[Graeme Clark]

quote Karl Williams:

Or if anyone has some…just enough for a bonnet on a ford focus. Any ideas on cost and do you have to buy it by the roll?

Thanks.

Hi karl – The APA comes in 1500 wide so you’ll only need a meter for the focus bonnet!! We managed to get both a Peugeot 205 and a Renault Clio cup from our leftover off our last job!!!

[Graeme Clark]

quote Stuart Taylor:

quote Nic Bessent:

3m do all the different from white carbon to chrome carbon – i have a roll of chrome carbon on order but 3month wait!!!!

Problem with the 3m stuff is unless they have left overs every1 only wants to sell it as a full roll – £2000!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hi Nic

Just got back from holiday and read your post.

To clarify the stocking position on Di-Noc, we stock 50 different patterns (including Carbon, Woodgrain’s, Metallic’s etc) in our warehouse and all of these are available by the metre. In addition to this, these 50 patterns can be ordered in longer rolls (25m or 50m dependent on pattern) and will either be in stock in our warehouse or come from 3M’s European warehouse with a leadtime of approx 5 days. On top of these 50 patterns there are literally 100’s of other patterns which are held in Japan (3M manufacture all Di-Noc in Japan) and should be available on a typical 3 week leadtime – The reason these are only available as full rolls are they are brought into Europe specifically for that one off demand. I am not sure why you are being told 3 months for Chrome Carbon ?? possibly has to be manufactured but should still be quicker than that – what product code no have you been quoted ? Also note that not all Di-Noc products are classed as suitable for “exterior” use (regardless of whether this is a vehicle or a sign)

If you let me know the code no you were looking at I will check into the reason for the long leadtime.

Stuart

Hi Stuart do you do the ME-1435 or the ME-531 by the meter? – Many thanks

[Graeme Clark]

quote Nicholas.Gormley:

Hi im new to this as well, I wrapped the roof of my own car as ive got asked quite alot about doing this. I got it spot on the first go but i done it wet. How do use do it?? and any poniters or tips for me??

Hi Nicholas – Rob is bang on, do it dry and the hinge method is a good way to do it. When working with an air release vinyl we tend to remove all the backing paper and put it "down in one" when doing a roof but its handy as there are usually 3 of us in the workshop to do that!

[Graeme Clark]

quote Robert Lambie:

quote Rod Gray:

i`ve had my sample of this from APA sitting on my desk for about 6 weeks now.

It`s shrunk about 3mm from each edge in that time.

That concerns me.

that would concern me too… 😕

We’ve done about 12 roof(s) in this now and have had no shrinkage even over some quite "compound" curving roof surfaces. In fact one of the worst was my business partners E46 3 series so we’ve been keeping an eye on it and its been good. On that vehicle the leading and trailing edge go into the screen rubbers but only to a depth of about 2-3 mm so we would have noticed it creeping back out to say hello!

Was it shrinking on the backing paper Rod ?

[Graeme Clark]

quote Russell-H:

I got it even cheaper than that, my Lexus has a plastic dash that a previous owner had drilled to fit a phone kit, i printed carbon effect onto MD5 and used this to cover the holes, still looks good as good as real thing.

Best regards

Russell.

In fairness Russel thats our preferred solution but we can’t print at the mo so resort to this material!

[Graeme Clark]

quote John Harding:

Does any one know if the above is available, hexis (hexpress) did one but its been withdrawn and the new one is not in stock yet.

Im looking to do a van based on a design by martin cole on this thread https://www.uksignboards.com/viewtopic.p … c&start=10

so looking for the easist on site fitting option

thanks for looking

John 😀

Hi John – i am also in the same boat looking for a bubble free cast (white) if you have any success let me know please!, I telephoned Hexxis today and they didn’t seem to be at all sure when their "regeneration" of their current film would be completed! 🙄

[Graeme Clark]

quote Alex Tucker:

nice job Graeme.

Thanks Alex – the customer was very happy and we ended up wrapping his BMW Motorcycle Panniers and topbox in the same material for him so he’s got gucci matching luggage LOL !!

[Graeme Clark]

quote Adam McGuire:

Any news on the comparison Graeme? This guy wants the roof panels on his three Evo’s doing ASAP! 😕

Adam

Hi Adam, Yes its a very good alternative, not as thick as the 3m but we have got some pleasing results with it all the same. Cost wise its great and we are now using it in preference to the £m which was always limited in its supply to us for some reason.
I have attached a pic of it so you can see the finish:

---

Attachments:

[Graeme Clark]

quote Robert Lambie:

The 3M Dinock is an excellent product “by the looks of it”. I was recently introduced to it by Wm Smiths.
I always liked the old rolls of marble, wood, stone effect vinyls that the likes of grafityp and victory offered. (i think grafityp still have some end of stock “on offer” from memory as i seen in their magazine) anyway… i could be wrong here but is it not actually a WRAP vinyl or should i say can be used as one on a temporary basis? i could also be wrong but is the recent post on Carbon Fibre Roof Wrap not actually done in 3M Dinock vinyl also?
https://www.uksignboards.com/viewtopic.p … 23&start=0

i have seen some of the new DiBond range of composite board on offer with the wood grain effect. not sure how popular that will be in the sign industry but certainly should be popular in the building industry.

Hi Rob you are spot on, DI-NOC is principally an architectural film very popular in japan for building applications. The latest 2009 spec book from 3m has literally hundreds of wood finishes and then hundreds of other finishes all of which are phenomenally expensive! We used it on the BMW roof even though its not a wrap material per se but at 270 microns thick and with great abrasion resistance it was fit for the task. With the 3m "comply" air release system on the back it was a doddle to fit too.

Interestingly enough we have now started to apply the APA carbon film (after a recommendation on here) and whilst thinner it does provide a pleasing result and for a lesser cost than DI_NOC. We are about to do some kitchen units in it so we will let you know with some pics for the end result!!

[Graeme Clark]

quote Otto Peltonen:

3M DiNoc. All you need is plenty of cash, though.

3M just sent the new 2009 Di-NOC book to us and you can tell its for the Japanese market predominately, but boy what a range. As Otto says you might have to re-mortgage the flat to pay for the stuff though!!

[Graeme Clark]

quote Owen Lees:

quote Graeme Clark:

Thanks for the deabte guys, I didn’t mean to offend any of the corel users its just my pref to use Adobe due to having a full license of creative suite.

Whats your thinkings cutter wise?

mod-edit

I don’t think you have offended anyone 🙂 (Cat fight yeah!!!!)

Personally (from experience) go for a ‘name’ when buying a cutter – like Mimaki, Graphtec, Roland etc as they are genuinely better and more reliable for production work.

As to which one… well if your budget is what you say then I suggest your budget will dictate what you get.

One small thing though, if someone offers you a cheap JX1130 (which is a print cut machine from way back) then ignore the print part (its pants) but has a super graphtec hidden inside which we use daily (and so do a couple of others on here) and is bullet proof. They sometimes come up as people realise the print bit is a bit past it and as its a large footprint want to move to something smaller.

My 2 cents there.

Oo

Superb, thanks for that Gem Owen, I will keep it in my little black book when searching for cutters!!

[Graeme Clark]

Thanks for the deabte guys, I didn’t mean to offend any of the corel users its just my pref to use Adobe due to having a full license of creative suite.

Whats your thinkings cutter wise?

mod-edit

[Graeme Clark]

Thats interesting Adam, I have samples of that APA coming tomorrow and still have some 3m, I can compare them side by side and let you know if you want?

B Rgds

Graeme

[Graeme Clark]

quote Karl Williams:

Very expensive but it looks the dogs.

I am glad we quoted that one high Karl!!!

[Graeme Clark]

quote Peter Normington:

check out apa they have a a similar product,
http://www.apaspa.com/gallery/curve/Com … tatile.jpg

a cast , and far cheaper then 3m

Peter

Thanks Peter, that’s a find and a half!!! Have you used it before? I am going to try them tomorrow to see if they will deal direct! Again, great find, thanks!

[Graeme Clark]

quote Robert Lambie:

Not sure where Graeme got it from but you can buy it through WmSmiths as they are official 3M distributors.

Thanks Rob, I know WMS are official 3m but it took a call from 3m technical to help us out with them. They have priced a 12m roll for us! thanks again!

[Graeme Clark]

quote Jon Marshall:

Looks nice. How much is that vinyl? Most other manufacturers only seem to have 610mm stuff.

We struggled to find it for this job and had to purchase 2m @ £70 per meter. However 3m tell us its around £516 for a 12m and £1957 for a 50m roll….. 😕

[Graeme Clark]

quote Craig Brown:

I actually liked the first pictures in Green and white…trouble with the full wrap is that Joe public think it’s the colour it came in 😉

True, but its such a violent colour that there is still the chance they will notice it! I would love to see someone arguing with their SEAT dealer "but I know they come in green I have seen one!" we chose a non standard colour for just that reason 😀

[Graeme Clark]

quote John Wilson:

I like it, it looks the part so can’t complain there

I’m very tempted to buy some for doing the roof of my mini but not sure yet as I know I’ll mess it up first time :lol1:

Its actually quite a thick film so has a lot of "give" in it John, you might be surprised!! and if you can get away with just a meter of it then all the better (from memory the film is 1.2 wide)

[Graeme Clark]

Thanks for that, I now can’t listen to the original without laughing out loud!!!! 😀

[Graeme Clark]

quote Robert Lambie:

quote Graeme Clark:

the panel gaps on the front bumper / wing are sooo tight!!

you have done a nice job by the looks of the pictures mate, well done!

would be interested to hear how things are holding up in a few weeks, as i am assuming this is the calendered wrap vinyl?

Thanks Rob, yes it is the calendered intercoat 60 micron polymeric so its pretty sort stuff. Its been on about 2 weeks now and left outside to bake in last weeks sun and I haven’t noticed any areas that concern me when I washed the car last night. We were aware of the drawbacks of the material but the colour was too good to pass up! plus we had worked with it in training so got a feel for it there. Thanks for your thanks!

[Graeme Clark]

quote Martin:

Marmite job as you say Graeme, guess which side of the fence I’m on :lol1: :lol1:

Still looks like you have made a good job of fitting it.

Thanks Martin, It went down pretty good, we took the step of stripping the door handles off which on this car means removing the door card and taping the glass in place as the spanish chaps have decided to incorporate the window regulator and the door card into one part!!

[Graeme Clark]

quote John Thomson:

customer vehicle or your own?

john

This one is one of mine John so I have the dubious hour of driving it around, however it is getting us attention for the business!!

[Graeme Clark]

quote John Thomson:

sharp looking job Graeme.

john

Thanks John, bit of a nail biter in parts, the panel gaps on the front bumper / wing are sooo tight!!

[Graeme Clark]

quote Robert Lambie:

welcome to the boards mate, good to have you here and thank you for taking the time to load your profile picture.

you will notice i have amended your log-in name to your full name.
sorry mate, but real names only I’m afraid. 😀

Thanks Robert, appreciate that 🙂

[Graeme Clark]

quote Robert Lambie:

subbing work to a wrapper is one thing, the wrapper allowing you to stand and watch him is another. yes there are some that will, but not many and i doubt if your on their doorstep they would be as courteous… who can blame them, would you?

my point is, there is no point sitting there scoffing at this aspect of our trade saying its not that hard, when you cant actually do it!
it is a bit underhand saying get a local firm in to do the job and stand over them, watching them to save money paying for a course with the one intention of taking business from them.

if all you recon you will need is some quick pointers and to see the basic concept of applying it without paying a penny, then go to sign UK or the sign show. both exhibitions have loads of vinyl companies with their own guys wrapping vehicles on their stand throughout the day over the three days.

one thing i would say is, if you cannot apply a metre square of vinyl to a vehicle DRY without bubbles and creases on your own. then keep practicing. once you can, then consider going on a wrap course or go to signuk and catch an idea of the process. watch videos and more…

.

Hi Rob from someone considering a wrapping course (Roland or directed learning by an experienced installer) thats really good advice. The one thing I am struggling with is the choice of film. I am using scotchcal 70 in black and white and find it very high tack? surprisingly I find the black easier to apply than the white!!!!
Do you think I have a poor choice for my film?, thanks!

[Graeme Clark]

Thanks guys – I screwed up the username, my real name is Graeme!