Window Application Advice?

[Shane Drew]

Packman, I personally would not do it wet. It will take eons for the surface to dry.

Dewi on these boards will probably be ‘the man’. He has posted some excellent examples and is really very good.

You would need to do the first layer dry at least, then perhaps flood coat the backing colour wet. Use a felt squeegee and you should be fine.

Cheers
Shane

[Robert Lambie]

if you dont have allot of confidence applying a huge section dry, do it wet like shane says. my only thoughts on this becoming a problem is the water being trapped around the graphics edges as you wont be able to squeegee out the wtarer here, more, eliminate as much as possible and allow to dry itself.
hang it like wallpaper, peel a bit out from the back at top, pull it down and tack to window at top then work your way down. i wouldnt use app tape on the back if applying wet.

an alternative!
apply the graphics as normal but instead of flooding in vinyl to block windows out, use Correx sheets. i do this often, it also allows the shop keeper to change his window messages from time to time without having to strip and start again.
correx is only about £6 or £7 for an 8×4 5mm comes in different colours too… it can be stuck using clear double sided tape or velcro.

[Shane Drew]

I take me hat off to ya Rob, the correx is a good idea. 😀

Always learn something here mate

Cheers

[Mark Pack]

I wish I’d have asked before I’d ordered the vinyl, never mind. Good tips though.

Rob for future reference where can I get the correx sheets from?

Cheers

[Robert Lambie]

i buy my correx from europoint display, but i think lots of the big suppliers offer it. shop around… remember, asking prices get like for like, comes in various thicknesses…

[Bill Dewison]

Flood coating windows dry can be a bit tricky when you first start out doing it, but you’ll get the hang of it no worries. I usually tape up the vinyl to give it some rigidity, then rip (I mean cut carefully, honest 😳 ) the top 6″ off of backing tape, tack it to the top of the window then go back and forth horizontally with a sweeping motion. Robert taught me the basic technique with a mobile phone and a knapkin at SignUK a year or so back and I’ve been using it ever since (the technique, not the mobile phone and knapkin, that’d just be wierd! :lol1: ) Timing wise, I always floodcoat late in the afternoon if I can, the temperature seems alot better for some reason and you can pull the vinyl from the window easier if you’re not in direct sunlight or baking in the midday sun.

Multilayers on glass are a bit bizarre though, you can’t always see where you’re working, but again you get the hang of it in no time.

Once you’ve applied the first layer though, it can be a bit taxing if you flood coat wet as you’ll find water is retained inside the graphics you’ve just applied. You can put small pin holes in the vinyl, but particularly with dark colours, these show up like christmas tree lights. If you do want to do it that way, try to puncture the vinyl very close to a letter or graphic, and give it a good hard rub after, the hole tends to be pushed over the graphic and this hides it.

One other thing we were discussing a while back was about silvering. You’ll find, again with dark colours, you get a silvering effect where the glue hasn’t adhered to the glass too well. Once the sun shines on it, the glue melts a bit and the silvering disappears, but trying to explain that to the customer is a bit of a nightmare. I’ve had to wait to collect the money a couple of times because the customer wasn’t convinced the silvering would disappear, but it always does.

Hope this helps a little though. As Robert said though, if you can get away with coloured correx, that’d be cool, but it does warp alot under direct sunlight and your customer may not be too chuffed with it. Playing it by ear is probably the best bet, most customers are pretty cool when it comes to window graphics as they often appreciate its not the easiest job in the world.

Cheers, Dewi

[Robert Lambie]

the correx should be fine if your using something like velcro mate, you don’t need to pepper it in bits, just something like four corners to hold in position. because your not actually pinning it down, it does allow it to expand & contract sufficiently. in fact i remember one window i did i didnt need to use anything, it just sat in window perfectly, but i did end up putting 2 bits on right at top, just incase it fell back later on…

a tip too… if you really want to hide the bits of tape etc being seen, stick them on the back of the vinyl text or graphics you have applied. makes it impossible to see whats attaching the correx to the graphics.

[Mark Pack]

Like I said, I’ve already purchased the vinyl for the job, so I’m going to have to give it a go. But it will be the last time I think, Correx is the future for me, save me a hell of alot of time.

And the customer I’ve got at the moment, Jesus. He picks at everything, I had a couple of air bubbles in a graphic, so I pricked it, he nearly bit my head off for putting holes in his signs. I said, “You wait til I flood the back”, he didn’t look impressed.

[Shane Drew]

quote Packman:

And the customer I’ve got at the moment, Jesus. He picks at everything, I had a couple of air bubbles in a graphic, so I pricked it, he nearly bit my head off for putting holes in his signs. I said, “You wait til I flood the back”, he didn’t look impressed.

From experience mate, you’re never going to win with a client like this.

Hope it goes well.

Cheers