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Lasting Outside Plaques
Hi,
I’ve been asked to produce a plaque to go outside but they want loads of colours on it so rather than the usual brass/ali/steel one, I thought sublimation would be easier. Trouble is the sun will damage the plaque over time. Someone said that clear UV protective vinyl could be placed over the top as a solution.
Has anyone tried this or know of a better way to produce a cost effective (cheap) full colour outdoor plaque? Also a supplier for clear UV vinyl would be handy too!
Thanks in advance
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5 Replies
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Worth while saying hello first, but welcome.
Have you looked at enameled or screened plaques?
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We’ve had customers that want an exterior product that lasts, and stands up to fading from UV, and is tamper/Vandal resistant……….ok so far
then comes the phase ‘cheap as possible’ so the whole thing goes out of the window for me then.
in my opinion the customer can’t have both of the above, so we offer them the quality long lasting option and the cheaper option that will look good for a couple of years, and as long as they have a guide to the life expectancy, then they can choose – ‘you get what you pay for’
🙂
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quote Graeme Harrold:Worth while saying hello first, but welcome.Have you looked at enameled or screened plaques?
To be honest, I thought I’d posted a few times before and had said hello ages ago! Didn’t realise I’d signed up so long ago and not actually posted before :lol1: Hello 🙂
I’ve only had the idea about screened plaques but know nothing about it. If they last a long time outside, then I think it’s something we have to get involved with. Is the process similar to normal screen printing? Are you able to point me in a useful direction?
quote :then comes the phase ‘cheap as possible’ so the whole thing goes out of the window for me then.Yeah this annoys me too, but I feel I have to come up with something. I’m not going to bust a gut to do something at a bargain price. We offer a fair price for a decent product, if people aren’t happy with that then it’s up to them. There’s enough people doing things for no profit and I’m happy to continue to let them – the quicker they go out of business, the better for me!
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if you have the capability to screen print in that may be you best option, otherwise you could get it chemically etched or engraved. depending on the complexity of the design and colouring
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The best place to start with UV resistance is the inks. I believe ArTainium UV+ inks claim to be the best on the market for UV protected colors. I use ArTainium UV+ inks and am very pleased with the color matching results with the ICC provided for the printer.
Frog Juice Sunscreen Clear 7000 applied as an overcoat to the plate would be the ultimate in UV protection.
Now the tamper/vandal proof signage……good luck on that one!
Mark
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