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Oracal 3164 Clear Wet Application
We’ve just produced some acrylic signs for a customer, and they’ve all been rejected because of dust under the vinyl.
We printed full colour on 3164, and applied dry.
Is is possible to apply it wet without the adhesive becoming cloudy?
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26 Replies
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it’s not recommended to apply 3164 wet but in pratice I did it in the past with no problem.
Anyway, applying wet won’t add less dust under your print. Does your customer complain about the relief that appears on top of the prints or because your acrylic is transparent and he can see som dust on the back?
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We printed on clear, then applied a white layer over a logo, and then frost vinyl on top of that.
The finished result looked good, just dust trapped under each layer. 😳
Had to reorder the acrylic as they’ve become damaged keep taking the vinyl on and off !
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how about outsource to someone who could print direct onto the acrylic? Thats what i have done in the past. just a thought
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Thanks to the apprentice we’re already running at a loss on the job… with time and materials wasted. 😕
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what size and thickness were they and how many?
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4x 500x100x5mm
1x 380x762x5mmGot the acrylic on order from our supplier
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when things like that happen it could of been a lot worse, dealing with clear acrylic is a pain in the rear. It just dont help that it was someone else who costs you money and not yourself.
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As said, clear acrylic can be a nightmare, I would get some tack rags, and wipe down with those just before applying, it won’t solve it completely but it does help a lot.
Cheers
Gary
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What would you put on the work bench to prevent contamination from that. We just have a MDF work surface.
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We have glass but to be honest that is only half the problem as you then have the air born particles and fibres on your clothes
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Would it be worth while running them through the laminator, opposed to squeeging them do you think?
Pop them, pull the vinyl backing off close the acrylic, and keep a tack rag at hand to keep the acrylic clear??
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quote David Hammond:Would it be worth while running them through the laminator, opposed to squeeging them do you think?
Pop them, pull the vinyl backing off close the acrylic, and keep a tack rag at hand to keep the acrylic clear??
Yes definitely, but clean your rollers 1st. We do it this way the majority of the time but through the ezytaper. We always laminate in white before mounting too, again wiping the print as it goes through.
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David face mounting is done through a laminator slowly but you also need to beware of how much pressure you use with the tack cloth, also a good point to know results also depend on the quality of the acrylic. When im doing this with a photo print which is being face mounted then i leave one side of the protected cover on and i use a slightly heated roll laminator. Even when you take all that into account it still depends on your working environment. Ive had samples from companies who claim they are making them in a air sealed room and i still find loads of dust between the acrylic and the image.
i wish you luck
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Use some spare silicon paper on the bench, spray yourself with a mist of water and spray some in the air as well
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As you know static is your enemy here, where i used to work we used a cleaner from ici which used to turn the acylic from static to anti static. Makes life a lot easier.
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steve any idea what that stuff is called? would be really handy
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That’s the problem and probably where you will be getting your dust from. MDF sheets are no good for any type of vinyl application jobs as every time you score on the sheet loads of dust/wood will get thrown up. Buy yourself a self healing mat and you wont get a fraction of the dust. Yes acrylic is a pain and but if there’s 3 different layers of vinyl going on, its going to be hard to avoid getting dust under it if your doing it on a sheet of MDF
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Hi
spray the reverse side with a mist of water this cuts down on the staticKev
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Just another thought … In my experience 3164 suffers terrible shrinkage, are you sure you want to use it on something like this?
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I understand now, wet apply with such an acrylic glue and clear view… 😕
Why do you use 3164? Cheap vinyl which shrinks a lot on an expensive board type ?
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They’re small internal signs for on doors. Wasn’t aware of an issue with shrinking… Might reprint (again) and use the md5 laminate I have.
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quote David Hammond:They’re small internal signs for on doors. Wasn’t aware of an issue with shrinking… Might reprint (again) and use the md5 laminate I have.
I would , it’ll only come back to bite you on the @rse
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Theres no f*ing money in the job following all the cockups. 🙁 🙄
Cheers guys!
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I hate reverse applying on clear acrylic,
I think you need to hire a dust free clinical laboratory and wear a white boiler suit with masks and you may just do it.3164 does shrink badly..although saying that I make more money out of a roll of 3164 than any other media, great for labels and the like.
btw, a great tip if you ever scratch clear acrylic is to use cotton wool and brasso,
works really well…must be cotton wool though. -
I USE THIS
http://www.maplin.co.uk/p/servisol-anti … 00ml-jp18u
I ALSO DRAPE A CAR COVER OVER MY HEAD AND RUN A HOOVER BY MY SIDE TO PURIFY THE AREA UNDER THE DRAPED CAR COVER. IF THERE IS LOTS OF STATIC THE HOOVER SUCKS THE CRAP OUT OF THE AIR WHILST IM UNDER THE COVER LOOKING LIKE A WEIRD NOB GHOST AS IM APPLYING I SPRAY THE ANTI STATIC CLEANER. CLEAN THE AREA NOT TOTALLY DRY THEN WET APPLY. BUT MAKE SURE YOUR WATER IS CLEAN ALSO.
I SWEAR BY THE FOAM ANTI STATIC CLEANER THOUGH IT DOES THE JOB EVERYTIME WITH NO PROBLEMS -
ITS WORTH ADDING AND WORTH A TRY.
IN SOME CIRCUMSTANCE BEFORE I DEVELOPED THIS SYSTEM. I HAD DUST AND CRAP. IF I PEELED BACK BEFORE COMPLETE DRYING I COULD USE A SQUEEGEE TO SCRAPE GENTLY THE DUSTED ADHESIVE SIDE TO REMOVE CONTAMINANTS.. NOT IDEAL BUT HELPED IN SOME SITUATIONS BEFORE. IM GUESSING BECAUSE IN YOUR SITUATION ITS TOO LATE AS HAVE ALREADY BEEN DELIVERED TO CUSTOMER?
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