cast or calendered on magnetics?

[DGDesigns]

Customer needs magnetics for a utility truck. Should I be using cast or calendered vinyl for the digital prints that are going on the mags??

Also, any issues with using one manufacturer's vinyl with another's laminate??

 

[Bigdawg]

I use 3651 with 210 lam on magnetics

 

[jscarl]

Straight vinyl i use 651. Have for long time.

 

[Mosh]

Mags are cheap so use cheap film.

 

[SignManiac]

Mags don't have to be cheap necessarily, try up selling something nicer. Not really hard to do with a little effort and better design.

 

[gabagoo]

The question is...... what kind of vinyl is on the mag when we buy them?

 

[Bigdawg]

I do a nice design... usually very nice

but I still print it on cheaper vinyl... not the cheapest (they used to use 3640 before I came here and the shrinkage is horrible)...

cheap vinyl does not equate to cheap looking unless you go toooo cheap and it looks like crap... and I usually do try to upsell them to real car graphics

 

[Mosh]

We try to get people to NOT buy magnetics. We always upset to direct lettering.
But, there are rare cases like election time when people want CHEAP magnetics.

 

[DGDesigns]

I told the contractor to use vinyl directly on the vehicles, but he said that he sometimes goes into areas where he doesn't belong, so he wants mags.

Any problem with mixing manufacturer's products?? (vinyl and lam)

 

[todd h]

calendared vinyl with no lam. lam tends to curl the edges of the mag.

 

[OldPaint]

how long will MAGNETIC MATERIAL LAST???? answer that and you got your answer.

 

[Mainframe]

I use 3651 with 210 lam on magnetics

same here, no problems yet

 

[Sign Works]

calendared vinyl with no lam. lam tends to curl the edges of the mag.

I have noticed a couple mags done with 3651 + 210 lam (always Magnum brand mag material) that are 2-3 years old and in the cold weather the edges are all curled up, dosen't look good at all. I've seen previous mags done with cut vinyl up to 10-12 years old and never saw any curling. Think I'll switch to cast film & lam on my mags, I get enough to cover the difference.

 

[GB2]

Most quality magnet substrates comes with cast vinyl applied to it. Therefore you "should" use a cast vinyl for your graphics. From my experience I haven't had any problem using calendared vinyl, especially if it isn't full coverage or printed. Recently however, I have been having issues with full coverage printed calendared vinyl that has been shrinking and curling the edges causing many magnets to fall off.

 

[Monsterkidz]

We were using calendered material printing full bleed with lam. A few customers brought back the magnets 6 months later and the calendered material shrunk about .25 all the way around leaving a dirty white border. To be honest I was surprised that the magnet lasted 6 months haha! I always think most people either lose em or destroy in the first few weeks of buying them.

 

[DGDesigns]

good advice. Thanks for the responses

 

[wildside]

I told the contractor to use vinyl directly on the vehicles, but he said that he sometimes goes into areas where he doesn't belong, so he wants mags.

tell him to get the right insurance and license and problem is solved

 

[Gino]

Use whatever vinyl you want. On a set of magnetics, we're only talking a few cents difference no matter what you do.

If you have cast in stock... use it. If you have calendared.... use it. Mix the manufacturers up if you so choose.

The only thing you should not do.... is mix a calendared or cast vinyl with the opposite laminate. That's the only point you need to consider. Matching vinyl and laminate is always the rule.

 

[Salmoneye]

I don't understand why mags are so cheap. I don't give them away. It costs me more or at least as much as it does to mount directly to the door so why should they be cheaper. I give them the higher price and they tell me when they absolutely have to have mags.

 

[AllSquare Jason]

The only thing you should not do.... is mix a calendared or cast vinyl with the opposite laminate. That's the only point you need to consider. Matching vinyl and laminate is always the rule.

You are close - you can always put a CAST laminate on a CALENDERED vinyl, just NOT vice versa.

Use a good name brand Calendered Vinyl and Calendared Laminate on magnetic and you'll be just fine. Usuallly its the off brands and cheap stuff that shrinks badly.