the window… i’ll post a pic when im done !

Thanks