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what way does everyone apply vinyl vertical or horizontal?
hey all, havent got around to paying for my membership upgrade yet, missus has got the credit cards but I will get there. Anyway cos I am a traditional signwriter I am self taught with the vinyl and digital printing side of things. I was wondering, as I have never seen another signmaker in action, do you guys mostly do your applications on the vertical or horizontal surface? I do mine on the horizontal in my workshop, even though it is kept clean, I have no end of trouble with dust between the vinyl/print and the substrate, it just seems to attract dust as soon as I take the backing paper off, thanks guys for any advice.
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14 Replies
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hi there , dust is always a problem in our workshop, if we are applying to a plastic surface we wipe down with a small amount of meths,then just before we stick we blow down the surface with an air gun linked to a compressor.
hope this helps Lee -
Like Lee, I always clean the surface with meths or windex just before I lay a sign too.
Windex has anti static characteristics, as does meths, so it usually helps. I always wipe over with a duster too.
Hope that helps
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Lee using something like compressed air can actually help to make the problem worse as you have just created a lot of airborne dust, obviously this isn’t a problem for you but I am surprised you get away with it.
Rick, if dust is a real problem you might want to try using an antistatic type of wipe or cleaner, also try and remove the backing paper slowly to avoid generating static which will obviously attract dust.
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tack rags, as used by spray painters are good at removing dust etc and don’t leave any chemicals on the vinyl.
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Hi Rick, I always find spraying my work bench and surrounding area with water first, helps to keep the dust particles at bay and helps prevent the static created when removing backing from film from dragging in extra dust. Along with the tips already given you should find you get a hell of better finish.
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I can have problems with dust if I don’t hoover my workshop regularly, amuses my wife no end.
Joking aside you really do have to keep dust down and if you hoover with a good industrial vacuum every day you’ll soon find the problem reducing, this includes shelves and odd corners etc but after you get it under control you don’t have to be quite so intense.Steve
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unless of course you have dogs in your work place 😀 vinyl and dog hairs seem to be very attracted to each other 🙄 I’ve been looking for a solution for years.
Lynn
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quote Lynn:unless of course you have dogs in your work place 😀 vinyl and dog hairs seem to be very attracted to each other 🙄 I’ve been looking for a solution for years.Lynn
Take them for their "Final Visit" to the vet Lynn 😕
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quote Phill:Take them for their “Final Visit” to the vet Lynn 😕
Phill being non controversial as usual 🙂
We have long hair cats and I must admit to similar thoughts to Phills sometimes but their good at catching mice and rats plus rat shit really looks crap on a sign :lol1:
Steve
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I know an airbrush guy that is very fussy about dust.
If you want to reduce static and dust before you lay a sign down, spray a mist of metho in the immediate work area before you start. It negates any static immediately. Let the metho dry naturally without the urge to wipe it up.
This is especially good if working with an ezytaper, as the mechanical motion of the process will usually generate a bit more static than doing it manually. When flood coating, I mist metho over the surface first, then a final feather duster sweep, and dust has been less of a problem since.
Wind and drafts don’t help though, of which my shed seems to have plenty of 😕
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Thanks guys for your help, the metho idea seems to be popular so I will try that. On another subject, a problem surfaced yesterday with my software. I have had 2 computer tech guys come out and have talked to Roland themselves, no one seems to know what is going on. I do my design in SignWizard, export to another pc to Corel, and normally have been doing the cutcontor in Corel, but since yesterday the file is coming into Corel all pixellated and will no longer do the cut contour lines. I am not very familiar with Corel, and I obviously can send a pixellated file to Versaworks for the printer, any ideas? I cannot reload Corel as it came preloaded and I dont have the disc.
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your exporting as signwizard eps?
What version of Corel? In corel, your importing as eps,ps,prn – postscript as opposed to eps?
Why not do your contour cut line in signwizard, then change the outline to cutpath colour in corel?
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Thanks for your reply Shane, I am doing the cutcontour in Sw, and am exporting as Sw eps, the problem only came in yesterday and I have spent hours trying to work it out.
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quote rick eade:Thanks for your reply Shane, I am doing the cutcontour in Sw, and am exporting as Sw eps, the problem only came in yesterday and I have spent hours trying to work it out.
you can send me the sw file and I can try it here. what version of corel are you running?
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