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Best way to dry ink on vinyl fast?

VicoDrive

VicoDrive

New Member
Have a rush job on some yard signs. I generally like for them to dry overnight before putting the vinyl onto the board. Whats the best way to dry them really fast? Ive been told to put them into the refrigerator for a few hours which I have tried but didnt seem to help too much. Considering to carefully trying a heat gun next but since its a nice day today, I may sit them outside for a little bit. Suggestions?
 
Mosh

Mosh

New Member
Guess I don't follow the OP. After you print a film you let it "dry" overnight? I print stuff and apply it in 15-20 minutes after it is off the printer, it is "dry" when it come out of my Roland, the film is soft for about 5 minute or so, after that it goes down no problem. If I had to wait overnight I would have a lot of mad customers.
 
C

Commando

New Member
Mosh, I was always told to let printed material dry for 10 - 12 hours for a "curing" process. Maybe its just Mimaki ink?
Like, if it don't cure good enough, it will be peeling off its substrate after a month or 2..
 
VicoDrive

VicoDrive

New Member
Mosh said:
Guess I don't follow the OP. After you print a film you let it "dry" overnight? I print stuff and apply it in 15-20 minutes after it is off the printer, it is "dry" when it come out of my Roland, the film is soft for about 5 minute or so, after that it goes down no problem. If I had to wait overnight I would have a lot of mad customers.
Click to expand...

I have found when Im applying to foamcore or corrogated when its not fully dry, I get little ripples in the material that you cant get out. Yeah its dry to the touch after 5-10 min or so but there is still some dampness in the vinyl which seems to be what causes the problem. Also we apply using a big squeegie. I guess I could avoid the problem by applying the non squeegie way but thats a bit of a nightmare and seem to have just as much of a risk ruining things in another way
 
the graphics co

the graphics co

New Member
Sounds like you were possibly misinterpreting/or getting some bad information. Curing/outgassing is only relevant for prints that you will be laminating. If the prints are not laminated, they will still be able to outgas/cure when applied to a substrate. Even if you are laminating, if you are making yard signs you don't need to worry about it. The the issues you have with the adhesive not fully curing before laminating have to do with long term (3+years) removability issues, or immediate application issues because the adhesive becomes very tacky. The tacky adhesive is only mildly difficult to deal with on wraps, on flat substrate is should be no more than a minor inconvenience.
 
bob

bob

It's better to have two hands than one glove.
Best way to dry ink on vinyl fast?

Assuming some flavor of solvent ink, that would depend very much on what you mean by 'dry'.

Do you mean the ink being dry or do you mean the vinyl resuming its normal consistency after being turned into a stretchy semi-solid via heavy ink application.

If the former you can either wait, which will take maybe an hour or two. Or you can devise all manner of clever mechanisms, most featuring fans and racks, which will take about 60 to 120 minutes or so. Or just laminate the print right out of the printer. Instant dry with no real downside.

If the latter you can either wait for a day or two or you can, as above, subject the print to some sort of drying apparatus/method which will take around 24 to 48 hours.
 
S

synergy_jim

New Member
yard signs??? we take them straight off the roland and laminate. it won't hurt a thing. 24 hour outgas is essential on wrap vinyl.... not a must on the cheap stuff.
 
Mosh

Mosh

New Member
yard signs on coro I don't bother laminating. I use matte finish oracal, print and apply Eco max inks, never had a curle or fail.
 
signcrafters london

signcrafters london

New Member
Commando said:
Mosh, I was always told to let printed material dry for 10 - 12 hours for a "curing" process. Maybe its just Mimaki ink?
Click to expand...

I do small stuff like yard signs with minimal drying time on my Mimaki all the time. Sometimes tight deadlines dictate I have to do it on bigger stuff like 4x4 or 4x8 real estate signs. But on those larger sizes the application (big squeegee) goes 1000% smoother when I let it dry overnight. The vinyl is a lot softer or gummier until the next day.
 
S

synergy_jim

New Member
no lam.... put a fan on them to dry for an hour.... then apply.... I laminate everything.... its cheap and makes application 10x easier
 
Gino

Gino

Premium Subscriber
Generally, good planning prevents having to have something go out the door in the next two hours. If you can't plan well, just be courteous, but firm and tell your customer a few hours of waiting will be necessary.

If you're any good, you can apply them right away with small yard signs, regardless of how much coverage or softness occurs after printing. Something that small is almost impossible to mess up from lack of waiting.

We just did 15pcs 4' x 8' prints on Wednesday which were started printing in the morning and finished by late afternoon. Printing started at 8am and by 4pm they were all put down on 3/4" duraply [MDO] with a Big Squeegee with only one little mishap and that's because we pushed too far.... too fast and had some wrinkles which came out after a few minutes of playing with it. The applying the prints took 45 minutes. The last few only had maybe 30 minutes of drying. Almost right off the printer onto the board. We had painted all 15 boards the day before. Dried over night.
 
SightLine

SightLine

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Gino said:
Generally, good planning prevents having to have something go out the door in the next two hours. If you can't plan well, just be courteous, but firm and tell your customer a few hours of waiting will be necessary.....
Click to expand...

Agreed - we get plenty of customers that come in wanting something in an urgent rush. As the saying goes "lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on mine"......

Another somewhat wasteful option but less so than laminating would be to apply a medium tack app tape to the prints before you try to apply them.
 
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