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help please with 3M 100 series vinyl?
just had myself a disaster today,
was applying a print on the bonnet of a car.
someone gave me a roll of 3M 100 series, i have never really worked with the stuff and thought i’d give it a go,at first it went ok, i even remenber us saying to each other what wonderfull conformable vinyl it was, butt then came the horror:
we saw trouble ahead and to stay ahead of it we decided (like we always do) to heat up and stretch the vinyl , we were having a routine job: one stretches and holds the vinyl, the other uses the heatgun and squeegee,
i was the one stretching anyway i was stretching and everything went ok and then all of a sudden the vinyl ripped in two exactly in the midle of where my hands were (had them fairly wide apart) right down to the bonnet, that was 60 cm,it was like a piece of paper (had the same ripping sound to)
the job being lost we decided to remove the print only to find out that the horror was just beginning : seriously if you cut it up punch holes in it you could sell it as utra destructible fot the gerber edge, it was that horrific.
was this a bad roll? (could explain why it was given to me)
or is this just the frightening way of the 100 series?
or is it us being stupid?anyone with some 100 series exp, please reply
i really feel bad about destroying the job (makes me feel (think the word is inapt or unable) i hate thatanyway replys will be very much appriciated
regards
Dennis
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8 Replies
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anyone? 😮
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We have never used 3m so cant comment. Sounds like you had a bit of a nightmare with it though!
Perhaps you could contact a supplier of it, state that you were just trying it out and what happened, see what their opinion on it is … at least that way you might know if it was a bad batch?
😀
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i don’t use 3M much mate. so cannot comment fairly…
that said, if it is a cast vinyl with the 3M name behind it. it will be of high quality for sure.
when you say they “gave” you a roll. do you mean for free? how old was it. how long had it been stored? it could be an old brittle roll?…. but.. I’m guessing now… 😕
where was it you were fitting this vehicle?
was it outside or indoors?
if indoors, was it cold?
was the vinyl tapes up with application tape or applying it un-taped? (I’m guessing untapped)Guessing again here but…
it is possible you had over stretched the vinyl causing it to snap?
if it is cold, and the bonnet is cold metal, its not uncommon for vinyl to just break.
when you tried removing it, you mention nightmares continued. by that i assume you had lots of glue left or the vinyl was coming off in tiny bits?
if this is the case then it is probably back down to the temperature. if the bonnet is cold & the vinyl has been stuck. being a cast permanent film it is going to stick like jib-jobbs to a woolly blanket. snapping off in tiny bits is just more characteristics of this type of film in cold weather. -
Hi mate, I assume you are refering to 180C with control tac?
I use a lot of 3M and the 180c is a brilliant product, but it is not as forgiving as say Oracal 3950.
I’d repeat what Rob Says tho, the combination of the cold bonnet and the ambient temp will make it more brittle.
3M have a 10 deg c limit for surface temps of this stuff too.
The tearing of the tape makes me think it was old stock.
I’d be making some enquiries with the suppliers over there, but in answer to your original post, I don’t think it is as much you, but more the circumstances.
Gives you a scare tho I’d guess.
I have changed over to 3950 oracal for most of my work now, simply because it is much easier and forgiving to work with.
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Shane,
3M 100 series is not the same as Controltac 180. Completely different beasts. Contoltac has the glass beads in the adhesive whereas the 100 series is just an ordinary vinyl. It is described as being a conformable cast.
I don’t have much experience with 3M products either, and avoid them where I can, but I too would suspect temperature as the cause of this failure.
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we did it indoors, it was not that warm outside butt the car was indoors 4 hours prior to application. could still be to cold though, i think it definatily was to cold thinking of it now,
for the moment i think that when i see 3m 100 series again i’ll run away screaming :lol1:
the roll was given (indeed for free) about 30 meters (35 yards) )
don’t know the rolls age nor it’s storage conditions.still have the thing lying here (putt it away in a dark corner of the storage room)
i’ll see what i will do with it some day, mabey show it to my grandchilderen some day 😀
edit: current age is 23
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3M 100 series vinyl is a thin cast vinyl, seven to ten year, if it was faulty due to age, you would know because the adhesive would probably have failed.
The problem you had with heating the vinyl up and stretching it is because the 100 series is not really designed to do this, it tends to become transparent when stretched even if it doesn’t break.
So yes, it is a cast material but it doesn’t have any real conformable properties other than being okay to use over rivets and such like.
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i use 3M series 30 its its not bad, and Nechen and XFilm :lol1:
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