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Physiology is the problem The eye is least sensitive to blue. That is a physiological fact. Not much to do to correct that. The eye is most sensitive to white and yellow. That has been a problem around here. Some folks specified blue and then had to change to make the sign more readable...

Everything Sold! We appreciate your looking, but all of this equipment has been sold.

Own the best! The Thieme 520 precision screen printer (47x55 in.) and M&R Vitran11 UV dryer cost over $36,000. They were purchased in 2002 and were never used. We are including 4 Newman 43x52 roller screens and an aluminum lighted washout tank. Will sell for $16,500. Located in...

Mimaki Printers We run a JV3-160 and a JV33-160 and they have been great! We also use Bordeaux inks with their bulk ink system and have had very good results. The Bordeaux inks seem to be as durable as SS2 and are far cheaper. They also match SS2 very well.

Printer Power Protection We have 2 Mimaki 62 inch printers and both are connected to UPS units. Our JV3-160 has been on an APC UPS 1500 for over 8 years. We first measured the current draw for each and we use 1500 VA units. They cost about $150. The JV3 has had no breakdowns over the 8...

Commercial sign face companies who vacuum-form faces do heat the poly in ovens and this drives out any moisture. Yes they are big. We try not to use polycarbonate with vinyl films - we use acrylic and that is not hygroscopic. We did have the problem on a bunch of signs that we made many...

Nonsense! Do your homework.

This is becoming unbelievable! You can lead a horse to water.... It is amazing how many people would rather guess and use anecdotal comments instead of doing some basic investigation. I already provided a fairly good reference on this problem from Avery (above). In addition, you can check...

Poor Advice There is more nonsense in this thread - primarily from folks who are guessing at a solution. Most are wrong. The problem IS due to water vapor. This is very well known. I suggested reading about the problem problem from discussions published by vinyl manufacturers. Here is a...

Re: Problem/Solution Ignorance is not much of an excuse for bad advice. The water vapor in the air can be absorbed into Lexan and cause this problem. This can be a real problem in hot, humid areas. I suggest checking out the white papers published by 3M and Avery before guessing anymore...

Problem/Solution Lexan (polycarbonate) is hygroscopic - that is, it absorbs water. The bubbles are due to sun warming the Lexan and forming vapor under the vinyl. This can happen with any type of vinyl if the Lexan has been exposed to moisture and is not heated or baked to drive the water out...

How about ClearShield? Thanks for all of the comments. However, there is a product specifically intended for laminating printed vinyl - ClearShield. They claim that it will extend the life of 3-year inks (Mimaki, Roland, etc.) from 3 years to 5 years. Haven't seen any confirming evidence...

How about ClearShield? Thanks for all of the comments. However, there is a product specifically intended for laminating vinyl prints - ClearShield. They claim that it will extend the life of 3-year inks (Mimaki, Roland, etc.) to 5 years. Haven't seen any confirming results. Anyone have any...

What about UV protection? These comments are good. But, there are 2 main issues with laminates. 1. Extension of fade resistance of images due to UV. 2. Protection of the image from abrasion and environment. Household products are primarily used indoors - don't need UV protection...

Have you had good or bad experiences with liquid laminates on printed vinyl? What did you use? How did you apply it? Long-term durability? Do you recommend it? How does it compare to vinyl films? We appreciate your comments!!

Some Third-Party Inks Are Great! We thoroughly evaluated 3rd party inks - spent about 1 year doing it. We were interested in several things: 1. Sealed ink bag system, so there can be no evaporation of the solvents which could change the viscosity of the ink and cause head failures. 2. The...

Cloud Dangers We are ruling out all cloud-based estimating and management software systems. There are just too many possible problems with them: - The host server can go down and/or the IP address can be blacklisted by a spam checker and it can be very difficult to get un-blacklisted. This...

We are in the process of evaluating estimating and job tracking software. For users of EstiMate, how do you like it? Strengths? Weaknesses? Does anyone have any comparisons with other estimating/tracking software programs? We have been using detailed spreadsheets for pricing, but are...

Where Is The Beef (Data)? I didn't see a direct reference to the detailed study. Maybe I missed it. While the attributes listed are good, I am equally interested in durability - particularly long term durability. Who did they compare to? How much difference is there? The advantages could be...

For those with experience in wrapping 40 ft. transit buses, how long does it typically take to install a full wrap (all 4 sides). With a crew of 2 installers, how many man hours does it usually take? Please include the windows, but not the roof. Do you prefer vertical or horizontal panels...