Recommendations on a cast Vinyl, please?

[Martin Pearson]

What brand of vinyl do you currently use for day to day work? A cast by the same manufacturer will be as good as any I would imagine.
Hard to recommend one because everyone will have their own favourite. If you have the time best thing to do is get a few samples from suppliers & try them out for yourself, personally it would be oracal 751C for me.

[Elliott Willis]

Hello Martin

i have been using oracal (551) for standard flat stuff, will get some 751 in to test later in the week! a bit nervous about bubbles etc with it being that much bigger than what I’ve done before.

Thanks mate.

[Lorraine Clinch]

Don’t do it in full sun, or on a hot day, or it will be bubblier than a king-sized Aero bar!
751 is a lot thinner than 551, but is not so easy to use. You could look at getting it printed onto bubble-free vinyl, and having used bubble-free (air escape) vinyls, this is what I would do.

Lorraine

[Paul Seeley]

I like cast Graphitack for this sort of stuff, but as Martin says it’s personal choice really. Air escape vinyl is pretty easy to use, but looking at the drawing it doesn’t look too bad to do. (Good tip about full sun though; best to work indoors if you can with these big pieces. I like to flip ’em upside down on the table, and give a good spray with soap/water (not too much soap) then slap them in position without application tape 🙂

[David Hammond]

751 Will do it.

I found a really firm squeegie helped, rather than a soft one. Think we used Metamark Purple ones.

You could always apply app tape to keep it rigid, then remove and work into the recesses.

I’d watch when working the recesses as it’s easy to trap air in them.

Door handle might be take a bit of patience if you’re not 100% confident.

Here’s a van we did with 751.
https://www.uksignboards.com/viewtopic.p … highlight=

[Simon Worrall]

For a job like that I would definitely use an air release cast vinyl. It may cost a little more but you will more than make that up in the time saved.
My preference is 3m 180.

Simon

[Elliott Willis]

Thanks for all the responses, definatley got me thinking now.

I’ve not seen a lot of standard ( non wrap film ) cast with air release, can anyone point me in the right direction?

David that van looks awesome, bet you swore a lot that day 😮

[David Hammond]

If you have a laminator, you could mount the 751 onto something like IJ180.

I haven’t tried that myself but I’m sure others on here have tried it.

As for Swearing! :lol1: There were things flying all over the workshop… A huge learning curve but a great confidence boost.

If you can lay standard vinyl on a flat panel you’re 1/2 way there with this one, it’s then just getting it into the recesses.

Order more vinyl that you need as you will mess it up, prepare for it to take much longer that you thought. You won’t make much ££ out of this job, but the confidence and technique you will gain will earn much more!

[Martin Pearson]

quote Simon Worrall:

For a job like that I would definitely use an air release cast vinyl. It may cost a little more but you will more than make that up in the time saved.
My preference is 3m 180.

Simon

Simon, sorry but I disagree with that, we are suppose to be signmakers & a job like that isn’t difficult at all for someone with the skills we should have. Ok maybe if this is something new then it might help but really should be looking at learning to do the job properly. Not sure if air release vinyl would be available in the required colours either. Printing it is an option but an expensive one if you don’t have your own printer & have to rely on a trade printer.

Paul a job like this should really be done dry, it’s impossible to remove all the soapy water from behind the vinyl so recessed areas can easily cause vinyl failures.

[Elliott Willis]

Decision made, going for the 751c, know I’m going to have a stress filled day and the kids may have to go without food for a few days after the catastrophic financial loss on this one but Martin makes a good point, I don’t have a lot of experience and now rather than later is probably the time to get it, Davids picture is proof that it can be done so a few extra meters ( maybe 10 ) it is.

Will let you know how it goes!

[Martin Pearson]

Elliot, don’t let me bully you into using a vinyl you are not confident with. I’ve been doing this for a while now & there were a few people suggested a different type of vinyl so perhaps that may be a better way for you to go.
Biggest part of almost anything we do is confidence & if you are lacking that you are more likely to make mistakes. I would still suggest that you take the time to learn to fit different materials as you progress up the learning ladder though.

[Hugh Potter]

the recess on a vivaro is nothing, trust me – I own one!

your oracle 551 will do the job just fine. heat it in and post heat it, make sure no bubble are under the area you post heat or you’ll pop them!

Hugh

[Paul Seeley]

quote Martin:

Paul a job like this should really be done dry, it’s impossible to remove all the soapy water from behind the vinyl so recessed areas can easily cause vinyl failures.

I tend to agree with you Martin, simple job over single curvature with a decent cast material should be a gimme, but my feeling was it would be easier wet for someone without the experience/confidence hence my suggestion. 😀

(I’ve done this sort of job wet in the past, then lifted the vinyl where is passes over the panel recess to dry off water, work that area dry and then carry on, but it’s a bit of a fiddle and easier to watch how someone does it than explain . . .)

[Steve McAdie]

I agree with Hugh the vivaro recesses aren’t anything major just feed the vinyl in it will be fine the only bit you may have to give a little stretch is by the arches. Friend of mine did his vivaro with 651 and it never popped in over 3yrs i kept checking it everytime i saw him expecting it to show some sign of lifting but it never he later got a new van and used a kpmf vinyl and two weeks later it had lifted in the recess.

Steve

[Martin Pearson]

If the recesses are shallow as Hugh says then I would just use 551 as well, it will stay put in shallow recesses if you post heat it properly once it has been fitted.

[Elliott Willis]

Just wanted to thank everyone once more for good advice.

Saturday evening applied one large piece with 751c and went on a dream, few small bubbles which only took a few minutes to get rid of and went to bed happy and looking forward to full install next morning.

Sunday arrived and started in earnest, but all was not well, bubbles appearing all over the place AGGGHGHH! 2 hours in and a tea break to sort my brain out and a quick check on this thread for ideas and Lorraines post jumped out at me.

Saturday was cool and applied on shade side of van, Sunday was 28 degrees and applying in full sun, DOH.

Span it round and waited till later in the day and hey presto lovely jubbley!

Thanks all, especially Lorraine.

In my rush to finish forgot to break out the camera but will get some next week when i see customer about the next job! 😀

[Lorraine Clinch]

Lol Elliott, you can tell I have been there, done that!
Glad it all worked out well in the end, a good learning curve for you.

Lorraine