Chrome vinyl curling

[Goatshaver]

I had printed on some RTape vinyl efx smooth silver and laminated it. After about a week they started curling not really sure why. My guess at first might have been the adhesive, but I'm thinking it's probably the laminate because it's shrinking faster that the vinyl efx.

Anyone have suggestions or tips?

Thanks

 

[Pixels Are Bad Mmmkay?]

I had printed on some RTape vinyl efx smooth silver and laminated it. After about a week they started curling not really sure why. My guess at first might have been the adhesive, but I'm thinking it's probably the laminate because it's shrinking faster that the vinyl efx.

Anyone have suggestions or tips?

Thanks

That would be my guess. I don't think metallic polyester shrinks all that much. Is it calendered laminate or cast?

 

[Decal Dennis]

Most likely the laminate

 

[Goatshaver]

That would be my guess. I don't think metallic polyester shrinks all that much. Is is calendered laminate or cast?

It's calendered laminate. The Rtape was given to me as well. I have some other material I'm going to try. I'm not going to laminate it and see.

If anyone can recommend any inkjet solvent printable chrome/metallic vinyls other than RTape, that would be great!

Thanks guys!

 

[Pixels Are Bad Mmmkay?]

I would always stick with cast laminate on atypical materials. Calendered laminate shrinks and if the film it's laminating doesn't shrink to a similar degree, you're bound to have some issues.

 

[SignMeUpGraphics]

How close are you cutting to the printed part of the vinyl?
If you read the R-Tape documentation, they recommend leaving 5mm of unprinted area around printed parts of the vinyl or it will curl.
The only way we got around this was printing with UV ink and not solvent. No curling after that. We laminate with 3M 8518 cast.

 

[Goatshaver]

How close are you cutting to the printed part of the vinyl?
If you read the R-Tape documentation, they recommend leaving 5mm of unprinted area around printed parts of the vinyl or it will curl.
The only way we got around this was printing with UV ink and not solvent. No curling after that. We laminate with 3M 8518 cast.

I'm about 3mm away. Do you think just bleeding the print off the edge would be better? Thanks!

I've got plenty of experience with offset printing just not with vinyl. It's a whole different world.

 

[SignMeUpGraphics]

No, it's likely that you need slightly more unprinted vinyl around the edges... cutting directly through a printed portion is near guaranteed to curl.
I can't find a copy of the old VinylEFX documentation but I'm fairly sure it stated 5mm of unprinted area to prevent curl.

 

[SignosaurusRex]

You need to use Cast laminate over Mylar (Chrome) if you lam it. Otherwise, use a Liquid U.V. protection such as ClearShield.

 

[Goatshaver]

You need to use Cast laminate over Mylar (Chrome) if you lam it. Otherwise, use a Liquid U.V. protection such as ClearShield.

I have some cast laminate I can try it. I did remember I have some clear solvent film with adhesive. I'm wondering if I can print on that an overlay it on the RTape silver? Maybe a cast lam over that...guess I'll have to try some experiments.

 

[SignosaurusRex]

I have some cast laminate I can try it. I did remember I have some clear solvent film with adhesive. I'm wondering if I can print on that an overlay it on the RTape silver? Maybe a cast lam over that...guess I'll have to try some experiments.

Print directly to the Chrome and lam with cast material. More layers leaves more room for possible failures X 3+. Don't try to re-invent the wheel here.

 

[Goatshaver]

So I didn't end up having any cast laminate like I thought, but I did print with the 6mm clear around the cut and use a profile for Clear Solvent Film, because it had a low TAC%. I used my calendared laminate and they never curled and stayed nice and flat.
Thanks everyone!

 

[petepaz]

try the cast lam but best bet is to get a polyester/mylar lam.
years ago when we first started doing digital printing we had polyester lam we used for our silk screened items so we just used that on the digital print items then we had the reverse of your problem the vinyl would shrink but no the lam. live and learn