I'm Having trouble mounting clear reverse vinyl to acrylic

[DAGRIT5]

I have a piece of 3/8" acrylic roughly 4x3' that I need to mount a reverse print to for an office wall. In the past I've typically dry mounted with a laminator but sometimes run into issues with bubbles which I think is caused by small warps in the acrylic. I've tried twice with calendared vinyl and both times had bad results on this one. I'm thinking I need to try wet mounting however I may not have the right materials. I know typically wet mounting works best with cast material, do you think I would have any issues printing on cast lam and backing with cal white? I do not have any clear cast vinyl or white adh side cast. Seems like my only option at the moment. Thoughts?

 

[RICHARD SIMMONS]

Usually, what I do is print on transparent vinyl, on mirror, laminate white and at the moment I apply, spray with a solution of soapy water (shampoo) both sides (vinyl and acrylic), place it and give a lot of squeggee. It's very simple

 

[Andy D]

I have done this and it usually works out well.
The one thing it depends on is your clear lamination, some have adhesive that becomes milky / blotchy when applied wet.

 

[DAGRIT5]

I have done this and it usually works out well.
The one thing it depends on is your clear lamination, some have adhesive that becomes milky / blotchy when applied wet.

Ok so I did it, looks perfect. How long do you usually wait before trimming off bleed? In the past I've let it sit overnight but I'm guessing my boss is gonna want it installed today.

 

[Andy D]

I like to let it sit overnight too.
It depends on the temp and vinyl, I usually give it 5 minutes cut the bleed & hard squeegee the edges (the edge will lay down better once the excess is cut away), wait about 20-30 minutes and do another hard squeegee to the edges, the edges will
want to lift and "tunnel".
Just a FYI, it make take a while for the adhesive to become milky / blotchy, make sure you look it over before your boss takes it.

 

[Billct2]

If you use commercial app fluid it's ready for trimming almost immediately.With soapy water not so much.

 

[Ardor Creative]

I'm in the process of doing 4 of these and I've been doing the oracal calendared clear printed in reverse with white vinyl. Mounting I use a professional app fluid called "Splash", it's a concentrate so needs to be diluted but a little goes a long way. I've never had problems with this method, and if there is a spec of dust in the print I have some play to lift and remove any blemishes.

 

[VegasPrinter]

General Formulations Optically Clear , mount with rapid tack.