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Problems with condensation on glass, advice please?
Hi everyone,
I’ve been doing more and more painted signs recently and perhaps lost the knack of applying vinyl without hiccups! I sometimes get this condensation between the vinyl and the glass which disappears after a week or two, maybe only a few days if the shop has good heating. But it would obviously look more professional if it didn’t appear in the first place, does anyone have any tips on how to avoid this? I apply the vinyl with water with a few drops of washing up liquid after cleaning the glass with a white spirit then soapy water.
please help!:police: Mod-Edit
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15 Replies
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that looks like the glue on your make of vinyl is a water based one
needs to be solvent type -
quote Chris Wool:that looks like the glue on your make of vinyl is a water based one
needs to be solvent typeOr just apply dry.
Cheers
Gary
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wow, I didn’t even know that the glues were different in different brands of vinyl, I use vinyl from APA, any good companies that are reasonably priced suppliers of vinyl with solvent glue?
And I wouldn’t trust myself to dry fit large sheets of vinyl to the inside of glass! -
from memory the lower grade apa vinyl is water based the better ones are solvent ask apa they will know.
sorry Gary i think he will have the same problem either wet or dry fit.
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quote Chris Wool:sorry Gary i think he will have the same problem either wet or dry fit.
Really? I’ve learned something today then Chris. I have only ever suffered once with this kind and that was when we wet applied some anthracite vinyl years ago.
Since we started applying everything dry we haven’t seen it.
Cheers
Gary
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It’s also easy to condensate the glass just from your own body heat if the glass is cold enough.
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Gary its just the glue thats wrong for that application i have the T shirt as they say.
only ever seen milky effect from water based glues again from memory they tried it as a selling point for the green people.
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quote Chris Wool:Gary its just the glue thats wrong for that application i have the T shirt as they say.
only ever seen milky effect from water based glues again from memory they tried it as a selling point for the green people.
Thanks for the clarification Chris. So whenever there is condensation this milking effect could occur?
Cheers
Gary
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Same as Gary, never had it happen after it has been fitted but had it happen after fitting wet. I can’t see how condensation can occur after it has been fitted. Any condensation would to my mind form on the outside of the glass or the non adhesive side of the vinyl. There is no gap between the vinyl glass for air to get to and you need air to get condensation. I can understand water running over areas with a vinyl edge or water sitting at the bottom and creeping up or down the glue, although i have never had it happen that i’m aware of.
Steve
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Nik, have a look at this post where I had the same problem.
The bulk of this was dry applied!
http://www.uksignboards.com/viewtopic.p … 26&start=0The very cold glass at this time of year seems to exude moisture even with dry apply.
It all disappeared completely but I noticed that initially there was no real bond to the glass; it was just too cold.
Now I know what to expect I always warn a customer of this occurrence.
It can be a particular problem with hair salons.By the way, there is no way I would clean any substrate with white spirit, it’s just too oily and will not evaporate away properly.
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yes that looks the same – only happens in the winter, with cold glass, never had it happen in the summer, if I’ve made the sign in my workshop, say on acrylic, leaning them against the radiator solves the problem in a few hours, just not possible to do that on site!
by the way, if I use white spirit to clean any oils or silicons off, I always make sure I clean thoroughly afterwards with soapy water., then dry the glass before doing the wet application. – white spirit + vinyl = not a good mix!
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just a thought, is there any way that the window could be warmed up first? When we do vehicle on site in cold weather we put a 3kw blow heater inside the van and heat the bodywork first… ?
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yea good plan, I might start taking a heat gun with me for winter jobs.
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If you heat a window to much on one small spot you run the risk of shattering the entire window… I wouldn’t recommending heating it with a heat gun.
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Be very careful heating glass with a heat gun, especially laminated or annealed. Most shop windows seem to be laminated which is two panes of annealed glass (with lots of edge cracks) laminated together.
Toughened glass has already been heat treated so you can get away with a bit of heat on it.
Frost and condensation can be a problem and a little bit of WARM air can help. A hair dryer is probably less likely to concentrate heat than a heat gun but still make sure it is on a very low setting. It doesn’t take much to dry a bit of condensation.
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