Doming Issue

[rjssigns]

Haven't domed many pieces and have no clue why 3 out of 8 pieces failed. Printed on brushed metal polyester, outgas 30 hours, laminated, mounted to aluminum tags then domed. Up to the point of doming it went great. After doming it still looked good. Following morning 3 looked like they had a fuzzy/grainy spot and it was not on the surface.

I pulled the decal off the aluminum tag and noticed a bubble on the polyester. Only thing I can think of is the doming liquid crept in between the laminate and brushed metal poly as back of decal was bone dry.

No issues before whether laminated or not. Other decals in the same batch turned out perfectly.(plain laminated print) Waiting for UPS to deliver more doming supplies and going to go the no laminate route.

Any input will be greatly appreciated.

 

[rjssigns]

Hi Pat,

Thanks for the info. No worries on the PM deal. I don't feel as frustrated now that you said 5 out of 8 seems about right. Have a ton of prints with no laminate and UPS just delivered a fresh batch of resin. Has a born on date of 4/30/14.

Going to weed and leave on backing this time like you suggested. Gotta make sure my micro torch is filled and needles are handy.(wow that sounds really bad) And you're right, where you dispense is where it stays.

I'll start an eighth inch from the edge and work towards center this time.

Ever notice when you have extra resin left you grab leftover decals or whatever to play with and it turns out flawless?

 

[MikeD]

our resin comes from up North, and can arrive cold. We seem to get bubbles with cold resin. A heat belt wrapped around the 55gal drum gets it up to temp. A flame will make any tiny bubbles come together and rise to the top. Going slowly around the perimeter at low volume and then going toward the center helps control overflows. Adjusting the ratio of ploy to hardener will influence flow as well, too far from 1:1 can give problems though.

a less than perfect contour cut; too deep, or frayed will cause overflows too. In regard to volume, there should only be enough to flow and give a lens effect. In the case of under-flows, if the resin is dragged out to the edges in a little stream, the rest will follow and complete the fill.

Good Luck!

 

[petepaz]

when you use the vinyl coated brushed you can have issues. try to get the polyester/mylar brushed. we have used both most of the time they were fine but when we did have issues it was with the vinyl coated (like r-tape and the only problem we did have was a couple of times some pieces delaminated from the brushed material base.). the problem just sounds like you got an air bubble in the doming, which it common. you can use a torch to get the bubbles out. just wave it over the domes after you do a few (5-10) and that should get the majority of the bubbles out, some just don't come out at all. they also make a spray that you can use and that causes the bubbles to come to the surface.

 

[rjssigns]

Hi Guys,

Thanks for all the input. Didn't realize some have a top coat that can delaminate. Hmmmm....maybe that's what buggered the first run?

Maybe it will happen again since I used material from the same batch. Until petepaz mentioned it I never would have suspected the material.

Just finished doming more brushed decals.(oval shape) Micro torch kills 99% of the bubbles the rest I go after with a tiny sewing needle.(seems to work)

Odd thing is the material started to come away from the carrier before we started doming. Worst part it was random. 2 rows stuck fine then here and there the edges started to lift slightly.

If I run into that again I'll mount to the laser cut tags then dome.

Had the wife on burnish them down right before I dispensed. Fun times. Looks like most held. Tomorrow morning I'll take the cover off.