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Hey why is this sign falling apart?

I believe it is only 2 years old...we had to sub it out before I came here and got the solvent printer.

I'm guessing its UV printed...we were thinking about getting a UV flatbed but this is making us second guess that decision. But then again I hear UV inks are getting better and some inks were just crap.

It is flaking off.

Please disregard the terrible graphic.
 

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Marlene

New Member
no clear coat/laminate? coroplast signs are temp signs so they may not have done either like you would for a permanent sign. did you spec it out when you subbed it?
 
This was before I got here..so there's not too much I know about it other than it was sent out...It looks like there is a clear coat over it...My first thought was frog juice but then thought about that varnish option printers have these days.

So if this was on aluma-core or something it wouldn't be flaking like this?
 

Marlene

New Member
So if this was on aluma-core or something it wouldn't be flaking like this

can you pull up the records on this to see what was quoted. in the quote there should be details of how they made this. I sub out to a company that has printed our alumalite and dibond. it has a UV clear coat and we have stuff out there that's been outside for many years and still looks great. not sure with any of the coroplast as it is short term use and I haven't seen anyone use it for long term.
 

omgsideburns

New Member
What the hell was sprayed over it? That might have eaten it away.. I've never seen anything like that with the UV machine I run. Maybe it wasn't cured properly?
 
Who knows these guys we used before were not the highest quality by a wide margin...For all I know the customer thought it would be a good idea to coat it with something.
 
Looking closer at it..all the screw holes don't have the varnish around where a head of a screw would go...I think customer screwed up..slathered it with some crap after mounting it.
 

DIGIXTRA

Digixtra
This is one of the weakness of UV ink. The ink just sit on top of the media and is not flexible as the coroplast which is very sensitive to temperature if place outside. When shopping for a UV printer you have to do a scratched test (see 3M site for how-to). As far as I know Agfa has the ink that the work very well with coroplast but you will trade off with low gammut color.
K. Tran
 

SignManiac

New Member
I have found that coro printed on our flatbed starts to go to crap after two years, but on polymetal it holds up very well with UV clear on top. I don't consider coro worth the extra cost of using a clear. Coro by it's very nature is intended as a cheap, short term solution. If the client wants long term durability then they need to pony up and pay for better materials.
 
Coro by it's very nature is intended as a cheap, short term solution. If the client wants long term durability then they need to pony up and pay for better materials.

If they didn't have coro they would have a spray painted a piece of plywood.

Reminds me of a job I did for the last place I worked...cut vinyl on dibond for a quick stop gas station...They called 2 weeks later complaining the vinyl was shrinking and falling apart.

I get there and the white board looks yellow and sure enough every letter was shriveled up...

We tried to explain that we had no idea how this happened...they were mad as well as Indian so it was hard to get out of them what happened.

Finally they admitted to putting some kinda lacquer on it, yet still demanded a redo or refund...
 

Gino

Premium Subscriber
Technically.... who is asking why it's falling apart ?? You, your boss or the customer ??

The mere fact that it's a cheaply made sign obviously for a low end need, should tell anyone it's a piece of crap. I would imagine the customer paid about $25 for it and can't figure out why it isn't lasting closer to 5 years.
 
^^-----good point...guess I am and whether or not the customer gets a discount on the replacement...that is going on the backside...sigh...

Edit: is it worth laminating anything that is going on coro...Eco-sol prints should last longer on coro than UV right?
 

Gino

Premium Subscriber
Maybe this will help.

Have you ever read any of the many-many threads about how cheap almost ALL Cor-X signs are ??

They are sold as cheap and will remain the cheapest of all signs, so it/they shouldn't last very long too begin with.

If someone comes into your shop wanting a Cor-X sign, no matter how much you put into it..... is there anything cheaper in your shop besides paper and a magic marker ??


Why would you.... or anyone waste clear-coating the cheapest sign possible ??

If they want it cleared, charge for it and it's still the cheapest of signs and won't last much longer for too many numerous reasons which are too hard to list.


Discount ?? Heck no.

We just put a dibond sign on an existing bracket on a building about 2 months ago. I told the lady she should have a chain at the bottom end to prevent too much swinging. She said she didn't want to spend the extra money. I literally just got off the phone with her while typing this response..... and she wants to know how I'm gonna go about re-doing her sign, since the wind blew it down so quickly ?? I told her to call her insurance company and let me know if she's paying me over again, or to expect a check from her insurance company. Her comeback was... but you just put it up. It should've lasted longer than 2 months. I said it would've if a hurricane hadn't just gone down her street and ripped half the other stuff up out of the ground. Did you notice all the telephone poles down ?? The trees down ?? The power lines and other things destroyed from this storm ?? She said, alright, I'll bring it over to you and we'll see if you can mend it. So as not to muddy the waters... I said, if I can do that, it will cost you less then making the sign over again and you probably wont have to inform your insurance company.

No discounts unless you're feeling guilty or did something knowingly.... wrong.
 

gabagoo

New Member
Technically.... who is asking why it's falling apart ?? You, your boss or the customer ??

The mere fact that it's a cheaply made sign obviously for a low end need, should tell anyone it's a piece of crap. I would imagine the customer paid about $25 for it and can't figure out why it isn't lasting closer to 5 years.


you mean that a $25.00 sign wont last 10 years? Whats this world coming to Gino? :U Rock:
 

DIGIXTRA

Digixtra
Can't find any mention of it. I'm familiar with scratch/adhesion tests but do you have a link to instructions somewhere? I don't care if it's 3M....actually I'm not sure why they would have one at all.

:thankyou:

Hi Pat..
Sorry my bad... I had read this article from 3M long time ago. It actually called "Tape test" to test the ink adhesive to the substrast. I quickly found one article on the web which is similiar method:
http://automotiveaccessories.tpub.com/TM-43-0139/css/TM-43-0139_49.htm

You can find out more for yourself but this test will save you a lot of headache later. Before I use any unfamiliar material on UV printer I always perform this test to make sure the ink will stick properly.
Regards
KT
 
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