How difficult to apply laminated Oracal 3651?

[Big EZ Signs LLC]

Hey everyone. I may have a 2'x8' piece of Oracal 3651 with 210 laminating printed for me. I would need to apply this to a 2'x8' coroplast sheet. My questions are:

1) Can you wet apply this stuff? ( Desperatly want to avoid air bubbles )

2) How hard is it to work with applying versus regular Oracal vinyl?

Thanks all!

 

[MobileImpact]

Easy to apply. But the question is why lam on a cheap vinyl going on coro?

I would not lay wet (never do). If you have a laminator, Big Squeegee, or some squeegee experience it should go down bubble free.

 

[wes70]

If you don't have a laminater or Big Squeegee, lay it down as if it were premasked cut vinyl. Use the center-hinge method and you'll have no problems. Use a piece of felt from velcro on your squeegee to minimize scratching or you can use a piece of release liner on your squeegee.

 

[threeputt]

SignNut, we do this all day every day. Oracal 3651 with 210 over top is just about all we use. It'll take me longer to type this than it does to do it practically.

Separate print from liner, lay face down on a clean work surface, lightly mist entire back with Rapid Tac. Set you Corex up on a easel. (vertical position) Position it.

Lay the corex with print down onto the same clean work surface mentioned earlier. Mist the top of laminated print with Windex or any other watery stuff. Use a rubber squeegee to squeegee out and flatten the print.

Trim (if necessary) in about an hour.

 

[TheSnowman]

I've never had to lay that long of a laminated piece of 3651, but I once did (15) 4X8's on Coro, and we did them wet. Took some time, and made a mess, but laid down nice. Now we have the big squeegee, so I'll never do that one again.

 

[javila]

Use water or a laminator/mounter. This vinyl is crazy aggressive and you will get bubbles if you go dry with a small squeegee.

 

[WOODBS]

i never use wet method, just make sure you apply correct squeegee technique and done. hinge method will help too.

 

[high impact]

Use water or a laminator/mounter. This vinyl is crazy aggressive and you will get bubbles if you go dry with a small squeegee.

NOT TRUE - yes it is aggressive but not true to bubbles - we apply long sections of this often on numerous substrates and never apply it wet. Center hinge and squeegee down a small section at a time with a felt edge. BS or small hand held - they both work. Trust me, a felt or soft velcro edge helps reduce trapped air - BIG TIME!

You have received numerous methods that many here use almost daily...try them all and see what fits you. Practice, practice, practice! Have fun with the endeavor and who cares if you waste some product to learn.

 

[javila]

Well, yeah with practice you can get the method down, I was being specific to him. It's almost guaranteed he's gonna have bubbles if it's his first time applying 3651.

 

[gtjet]

Get a big squeegee and use that to apply it dry. Practice on a waste piece first but after you get use to it, it will save you a lot of time and frustration. Really a 2' by 8' piece is not very big, we do this all the time so for us this job would take longer to setup, print and laminate than it would to actually mount the print to the corro. Estimated application time would be just a few minutes, honestly 2-3 minutes. If you will not be doing much work with laminated prints then just apply it wet with rapid tac. Wet the back of the print and the corro and if you re-position, wet it some more. Allow plenty of dry time and use a squeegee with the soft part of velcro you can buy at Wal-mart, Home Depot, etc that has adhesive on the back side, stick it to the edge of the squeegee and this will save you scratching the laminate. Fold the velcro half on one side and half on the other by putting the sharp edge of the squeegee in the middle of the velcro and folding the velcro up on both sides of the squeegee. Hope this helps, best of luck!!

 

[Big EZ Signs LLC]

Ok, gotta reply to one question:

"Easy to apply. But the question is why lam on a cheap vinyl going on coro?"

- answer: that's what the wholesale printer offered me. Pretty good price too at $2.05 a sq. ft.

I have to be honest: I usually work with regular Oracal 651, 751, 851, etc. The largest sign I have done was 12 ' x15 ', but I have never done anything using 3651 printed and laminated, that's why I asked.

I will ask the printer if he can throw in some scrap sections for me to work with.

So now I'm off to research the "center-hinge" method ( I used "top hinge"? I guess? ) and how much the big squeegie will set me back..