Help with 2 part signs, advice please?

[Simon Worrall]

1. Dont trust the ACM to be cut off exactly square at the factory.

[David Hammond]

I’ve had the same issue in the past, if it’s critical I tend to get it printed directly to board.

Does the overlap align before you mount them if you lay them on the bench? You could try turning the heater down on the machine, that helped for us.

If they’re laminated too much tension could stretch it apparently.

However, the biggest cause I’ve come across, is starting at one end and applying down the board. Especially when doing wall paper. We now start in the middle, use a snitty or bodyfence cutter, slit the backing paper and and work for the centre out.

[Chris Wilson]

If it was 4m x a meter we lay both sheets on the table. Apply as one piece, then I cut down the join with a scalpel. Longs the boards are lined up correctly when it comes to fitting the only way it can be off is if we have fitted the first sheet off.

Our table is only 3m long so tend to put one side down and 100mm or so of the next sheet (held up by boxes) do the cut then slide the next sheet onto the bench.

[David Gwyndaf Povah]

try printing the graphics head to head flipping every other tile helps a lot i do this with pop up stand graphics, wallpaper etc and never have trouble lining up . this is using a hp latex

[David Stevenson]

Cheers guys for the responses. Yeah have noticed David that even after been laminated and laid on the bench their still not perfect. Will play about with the heater settings, print head to head, reduce laminator tension, and and for any applied to boards rather than van wraps I’ll try from the centre out. Need to get this sorted it’s doing my head in 🙁

[Michael Cunney]

We tape the vinyl up to the first board, ready for laying, flip it, cut vinyl at the end of the board, then use that as the start for the next board, or you can butt right up but not always possible unless you’ve acres of space.

Do it all by hand though, rather than with a machine