Frosted Crystal Air Egress vinyl, lots of weird patches throughout?

[ktwigger]

Like the title says. Pictures included. The vinyl was installed December 8th (22 days ago) so it isn't an issue of curing/settling. I don't know yet what my installer used to clean the glass and/or if he tried to do a wet app but I figured I'd post this here anyways and see if any experts could tell me what went wrong. Will update with new info when/if I get it. This is a large reception window we did for them but the client said it is also present in the doors we did. We are getting to the end of the roll so I was wondering if that might be a factor.

Edit: Apparently he used water and baby soap. Is this why this is happening? I've done wet apps with application fluid with the same air egress frosted vinyl before and it adhered perfectly and without any patches like this.

 

[Gino]

Looks as if your installer didn't get all the liquid out from behind the etch, before leaving his post. You hafta make sure it is completely squeegeed out. Boils down to bad technique.

 

[signheremd]

I'm with Gino on this. I think the technique is wrong. We don't normally apply air egress wet. When we install a standard frosted, we usually use RapidTac or RightOn. Take a look at the product spec sheet (always a good idea before you use a product); I'm betting it says to lay dry

 

[ktwigger]

Looks as if your installer didn't get all the liquid out from behind the etch, before leaving his post. You hafta make sure it is completely squeegeed out. Boils down to bad technique.

I would have to agree with you and signheremd on this, when I wet apped with the air egress (small, doable job for one person) I made sure to get all the liquid out, but this install was outsourced to someone because it's massive and history is showing us that his attention to detail leaves a lot to be desired. Thanks for your input, guess he'll be going out to do this job again.

 

[Johnny Best]

Why use air egress if applying wet? His homemade application formula mixture is not right and Rapid Tac is the best method.

 

[ktwigger]

Why use air egress if applying wet? His homemade application formula mixture is not right and Rapid Tac is the best method.

Not sure honestly. I feel like it's possible he didn't realize it was air egress, but he's been in this business for years and years so my boss and I are both wondering how he didn't realize it. It was a fairly large panel to apply, but yeah, not sure.

 

[Gino]

Wait...... you gave YOUR vinyl material to someone else to apply and didn't tell them it was air egress and let them guess ?? That's wrong on your end.

 

[Johnny Best]

I use Avery, Orical, and Arlon frosted. 3M is overpriced and sometimes calendared, not cast.

 

[Steve McKinzie]

I would have to agree with you and signheremd on this, when I wet apped with the air egress (small, doable job for one person) I made sure to get all the liquid out, but this install was outsourced to someone because it's massive and history is showing us that his attention to detail leaves a lot to be desired. Thanks for your input, guess he'll be going out to do this job again.

We recently did a similar with 3m Crystal film. The sun was on the glass when we applied. As hard as we tried it was tough to see. We quit and finished in the afternoon just so we could see.

 

[Johnny Best]

I have installed miles of etch. Use a suede tip squeegee or felt one to apply, wet.
Have not used the air egress yet since I do not have any problems with the regular film.

 

[Steve McKinzie]

We recently did a similar with 3m Crystal film. The sun was on the glass when we applied. As hard as we tried it was tough to see. We quit and finished in the afternoon just so we could see.

I didn’t catch that this was egress, the 3M crystal has a very specific instruction for the wet formula. MacTac engineers advised their egress material is not wet applied. After using both I felt the wet apply was easier and eliminated static.

 

[Wacho]

We installed frost wet app, (air release and regular frost vinyl )this looks like the application formula mixture is not right, try to apply again the same material with the same mixture and you will have better idea what can be the issue.

 

[thesignpost]

Like the title says. Pictures included. The vinyl was installed December 8th (22 days ago) so it isn't an issue of curing/settling. I don't know yet what my installer used to clean the glass and/or if he tried to do a wet app but I figured I'd post this here anyways and see if any experts could tell me what went wrong. Will update with new info when/if I get it. This is a large reception window we did for them but the client said it is also present in the doors we did. We are getting to the end of the roll so I was wondering if that might be a factor.

Edit: Apparently he used water and baby soap. Is this why this is happening? I've done wet apps with application fluid with the same air egress frosted vinyl before and it adhered perfectly and without any patches like this.

View attachment 157173 View attachment 157174 View attachment 157175 View attachment 157176

I have used this vinyl in the past. Never use any kind of application fluid for this. That’s why it’s air egress. When you first apply it, you will see squeegee marks. This will go away in a couple of hours.

 

[thesignpost]

Why use air egress if applying wet? His homemade application formula mixture is not right and Rapid Tac is the best method.

I don’t know why anyone would use their own mixture. Rookie mistake.