Which Vinyl for Frost Effect ?

[Robert Lambie]

if it is the glass etch oracal vinyl then its not a foil.
if its mirror silver or gold it is a foil.

i think your talking about the glass etch though..
etch feels pretty simular to normal vinyl but cant be pushed, stretched like a good calander or cast can. it tends to be a little brittle.
if using it i would say apply with a felt squeegee if you can. using a normal squeegee can cause whitening of the vinyl if forcing traped air out if the corner digs into the vinyl.. i wopuld say dont try apply like a wrap on the rubber. just keep working out to edges closer and closer to the rubber then once touching heat it then trim away the overlapping material.

if you use wet application then use just a mist of water.. but i would advise dry if you can.
any moisture squeegeed out just runs round the rubber and sits at the bottom making adhesion very difficult. particularly in this weather.

i use the orarcal etch often. its a good vinyl but pricey!
steve a signagraphic mentioned to me he buys etch at £4 a metre.. how good it is though i dont know.. hes a group member.. i think his details can be found in the members section. 🙄

[Bill Dewison]

I’m after a similar type of vinyl for my shop window/s. Could you let me know how you go on with the Ridgeway Engineering job, ie how it is to fit and any tips/tricks etc. 🙂 Thank you in advance.

Cheers, Dewi

[Andy Gorman]

I’ve found when applying etch, it is a good idea to apply wet. I agree with Rob’s comment about getting water in the edge rubbers on windows but if you are not an expert ‘dry applier’ or at least very practiced it can be difficult. I find that etch vinyls have a high grab and if you get a crease or large bubble the material will stretch or distort if you try to pull it back to re-apply. A regular sized van window shouldn’t be too difficult to apply dry with a bit of practice, but a shop window could be pretty big.

There was a post by Rob Lambie in the ‘show us your stuff’ forum (I think) which showed some etched windows. Some good points were made there about different application preferences.

[Paul Goodwin]

Hi Guys

thanks for the feedback Rob and Big G.

I was given a small sample from a local competetor 🙂 ( the things i can get the wife to do ) to show the customer the vinyl, but this doesn’t feel like normal ( oracal 751 or 651) at all, where they feel well rubbery if u like this feels hard and well more like a very very thin plastic. if that makes any sence. and yes Rob it does feel very brittle.

The two types i saw in the product cat were the silver and gold ORACAL 8510 Etch Glass Film

[Nigel Fraser]

Mort,

I havn’t used the oracal etch film – normally I use mactac frosted glass (approx £8.50 p.m. at 1220mm) which has a pretty similar “feel” to normal vinyl. You do have to be very carefull with this and other similar products not to allow them to crease/kink as this makes a white stress mark in the film which you cant remove.
I would personally always apply etch film wet as it is invariably viewed from the outside and any imperfections or air bubbles are highlighted. Having said that if the glass is curved and/or has heating elements on it then it can be a tad tedious to get the last bits of water out. The more “brittle” the film feels the worse the “tunneling” effect will be to remove on the curved glass. Watch out for the heating elements (if applicable) when you trim the edges, its dead easy to slip with the knife and cut one.

Dewi – I don’t know how big an area you are going to cover but if I was in your position, I would put it on wet (sorry Rob) preferably using a chemical based app fluid rather than just water+fairy because especially if the glass is cold and you have got letters/logos reversed out from the film, it can be tricky to get them to stay stuck when removing the app tape. The chemical fluid is much better in cold conditions.

Hope this helps a little…

Nigel

[Robert Lambie]

if wet app works for you mate.. then go for it. no point wasting the job if you havent had much practice applying dry.
cold windows will have little grip though.. so on cold glass it maybe better dry. 🙄
like nigel said though i wpuld revert from water and soap.. try rapid tac 2. i git my free bottle a couple of weeks ago and after a few small tests it definately shows better grip after applying than water.

all print supplies do a free sample bottle on request.. worth a go if you apply wet.

the post i made before about glass etch is found here.
https://www.uksignboards.com/viewtopic.php?p=29364&highlight=vanity+k#29364

hope it helps 😉

[Paul Goodwin]

Thanks Guys that is realy helpfull.

[Martin Pearson]

Mort like any vinyl on the market there are different makes and types, I think they normally refer to the cast vinyl as dusted crystal and it is very expensive, the euro point film is the cheaper version normally refered to as frosted crystal. This is the one we usually use and as obert has already said it is less forgiving than normal 651/751. Get a crease in the vinyl and you can forget it you will never get it all out there will always be a mark of some sort. I’ve only used it on flat glass in shop windows and screen panels so dont know how it will handle the curves on the back window of a van.