Ouch, that hurts

[Carrie Brown]

Are you sure its from the vinyl??? 😮 😉 :lol1:

Sorry!! …… Ok here comes the sympathy bit …… *clears throat*

Awwww bless, that looks really sore, and I bet it hurts loads if your typing …….. poor you!

Steve does all the removing of vinyl so I dont know of anything at this moment but Ill ask him …. but Im sure others will reply in the mean time.

Carrie ….. not being very helpful 😛

[Phill Fenton]

Oh dear..

What a shame…..

Never mind.. :lol1:

[Andy Gorman]

I can almost sense a tangible feeling of genuine sympathy pouring from every reply. Hidden, of course, behind a thin veil of sarcasm. Still, I don’t care, I whinged enough to get my girlfriend to buy me a curry. So there. 😛

[Robert Lambie]

up here in scotland our sympathy would go something like this:

Nae Luck Big Yin… 😉 :lol1:

nothing worse mate.. i hate stripping, kills your fingers. no real easy way around it without expensive kit.

a good cure for blisters like that is to put a pin in them and drain the fluid.. take some sharp scissors and carefuly cut the slack skin away exposing the bright pink fleshy part below. now… take a bowl and pour some viniger into it and allow your hand to steep in it for 5 mins… this should do the trick.
oh yeh.. and just as your about to dip you wee fingeez into it.. ide advise biting firmly into a thick leather belt. 😉

[Andy Gorman]

Ach, that’s the soft Scottish way of doing it. We usually hack the finger tips off with a rusty bread knife and then dip the still bleeding stumps into a bucket of petrol.

[Carrie Brown]

oooooh bleuuuuugh!!!! :lol1: You macho men!!!

[Jill Marie Welsh]

I got blisters on me fingers!
….isn’t that at the end of a Beatles tune?
(I notice that we did not get a shot of the whole hand, thus hiding your hairy palm)
Seriously, I feel your pain dude.
Yet another reason for me to hate vynull.
Get a L’il Chisler the next time you go to a trade show.
They make the removal easier,
Try heating the vynull with a hair dryer.
I dunno….
Pay a neighbor kid with stickers to do it!
At least you got curry out of the deal.
Maybe your girlfriend can kiss it and make it all better?
Love…..Jill

[Andy Gorman]

Yeah, I did heat it with a hairdryer. Unfortunately, the muppet who originally did the job used a high quality translucent vinyl. If only he’d used some cheap crap it might have been easier to remove. One consolation, the entire population of the old folks’ home across the street sat on a wall watching me. When I’d applied the new graphics, a woman of about 194 years came over, grabbed me by the shoulder and said “you are a clever boy, aren’t you”. Bless.

[Phill Fenton]

Big G – I would’ve told him :-

(sniff) “sorry sir but I’m a highly respected and talented signmaker – actually, I’m an “artist” 😕

….Sorry but I don’t do old vinyl removal (sniff) …..I’ve got a Versacamm – so this sort of thing is beneath me now 🙄

Get some other poor b*gger to take it off for you :lol1: :lol1:

(WHAT’S THAT ? – £25 PER HOUR – NO PROBLEM SIR – I’LL DO IT RIGHT AWAY 😳 )

[Bill Dewison]

quote big G:

Before you start Dewi, I got these blisters from stripping vinyl!

I believe you Andy, I really do (cheesy) Ya big southern wuss! I’ve had worse injuries brushing my teeth (those electric toothbrushes can be lethal in turbo mode!)

Seriously though, it does look quite painful. On the bright side, its on the surface and should heal fairly quickly. I doubt anyone is daft enough to ooooh, I don’t know, um, drill through their own finger!! I mean, that would just take the biscuit, as well as a pint of blood! 🙄

More proof, if ever it was needed, signmaking is not for the faint hearted, squimish in nature or of weakened bladder (with all the cups of tea from those nice old ladies across the road) 😉

Cheers, Dewi

[Kev Mayger]

In return to the original question of how can i get vinyl off easier i would suggest clamping the panel to a work bench & pouring boiling water on it. Start in one corner and work across the panel. When you have enough material to wrap round a 1220mm vinyl tube (all the way round!!!) More boiling water every 250mm and work towards it. Works every time without creating huge blisters to the digits.

[Shane Drew]

I use a wall paper steamer (remover) Works a treat. I do a lot od work in the transport industry, and when you have to strip a bus down before resigning, the wall paper striper is the only thing to use, and of course, if you can get someone else to do it, all the better….

… those digits do look nasty tho.

Cheers

[Steve Broughton]

Great minds think alike mate I’ve been telling this daft lot for years to use wallpaper steamers to remove vinyl only ever gets to 100 degrees C so no chance of melting owt. Right for the very last time from Argos for 20 quid!!!
http://www.argos.co.uk/webapp/wcs/store … from=image

[Lee Jones]

quote Steve Broughton:

Right for the very last time from Argos for 20 quid!!!

Bang on Steve, collected a stripper on saturday, and tried removing the vinyl from a van this morning. Absolutely brilliant, much quicker and easier than using the hot air gun, the vinyl literally just falls off (well nearly)

Probably works very well for stripping wallpaper as well (not as yet tested), so I’m keeping quite about it, just in case her indoors gets any ideas for a new decorating project !

Thanks again Steve, recommend this to anyone, and only £20

[d.quirke]

quote :

collected a stripper on saturday

Wow for only £20 did she go all the way?? [/quote]

[Gary Davis]

do the walpaper steamers not damage vehicle paintwork? I suppose if vehicles are steam cleaned obviously not but thought id check first!

[Shane Drew]

Dtg,

The steam is not blistering hot. A wallpaper steamer relies on the hood spreading the heat and moisture, so it is not a direct-on-the-paint-paint-stripping-type-of-pressure, but a gentle heating action that softens the vinyl.

I’ve been using a steamer for 12 years, never done damage to the paint on any vehicle.

Cheers
Shane

[Steve Broughton]

😀 Hey Shane I thought the sun always shone on you lot? i figured you just parked it up next to the barby and just let the sun warm the panels and you had a few tinnies and shrimp whilst you waited??? 😀 😎

I’ve been using one for about 8 years and never had a problem either, err but i did knacker some plaster with it when I was decorating once. :lol1:

[Robert Lambie]

i dont think any damage would come of using a steam stripper. i know of many folk that use them like has been said.
on the other hand… i prefer the heat gun. i find the wallpaper stripper too slow… waiting on it heating then holding in place for a bit then stripping and having all the moisture making the vinyl slippy. (i guess its just a preference thing) what many folk do wrong when stripping with heat gun is they heat the vinyl and not the panel. so you are left with glue sticking to the coldish panel and the vinyl comes away easy.
if you heat the vinyl and the area of the metal below at the same time you shouldnt have any bother. with reflective vinyl that can be a different case altogether…

[Shane Drew]

Yeah steve, problem is, with all this sun, a few fosters, and few prawns, by the time you have consumed all that, the last thing you want to do is strip vinyl 😎

My experience is that the steamer is quicker!!

Cheers *drink*

[Gary Davis]

thanks for the advice people, out of interest do any of you have a solution to the lack of mains power when doing ‘mobile’ jobs, i often find with some of the jobs i do im out on a farm/building site in the middle of nowhere! have a generator but its 800w and im yet to find a heat gun this wattage, even if i did i doubt it would be powerful enough. Is there such a thing as a gas powered heat gun? (other than a blow torch 😀 )

[Phill Fenton]

I’ve been using a wallpaper stripper ever since Steve first suggested this many moons ago. (Thanks Steve :thumbup2: )

I now prefer it to using a hot air gun or hairdryer as I find it works easier. It doesn’t damage paintwork, but I wouldn’t use one to strip a plastic panel such as acrylic or even forrex as the heat will cause them to warp. 😕 but it’s ideal for vans.

[John Singh]

The warp factor!
Something to bear in mind! Thanks Phil

I have used the ol’ hair dryer hitherto
So I guess the next acquisition is a steamer

The thought of a heat gun frightens the hell outta me
though I guess the more experienced know how close to get to the surface
Has anyone actually ever had to call the fire brigade out? (hot)

John

[Robert Lambie]

quote :

The thought of a heat gun frightens the hell outta me
though I guess the more experienced know how close to get to the surface

the trick with the heat gun is not how close to go john but to keep it moving. waving it up and down side to side heating an area of the van or panel… say 18×18 inch moving it fast over a small area quickly heats it up ready to strip. just wave the gun side to side and every few seconds touch the van to see how hot its getting… you can take it right up to as hot as a piping cup of coffee without any probs what so ever…

i know of a long term vinyl applicator from the states who actualy uses/prefers a propane blow torch for applying vinyl? :lol1:

[leethesign99]

Blisters, Eh? I’m even dafter than the looney professor I look like!!!!

Last week I was pulling a large vinyl panel off the back of a van, and had used my scalpel to lift the corner. Somehow, I reversed the scalpel in my fist while I pulled the vinyl and the bit of vinyl suddenly snapped. My hand (with vinyl in it) flew back and I plunged the scalpel into my chest, just abve the heart (or where it would be if I had one). My young -ish girl assistant (life’s tough ain’t it) just looked at me, screamed and said what’s all that blood? When I looked down my whole shirt front was saturated in blood – that’s another good shirt gorn!

They say I’ll survive – it’s just a good job I’ve got bigger threpenny bits than my missus….my left one just swallowed up the blade.

Moral of this story is…….get someone else to do the difficult jobs.

Going home for some large gin & tonics now.

Night night

Hasta Luego

Lee

[Andy Gorman]

Yes….well……thanks for that tale Lee. You are, of course, barking bleedin’ mad. 🙂 And a jammy git to boot.

Anyway, just to let you all know – seeing as there was such an outpouring of genuine sympathy for my poor, blistered digits – that they are now healed and ready for action. I did, however, get the mother of all paper cuts today from some silicon release liner ( that’s vinyl backing paper to you). Why do they they hurt so much? Why?

[signworxs]

bless the Larios god eh Lee shame to spoil it with tonic. :lol1:

[Robert Lambie]

Andy im prone to sore fingers and stuff like you too :lol1: … just waite till you stick this baby in one side of your finger and 2 inches out the other, only to have to knock it into reverse and pull it back out 😮

[Andy Gorman]

Brilliant! It’s even got bits of guts on it and stuff. Of course, down here we do things like that just to remove splinters!

[Robert Lambie]

😮 oh did i say i didnt mean it? 😉
yeh bits of grissle is what it is.. cut myself a lovely 5mm diametre hole in one side and out the other… comes in real handy for sticking my pencil through :lol1:

[John Singh]

Thanks for the picture of the bloody drill
another ‘boring’ story Rob :lol1:

Did you plug the hole with the correct plug? 😀
Its the ‘bit’ at the end that really hurts.

Were not really a sympathetic lot are we 😀

John

[Carrie Brown]

:lol1: :lol1:

[Robert Lambie]

quote johnalphasign:

Thanks for the picture of the bloody drill
another ‘boring’ story Rob :lol1:

Did you plug the hole with the correct plug? 😀
Its the ‘bit’ at the end that really hurts.

Were not really a sympathetic lot are we 😀

John

:lol1: trust john to always come in with his BIT…
youll never BORE me mate, not with your CUTTING EDGE comments & the way you TWIST our replies. :lol1: :lol1:

[Peter Normington]

quote johnalphasign:

The warp factor!
Something to bear in mind! Thanks Phil

I have used the ol’ hair dryer hitherto
So I guess the next acquisition is a steamer

The thought of a heat gun frightens the hell outta me
though I guess the more experienced know how close to get to the surface
Has anyone actually ever had to call the fire brigade out? (hot)

John

DE WALT do a heat gun with an adjustable temperature for about 24quid.
money well spent

[John Singh]

Interesting!

Thanks for that Peter – might look into that

Here’s one for Big G

Little lad get’s a present from his dad
Its a tortoise

“O thanks dad thats great” and off he’s goes into the back garden with it
A few hours later the little lad comes complaining to his dad
“Dad this tortoise has got blisters all over its legs”
“Heck!” says his dad “Didn’t notice son. I’ll go back and change it”
Dad comes back with a different turtle after remonstrating with the pet shop owner

“there you go son-good as new!”

“Aw thanks dad”
Off he goes into the garden
Brrrrrrrrruuuuuuum, Brrrrrrruuuuuummmmm, screeeeeeech

John

[Mike Fear]

Best cure for blisters is superglue – pour some on the wound and it’ll form a nice hard skin over it ( stings a bit though ).

Funnily enough, superglue was invented to glue wounds on US soldiers in the field to stop them bleeding to death before getting to the hospital – if its good enough for them…

I’ve found the best way to remove vinyl is to pay someone ( min wage ) young and stupid to do it for you, sitting back laughing like a Bond villain while you watch from somewhere warm and dry.

[Shane Drew]

quote Robert Lambie:

😮 oh did i say i didnt mean it? 😉
yeh bits of grissle is what it is.. cut myself a lovely 5mm diametre hole in one side and out the other… comes in real handy for sticking my pencil through :lol1:

right about now I’m wishing I had not just eaten my tea before I read this comment….

I stabbed myself under my arm pit the other day. Does that qualify for some uksignboards sympathy?

Put my blade on my pocket, but forgot to retract the blade. Next thing, blood everywhere! Then there was screaming, crying, babbling and calls for a bucket. After a stiff drink I calmed down tho….. :lol1:

[John Singh]

quote :

I stabbed myself under my arm pit the other day. Does that qualify for some uksignboards sympathy?

No that calls for a UKsignboards enquiry 😕 😕

How on this gorgeous green planet did you manage to do that?

The mind baffles 🙄

Oh! I got it now!

You weren’t have a total body shave were you for your evening bar job entertaining the ladies were you? 😀

John