Vinyl that lights black at night??

[ktwigger]

In 20 years in the business I've never had a need for black translucent vinyl that lights black at night. In the early days if there was black copy on a pan face or something I'd use black trans, but then just started using high performance black because it was always on hand.

Now we're working on a internally-lit monument sign, routed aluminum faces with logo to be backlit. The logo is one blue letter and one black. I ordered trans black vinyl and it doesn't let any more light pass through than opaque black.

What product am I looking for?

I realize this is an old thread but I'm really curious, trying to settle a dispute between my coworker and I. We have a current project that is primarily black lettering on white, backlit. Can't we just use regular black cut vinyl for that? I don't see how printing black on translucent is going to make the black more visible.

 

[MikePro]

yes, you can use black vinyl on illuminated white background... bout as simple as an illuminated sign gets
printing black would have the same effect, but if you're trying to do it in a single print-layer I would dial-up the ink density to the max....as your typical print isn't 100% opaque and regularly printed-black will still transluce a dark/muddy grey/rust/green depending on your profile.

which is why black vinyl would be ideal, as you're just using a single-layer of vinyl vs. printing, laminating, and dual-layering transluscent prints adds up to four-layers of vinyl plus ink plus extra handling BUT it saves you weeding & transfer mask BUT now you're applying a full-field of print instead of individual lettering, which adds a level of difficulty and potential failure on its own.

which is a horse of a different color from the issue with the OP, being that the background was non-illuminated but wanted to make a normally black logo illuminate at night.

 

[Inkdroplet]

I've always been amused by the fact there is a 'translucent black' vinyl, as you have stated, it's no more translucent that regular black vinyl. I don't know how you could even have translucent black. If light shows through, it can't be black. If light did show through at all, it would be a dark grey.
By definition: Black is the darkest color, the result of the absence of or complete absorption of light. It is the opposite of white.

 

[Boudica]

Maybe I'm missing something... but why can't you print on clear - double strike if it's back lit? That is what I would do.

 

[signbrad]

The Gerber color card lists both 230-22 Black and 230-69 Duranodic in the 230 Translucent series, yet it says in parentheses next to each color name that both are opaque.
So why are they in the translucent series?
Because all the colors in this series are manufactured to the same specs.

For example, they share the same uniform nonglare surface sheen. They are all in the same performance range, being 2-mil cast, and presumably share the same adhesive. They all have a life expectancy of five years except for a couple of colors that have a three-year rating. I expect that all the colors share the same or similar shrinkage rates, and they may stick better to each other than to vinyl in another series, things that may be important when trapping colors.

Obviously, there is no such thing as translucent black. By definition black is opaque. If light passes through it, it will always appear dark gray. But there is a certain logic in including Black and Duranodic in the 230 Translucent series, and the color card clearly indicates that both colors are opaque.

Brad in Kansas City