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three questions please on reflective vinyl?
HI all,
have two questoins here so rather than mess with two posts i’m hoping they may be answered together, i’m sure both topics have been mentioned before but i’ve not found them, sorry !
right….got two different jobs…..
1) doing a recovery truck on saturday and i’ve just ordered the reflective to do chequers for the sides, due to the expense of this stuff i cant afford to get it wrong, i was thinking on doing it wet to be on the safe side, but remember reading somewhere that reflective MUST me done dry, is this right ? it shouldnt be too hard as the side is fairly flat, but i can always guarantee a nice breeze when i come to doing a job !
2) i’m currently designing a shop front for a customer, the building, and those surrounding, are all white, the facia is remaining but i have to do a 4×5′ wall sign, 6 glass door panels, and the main window which is about 9ftx7ft, it’s an old framed window consisting of 8 panels (four over four), the customer want the writing on the inside due to past vandalism, no prob, but as the shop is in full sunlight for about 9 hours a day, and the sun anoys the hell out of em, he also wants me to flood the inside with colours, i’ve done the basic design, but still have to decide which colours to put inside the glass, ‘light, multicoloured and eyecatching’ was his request,
well, multicoloured is more vomit inducing than eyecatching ! so i’m down to using two pastelly type shades, a dusty mid red (or blue) and a dusty yellow in a symetrical pattern (its about all i can get to go together !, ‘m a little limited really as the text that flows across different panels is the opposite colour, if yer know what mean ! si’m resigned to using colours that will show up on each other.
the point ?… i’ve heard i cant use dark colours on glass, is that right ? and how dark is dark ? can i safely use a pastel coloured red or blue without probs ?
3), relating to the above question, the windows are ever so slightly defferent in size, albeit a few mm or so due to putty/paint etc, am i best, as i think, to just cut all panels to the largest size, or even slightly over size, and trim when in position ?
I’m sure i know the answers already, but would like a little reassurance, getting both of these jobs right first time is really important as other shops / trucks rest on the out-comes !
thank you in advance…Hugh -
12 Replies
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1/ The general consensus is that reflective vinyl should only be applied dry. This is because this type of vinyl does not “breath” like normal vinyl does – and any moisture will theoretically remain trapped.
However, I have applied reflective wet on many occasions – only once did I ever have a problem when bubbbling occured after applying to an aluminium sign blank. I suspect that moisture does escape by capillary action (out through the edges rather than diffusing through the wall of the material) and a number of people have reported they do apply this material wet with no apparent problems.
2/ Colours on glass – Lettering made up of darker colours such as red do not show up well on glass at all. However, If flood coating the glass you can get away with using any colour of lettering providing it contrasts against flood coat colour. e.g If I was using red lettering I would flood coat with a bright colour such as white or yellow. If using white or yellow lettering – this will show up well on its own. But if flood coating behind white or yellow ensure a darker colour is used (e.g Yellow lettering flood coated with a white background will not work). You can see how your windows will look simply by experimenting with different colour combinations on screen. Whenever representing glass on its own (without a flood coat) I use a dark grey background to represent the appearance of glass.
When appyling vinyl to glass apply the lettering dry (or you’ll never get your application tape off) but flood coat wet to make the job easier
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3) Trim when in position about 4mm away from the putty.
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thanks guys, confirms my initial thoughts for the most part, thanks !
as i mentioned in the post, Q2, the colours i’ve chosen, or will suggest, are a pale yellow and a pale red (or blue), purely cos everything else looks too garish against the white buildings, i know he wants to stand out, but there’s limits i like to stick to !
the yellow will have red letteing on it, and the red will have yellow, both show up pretty well on each other.
i would post it and see what others suggest for the flood colours, but i cant post in the design section (which is frustration cos i can read it, and could offer advice on at least two threads i’ve read, but cant 🙁 ) ! so wont !
ta again.
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Listen to Phill. He’s the man.
We would always apply reflective dry now, but used to do it it wet in the old days. Only ever had one problem and that was caused by paint out-gassing rather than the method of application. If you apply wet it will dry out eventually, but will take much longer than ordinary vinyl.
Dark colours do not show up well on windows, but if you are flood coating the back, or even just putting a border around the letters, that doesn’t matter. If the window is in bright sunlight try to do it as early in the morning as possible before temperatures rise.
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thanks John, reflective will go on dry in the morning,
windows will most likely be done in the evening !!!
i might post it on my thread in the ‘show us your stuff’ section, get peoples general opinion before i show it to the customer, the fonts aren’t yet set in stone, they’re just what seemed to suit the spaces available in some cases !
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Hugh, just something to think about for the future, if you have read some of the other posts on reflective you will know it is very difficult to remove, even if it has only been on a short time and it is much more likely to remove paint than a standard vinyl.
For these two reasons when I am talking to the customer I make sure I mention this and give them the option of having a normal vinyl under the reflective, this way if the reflective has to be removed it comes off much more easily as it comes off with the vinyl underneath.
You never know it might be you that gets asked to remove it!!!!As has been said by Phil although they say apply dry I often apply reflective wet and havent had any problems, same as I use clear application tape wet and the same is said of that
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thank you Martin, so many things to consider, i had forgotten about putting normal underneath the reflective !
in this instance i’ll not bother, i really wanted this contract (my brothers boss) as there’s 4 trucks needing doing in the next couple of months alone, there’s nearly 20 in the fleet and they often get damaged and want replacing due to the nature of the recovery business, they also have a paint shop and i’m sure they’re aware of reflective’s future probs.
i must actually get myself spanked, i broke the golden rule of doing the first truck cheap, tho in this case, i know him, he knows me, and he has sorted me cheap van hire whn required, in reality he knows i’m new, and i think he wants to be sure that i do it right, at least thats what my brother says ! i know i’ll get the other trucks, so this initial sacrifice is justified i feel, the ‘boss’ also knows that the next will be about double the cost of this one !
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its all experience Hugh, but if you feel you have gone in cheap then try and take advantage of getting as many photographs of the finished work to build up a portfolio wall or business leaflets to show your new customers.
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Just one point – dont think its been mentioned, sorry if im repeating stuff regarding vinyl on glass, avoid very dark colours in large areas on glass exposed to lots of sunlight as it is known for the glass to crack for some strange reason, somone will probably be able to explain why.
John
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quote John Harding:Just one point – dont think its been mentioned, sorry if im repeating stuff regarding vinyl on glass, avoid very dark colours in large areas on glass exposed to lots of sunlight as it is known for the glass to crack for some strange reason, somone will probably be able to explain why.John
‘cuz it gets hot!
😮 :lol1:
Just kidding. I used to help a buddy do window tinting when I was younger. We tinted a round window about 30 feet up the side of a building. As soon as we climbed down the lader we heard it crack. He said it was because the edge of the glass wasn’t cut perfect and when it heated up it split. Sounded logical to me, but then again I was young and naive. Now I am just older and more naive. Anyways, I guess I didn’t really help any. Sorry. 😀
-Marek -
thanks john / marek, i think thats one of the points i was asking in my long winded questions !
thats why i was going to go with lighter, more pastel shades rather than large slabs of brilliant red, more of a dust rose type affair, best just check my vinyl swatch now to make sure they do one close !
Dave, experience indeed, i know i’m way to cheap on it, i’m really kicking myself now cos my bro said he always says it was cheaper last time !, apparently it was supply only last time, and didnt include the reflective ! it was over £300 for the last one, which is a bit more than i would’ve charged, but not far off, like i said, my brother reckons he wants to be sure i do this one right before shelling out loads on the other trucks, one is an american ford recoery truck which is to be their ‘showpiece’ wagon, i’ll kind of have a free reign on that one (using their colours) with the design, so, hopefully it’ll be worth the lack of profit this time around, speculate to acumulate and all that !
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hey all,
i’ve just been for a final consultation with the customer who wanted the ‘vibrant windows’,after an hour playing on the laptop he settled on (his choice) a canary yellow and a lime green, it actually works ok, also purple with black shadow/contour, which again, does work, quite bold ! i think it’s more suited to a magazine (where he got the idea) but i think it’ll work,
anyways, the main wording will be in black, arial bold, and behind it the glass will be flood coated with the green and yellow, will the black still show up fine ? i’m guessing it will, but short of doing my workshop windows the same, i’m only guessing,
also, since the regular vinyl will block out about 95% of the light, i suggested going with a transluscent vinyl, would this be ok ? i dont see any reason why it wouldn’t, but figured i’d ask !
my thinking was that it would block the direct sunlight, whilst still letting the office stay light, and come the winter evenings, it should light up like a big light box !
am i being a dreamer or will this work ok ?
thanks in advance !
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