Is it true that if you are laminating that it has to match the brand of the digital media?

[Taylor Made Print]

as above, is it true or is this just a marketing myth!

 

[victor bogdanov]

if you want warranty coverage

 

[2B]

Yes and no

Yes, if you want ANY chance of a warranty claim

No, we have and regularly mix when we know the job isn't a warranty project or if the desired / needed lam is not an option in matching print media

 

[ikarasu]

Now let me ask you guys this.

When was the last time a vinyl failed and you went after the warranty?

90% of the time warranty claim isn't worth it. Plus, they only cover material and not labor or replacing substrates.... so it's a small small portion of a job.

We mix and match all the time - only exception is traffic. We've had 3m and Grimco replace full rolls when we have issues.... but I'd say 99% of the time the failure is the adhesives, or contaminate on the vinyl... never a delam issue.

 

[Boudica]

we mix it up all the time. Vehicle wraps we do keep consistent, because we happen to use 3M for cast media and vehicle wraps.

 

[MarkSnelling]

you absolutely can mix and match. But when you do so, it does open the door for trying to blame more than one person if there is a failure.

 

[Boudica]

you absolutely can mix and match. But when you do so, it does open the door for trying to blame more than one person if there is a failure.

that door closes?

 

[signheremd]

Never use an intermediate laminate on a cast product. Never use a regular intermediate laminate on a polymetric product. You can use cast lamiante on about everything - our go to is Oracal 290 gloss laminate. We use Briteline Optically Clear Wrap laminate on intermediate vinyl and those jobs where price is lower. We hardly stock any intermediate laminates anymore (Briteline's price is close enough and our designers tend to speck High Performance for most jobs). We do use Arlon 3270 on the Arlon SLX plus cast wrap vinyl. We also use General Formulations 831 gloss wrap laminate on their 830 wrap vinyl. Main thing to remember is laminate should be as good or better than the vinyl. As an example of this, Oracal 3551 Rapid Air is an Ultra-Calendared. Paired with Oracal 290 or 293 laminate (both cast laminates) its warranty is extended to 7 years.

 

[Notarealsignguy]

Good luck with a warranty. We can't even get 3M to do anything on their moldy rolls of 8518 and can only imagine the response you'd get on material after it was installed.

 

[Christian @ 2CT Media]

Good luck with a warranty. We can't even get 3M to do anything on their moldy rolls of 8518 and can only imagine the response you'd get on material after it was installed.

After $50k in failures (not including labor) from 3M in the past we learned what their warranty was worth... Nothing! They would not admit fault... Even though a year later they started warranting for other people the same issue and blamed a bad coater.

To answer the OP, mix away, we do it a lot. Arlon 510MT with 3M 8048 is one go to for us on general vinyl things.

 

[FrankW]

If the Vinyl and the laminate has different characteristics, you could run into problems. As an extreme sample, print on cast vinyl for car wrapping and laminate it with a monomere calendered vinyl ... of course then the calendered vinyl sets the limit for the whole product, the vinyl can´t be used for car wrapping anymore. If you want to keep the characteristics of a vinyl even if it is laminated, you should use the matching laminate.

 

[signbrad]

I have learned the hard way to only use Matthews clear on Matthews topcoats. another brand may not cure completely or it may lift the color coat. The clear may not last, also.
Laminates may be similar.
It’s not just marketing.

 

[DL Signs]

Depends on what the job is. If it's something critical or long term graphics that you think warrants it, do it. Low buck, or short term stuff, mix away. The biggest issue is using calendared lam on cast vinyl, that's always a no-no, calendared materials shrink more than cast, and will cause problems pretty quick. If you're going to, always remember, you can use cast lam on calendared vinyl, but not vice-versa.

 

[unmateria]

You can mix of course. Just dont mix crap
We usually use arlon 3420 as a 4x4 since many years since is cheap and works perfectly even with monomeric vynils giving 5+ years outside in cars and signs parked in south direction (in spain). Just have to know its limitations... Not a good idea to use it over cast vynil. Needs heat to cold laminate black images or over transparent acrylic. And well... Thats the main limitations on this one. Everyone has limitations, experience just tell you the truth. For example, we dont trust anything on Oracal datasheets, but in Arlon or Metamark the reality always outperforms their tests. Old avery products (1003-1004) had their problems too (well, like 15 years ago, things has changed). So just talk with tour regular provider, make all tests you can with the laminares you can get easily... And get the best option (but think that usually the cheapest options become the most expensives ones... Like oracal 210 that many people uses, dont know why...)