Vinyl Advice

[Peter Normington]

Adam
the metamark md3 200 is thicker and better for panels etc, although it does have a small amount of shrinkage, on larger stuff.

APS also do a very thick textured material in matt or gloss that allows the ink to "soak in" which helps with durability on mon laminated stuff.
BTW I would never use unlaminated on vehicles, unless for a very short time.

You will find also that leaving the vinyl to dry off properly for a few days helps the "stretchiness" which is caused by the solvents in the ink.

Peter

[Mo Gillis-Coates]

Hi Adam, if your doing just labels I recommend MDP just over a pound per meter, it’s thicker than MD5 so ideal and made specifically for labels.

Really if your doing print and cut for vehicles then it needs to be laminated anyway, we always use MD5 with MD7 over the top for flat panel print and cut, to a certain extent it will do light recesses too.

Hope this helps

regards
Mo

[Martin Pearson]

Adam, if your doing vehicle work even flat panel take Peters advice and laminate it. Never mind what the manufacturers tell you about how long prints will last unlaminated you need to laminate them for the abrasion resistance it will give you if nothing else.

Don’t forget that the inks don’t penetrate that far into the surface of the vinyl and the chemicals used by car washes will remove the ink quicker than you would like. You can warn customers about this but at the end of the day when the graphics fade all the customer will remember is that YOU sold him a set of graphics that didn’t last.