what vinyl media can be used for Stickers?

[Rodney Gold]

Use one of the thicker white medias , ask your sign supplier for this. there is a fly in the onintment however as the inks tend to thin the vinyl when printing high area coverage. Easiest is to supply the decal with application tape or overlam and cut thru both decal and overlam for a nice sturdy sticker.
Problem with cheaper thcker media vs top quality cast polymeric is that they dont print as well generally speaking.

[Michael Auger]

Rodney,
I went to my supplier and talked to them about it today. They highly recomended Oracal 3621 Economy Calendered PVC Inkjet Media. Which is a 3 mil soft PVC film.

As soon as I got back to the machine I printed off a run of stickers. They turned out great, very vivid and easy to peal and slap onto whatever. Still a little softer than I am looking for. It’ll work for now but I’m still on a hunt for the perfect media, as it were.

Oracal offers a 3.75 mil with their 3165 and a 4.25 mil with their 1663 PVC Inkjet Media for Floor Graphics. I’ll probably pick up 5 yard or less if my supplier is willing.

In the mean time does anyone know of another company who might make a similar product to Oracal?

[Shane Drew]

hi mate,

you could try a screen print vinyl. the problem you’ll have using a non recognised digital print media is the way it is handled before you purchase it.

Oracal is totally robotic, no human hands etc, so no marks on the vinyl to affect the print (full rolls of course). Most suppliers (here at least) cut off smaller lengths using cotton gloves to prevent hand marks on your print too. However, using product designed for other markets, the same care is not taken, and you will/could have problems in the middle of a run with greasy marks and imperfections.

Convex is a really thick digital material but really expensive. It does not stretch easily tho, may be what you are looking for. Used for doing decals on bike tanks, helmets and stuff.

Rods advice is very good. The app tape coating suggestion is what I do for clients that want a DIY option.

[Michael Auger]

Shane,

Thank you very much for you input. You weren’t kidding about the Convex vinyl being expensive. It’s over 5 times more expensive that the Oracal media I just picked up. Will be too expensive for what we want to do with most of our clients but it will work great for a few of them. Have had 2 motocross teams contact us about doing all of their bikes.

Do you know a good manufacturer for screen print vinyl? Also, would the solvent ink have any issues adhering to the vinyl, possibly requiring us to laminate?

[Chris Wool]

softning of the vinyl is a bit of a problem and in some cases may require you to reduce the total ink loads some bit map images have a very high colour mix if thats the right term and try not to have a full coloured sticker and try and leave a small unprinted border as this stops the vinyl shrinking at the edges.
but for moto x stuff i would just laminate it this makes it easy to handel – fit and will be robust.

chris

[Shane Drew]

quote Michael Auger:

Shane,

Do you know a good manufacturer for screen print vinyl? Also, would the solvent ink have any issues adhering to the vinyl, possibly requiring us to laminate?

Oracal 2640g is a 200 micron vinyl. May pay to get a sample and try it. Technically, I doubt you’d have issues with adhesion of solvent inks. Eco solvents I would not be as confident with tho. Not a huge fan of eco inks, which is why I upgraded my Roland to the full solvent Techink.

I wouldn’t laminate the majority of stickers, but I would for the bikes tho

If you go down the laminate path, I’d suggest Oracal 3551g with a 215 matt or gloss laminate. That combo would make it easy to apply, and as Chris rightly says, would reduce the stretch considerably.

[Michael Auger]

Chris and Shane,

Thank you very much for you input.
I’m going to try and get some samples coming in the next week or two. I’m sure as I try more things in different combinations I will find myself with more questions. Thank’s again for all of your help.

[Dennis Van Der Lingen]

we do alot of stickers: labels etc…
all the advice i would give you is to take (nearly) the cheapest vinyl you can buy. and then buy it in bulk so it’s even cheaper :lol1:

it’s thick, not stretchy, just the kinda thing an unexperianced person loves.
trust me they’ll love it, i even had a customur who wanted a good vinyl for his stickers so i did (cast) ten days later the guys on the phone telling me i sell junk because his labels streched when he peeles them of. 😮

for quoting: go cheap, with labels nobody cares about warrantys, durability, resolution, or anything, they just want to pay the least they have to.

i’ts not the kinda thing signmakers love to do (selling cheap junk) but in the case of labels its principals vs buissness

[Michael Auger]

Dennis,
We had the same thought. The problem we are finding is the two distrubutors here haven’t had cheap vinyl. Only Oracal, 3M, Avery, and Arlon. Is there a specific manufacturer you would suggest?

-Michael

[Dennis Van Der Lingen]

we use spandex, imageperfect 3500

we buy it pretty cheap in, but then again we buy 16 rolls per month once every month.

also check your foil costs (gerber edge) we use crimson X, cheap as hell and the same (sometimes better) quality than the original gerber foils