Digital Printed Decals Curling Off

[gabagoo]

I have a heating air conditioning compnay that wanted decals to put on furnaces. He was worried that they would not stick and I assured him that they should be no problem considering that decals on vehicles stick on hot metal during the summer. Maybe I was wrong, but I printed him 100 labels full colour on a 3ml premium calendered product (general formulations 203). He wanted to spend as little as possible so I told him we could bypass lamination ( i now think that may have been a mistake).
He called last week and told me the labels when put on the heated side of the vents was curling off. I told him that he needed a squeegee to put them on properly and using your hand and fingers was not the way to do it. I also told him that his hands have to be generally clean and not covered in dirt and oil.
he said he would come by and I would give him a soft squeegee.
he never did and called again today complaining. I am sure if he squeegeed them on properly they would hold, but now I am wondering if maybe they can't handle the heat.

He is a decent guy so I don't mind reprinting for him and laminating at no charge but I am dumbfounded that the decal would do this. The ink coverage is full but the colours are red and yellow so no heavy coverage.
You think it is the lack of a squeegee that might be causing this?

 

[the graphics co]

if you print to the edge on calendered film it will curl back, even without heavy coverage. All calendered will shrink a bit after production and die cutting. Take into account he probably isn't cleaning with iso prior to installation either, and you don't know if the panels on the furnaces are powder coated which has very low energy surface. Laminate will help, but not necessarily solve the issue. You might get the same results, just a month later. You might be better going with one of the things stouse offers for service decals, like a metalized decal with a high tack adhesive.

 

[gabagoo]

I know he is applying them to the outgoing heat duct which is galvanized steel. I am pretty sure it is the way he is applying them.

 

[the graphics co]

Maybe give him a few to test with laminate before re running the whole batch.

 

[jfiscus]

Switch materials. Use some DPF8000 and he wont have any issues.

 

[Solventinkjet]

Switch materials. Use some DPF8000 and he wont have any issues.

DPF8000 is the way to go. I have a few customers who use it specifically for high and low temps and swear by it.

 

[gabagoo]

yea but he is cheap!!!

 

[danno]

We ran some tests for a similar application here and found that 3m IJ180cv3/8580 was the best combination to withstand the heat.

 

[Jburns]

I was thinking Polyester would be good if printed on the edge - but price may be too high for the customer.

 

[theyllek]

We use 3m controltac for high heat applications. Expensive yeah, but it'll stick's really good. An asphalt plant customer uses it on their equipment worked fantastic. It was also rather forgiving on installing.

 

[d fleming]

Premium Calendered = Jumbo Shrimp.

 

[jfiscus]

yea but he is cheap!!!

DPF8000 isn't that expensive, no where near regular cast wrap prices, let alone the high end new wrap film prices.

 

[eahicks]

DPF8000 isn't that expensive, no where near regular cast wrap prices, let alone the high end new wrap film prices.

Exactly...you're talking only a few cents more per decal. Certainly cheaper than reprinting the entire job.

 

[2B]

like the others have said, if you with calendared then have a white border we try to have it as a minimum of 1/8

the 8000 is a GREAT product

 

[ddarlak]

so because he is cheap your going to give him a cheap product that won't work and then spend hours trying to convince him he is applying them wrong, reprint them and laminate them for free.....all because he is cheap....

sounds like a win win to me.........

goes like this:

customer: i want cheap decals to stick on my furnace.

You: the only thing i would recommend for that application is a printed cast decal, your cost would be $xx.xx each.

customer: that's too expensive, do you have anything cheaper?

you: sure, i can print anything you want, but you want them to stay on right?

you either get the job or you don't....

 

[phototec]

yea but he is cheap!!!

You ask the question and then you don't like the answer. You can not print full bleed on calendered vinyl, all calendered will shrink and curl up after die cutting!

Cheap or not that is what happened, either leave a white border (1/4" is best) or use cast material. I would just use cast and not laminate.

I learned a long time ago, you get what you pay for and cheap gets cheap....

 

[rydods]

Kapco makes a high tack vinyl similar to DPF 8000 and I use it for all of our industrial equipment applications. It shrinks a bit but it will stick well. I think that's really the main purpose here. It's also a lot cheaper.