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Mirror Vinyl. Advice please
I hear Oracal have brought out a 5 year life mirrored vinyl/foil. 😛
Has anyone tried it?
How much are we talking per metre?
I would like to use this on a vehicle I will soon be lettering, but I don’t want stung… 😕I read some place spandex do one, but costs the earth. Typical! 👿
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15 Replies
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oracal do one mate.. its just out in the staes but not sure if available here yet. maybe better to call europoint display in glasgow for advice.
i too will be getting some in.. think it comes in gold and silver only though. 😀 -
Kev
Greenworld Supplies in Perivale NW London do a vinyl silver mirror, its not foil and lasts longer. I can’t remember the life, brand, or cost, possibly around £4.50 per metre at 1000mm wide. I will check on Tuesday and post back here.
We have been usuing this stuff alot lately for a large internal retail project nationwide with alot of weeding needed so I wanted a cheaper alternative to Foil and Spandex prices are hideous.
The material I am talking about is not as clean a mirror finish as the foil variety but still does a good job especially if its for a van! -
Kev
I just looked at your post again and noticed you posted this in March 😳 Its good to know you can always get a rapid response for those little dilemas 😳
Nice one Rob 😮 -
apa do a nice one and the best price i can find
does anybody print on to mirror silver/gold i used to do it with the pc60 but something changed about 2 years ago and have not been able to do it since tried about 4-5 makes. i get round it by printing to clear but not the best results
intresting if the full solvents will the soljet ex dont
chris -
i used to print, correction, andrew used to print allot of small badges on chrome and gold mirror foil using our PC60. never had any problems.
we basicaly bought the foils from a few sources.
in scotland it would be oracal, mactac foils but on occassions we used metamark & apa. there was one that was nice and thick and didnt tear easy but not sure who sells it though.
all foils on the market are basicaly a years life or less..
spandex i hear have one thats 5 years and costs about £55 a metre.
the new one from oracal has been getting promoted for about a month or so in the USA and from memory its about £10 a metre maybe less.. (but dont quote me) as im guessing 😀
none the less a far more realistic price tag in comparrison. 😀 -
Im also in need of some chrome look vinyl.
i suppose the blade would have to be changed on the plotter to the one that is for cutting reflective .
😕 -
got some chrome vinyl today, (mirror film) double sided looks allot better though.
oh well you learn from mistakes.
2004 doro tape brochure they sent is nice though.
does anyone use the stuff? -
I’ve always used the chrome vinyl from APA which is s/sided and alot thicker. works for me to get the mirror finish, though have to use the squeege with the felt side to avoid scratching. 😛
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Europoint are currently off loading their old mirror vinyl in readyness for the new stuff coming in, its relatively cheap, but it scuffs rather easily as I discovered when I attempted to do an Andrew special on a piece of foamboard (trying to make it look like a tiger leaping out of the foamboard, not good 🙁 )
Prints work great on it though, ran off some car badges, couple of Vauxhalls, a Merc, a black BMW (which looked aweful) and an Alfa. Only the BMW one looked bad, but I couldn’t get the blue to print correctly, so I resorted to black 😕
How long is this mirror stuff supposed to last? If I frog juice it, will it increase its lifespan? Just that Mrs Dewi wants a wide stripe along the side of her car, applying it isn’t a problem, but I don’t want to be replacing it every five minutes… she’s a bad payer 😉 😉 😉 😉
Cheers, Dewi
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It’s the other way round Dew. The adhesive starts to bubble after a while. I don’t know why. I’ve heard that you can prolong the life of mirror (polyester) vinyl by laying it on top of another vinyl. Apparently.
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Dewi, does Mrs. Dewi want to check her lipstick by looking at the side of her car?
Seriously tho, I HATE MIRROR VYNULL!
With a passion. I have used Calon II as well as Gerber brands.
The Calon was horrid to work with. I had to keep doing test cuts and adding weights (I have a Fred Flinstone 4B) and it was still hideous to weed. The Gerber holographic fims are only slightly better.
I use a 30 degree blade for cutting it, I believe it was recommended on the color chart. It is tricky to weed, because you have to know exactly how much weight is too much, so that you don’t cut thru the liner. And you can see the reflection of your pissed-off face the whole time you’re weeding, another fringe benefit of mirror.
Then there is the longevity issue. As far as I know, most only last a very short time, like a year, before they start to bubble or lift. All that work for a year’s duration seems like a bad idea. Maybe it would be OK for an interior sign, but you still have to weed it.
And as for coating it with frog juice, I never use that stuff anyway, it is just a glorified varnish. I only use 1-Shot products. They have a UV clear that comes in both quarts and aerosol, they even just brought out a matte finish one. And wouldn’t coating it out ruin the mirror finish anyway?
Sorry for being so negative. But I really hate mirror stuff! Too bad for me, the truckers around here just love it.
Love…Jill 😉 -
Had a quick go at laying the mirror up on white 751 Andy, went on okay, just scratched the surface again with the damn squeegee! 👿 I’ll stick a bit to the dewi-mobile though, see how it goes 😀
Jill, why do I get the impression you don’t like mirror vinyl? 😆 Its as you say, its really popular with certain ppl, so I’m trying to make the best of the stuff 😕 Cutting wise, the Graphtec needs altering but the Roland I can use the same settings as I use for the Oracal (?) Discovered today its a weeding nightmare if you use a serif font, and the barsteward scratches if you flutter your eyelashes the wrong way! 🙁
Mrs Dewi doesn’t wear lipstick though, but I may try doing my lippy with it, maybe even a little mascara 😉
Cheers, Dewi
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this is a post i made a while back. i fond mirror vinyl onto normal vinyl increases the life. but not necessarily abrasion. for a sign it seems fine to do this but ide worry about it on a vehicle.
from the picture below you will see the only real noticable defect is the gold is lightening/lossing its colour.
old post july 2003:-
below is a picture i took this evening on my way home from work.
i did this about 5-6 years ago now…i used brown perspex for the backing. then i contour cut the the word sharelles by jigsaw out of the same colour of perspex. i raised this section on locator studs.
the raised section had a solid panel of white laid down first. this was to create the white outline for the gold, once applied. it was also to create the vinyl backing to give better adhesion to the mirror vinyl.
i cant remember exactly who i bought the mirror from. but i would imagine it to be amari/mactac as i used them for almost everything for a great number of years.
once the white was applied. we then applied the GOLD mirror film.the sign is still in perfect condition today as you can see, but as you can see the gold has lost the yellow/gold effect a bit… but still holds the mirror finish very well indeed.
when i did this job i told them the mirror may need changing every 2 years.. they didnt mind, as this was the effect they wanted and already paid extra for the brown perspex.
glad to say.. i have never been asked to return to replace the mirror text…all this praise for the vinyl? just remember the sign doesnt get washed every other day like a van does. or exposed to the thrashing they take on the road everyday…. 😉
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Now thats a cool use of mirror vinyl 😀 Ideas a plenty from that, nice work Robert 😀
Cheers, Dewi
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glad you like it mate.. think i posted that last year and still the same today.
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