Laminate on trash truck cut vinyl?

[DarksideAutoSolution]

Ok, so we are doing a cut 2 layer vinyl for a trash truck. The old one lasted a month and was gone because it was printed and the trees from it driving down all the small alley ways around here scratched it up. I will be using oracal 951 but was curious if i should overlaminate the work or not. This is my first paying job and I would like to start out on the right foot so any input would be great.

 

[Mike Paul]

No

 

[DarksideAutoSolution]

No

should the vinyl last and is this the best choice of vinyl?

 

[ProWraps]

no

 

[Mike Paul]

Laminate the printed film not the layered vinyl.

 

[DarksideAutoSolution]

The printed film was not my work, but they are comming to me and want it to last. So i would really like to do a good job. Now that i know i should not laminate it, is oracal 951 my best choice for the application?

 

[ProWraps]

there is no vinyl or laminate in the world that will hold up to trees, gravel, walls, superman, etc.

 

[Mosh]

I have done many garbage trucks with Oracal 751, it gets scuffed but not any worse than the paint on the truck itself. that should be holding up better than that. unless they are driving through honey locest trees. 951? try going the 751, alot less and a good film, most vehicles are only owned 3-5 years and 751 is a 7-8 year film. I bet they used 651 and charged for the better, lots of vinyl whores do that....

 

[DarksideAutoSolution]

I have done many garbage trucks with Oracal 751, it gets scuffed but not any worse than the paint on the truck itself. that should be holding up better than that. unless they are driving through honey locest trees. 951? try going the 751, alot less and a good film, most vehicles are only owned 3-5 years and 751 is a 7-8 year film. I bet they used 651 and charged for the better, lots of vinyl whores do that....

Great info, thanks!
As for it holding up...he bought it from some guy that "outsourced" it and ordered it off ebay. Either way I just want it to last for 3 years, he hopes to have a new truck by then.

 

[Mosh]

he bought it from some guy that "outsourced" it and ordered it off ebay

There is the problem right there!
I do three Refuse services and the 751 works great for them, Like I say it does get scuffed by trees, but holds up better than the paint on the truck.

 

[Malkin]

Lamination would not add any significant protection to standard cut vinyl like 951. If, for some reason, you choose to do it anyway, be sure to use a cast lam, since a calendared lam would cause the vinyl to fail prematurely.

If you did have it printed, then lamination would certainly be required for that application, and should hold up fine.

 

[JoshLoring]

there is no vinyl or laminate in the world that will hold up to trees, gravel, walls, superman, etc.

+1

 

[wildside]

we did a panel on omegabond, printed using 3651 lammed with 210 oracal, then bolted the panel on the side of the truck and used a piece of aluminum on the front edge to act as a "buffer" to get the trees to deflect enough away from the edge, almost like a threshold strip on the floor

yes there are scratches down the side as expected, but been on the truck 4 years now and held up twice as long as anything else, and when they get a new truck they just bolt it on to the next one......

also they know the trick about a torch and taking a scratch out of the lam, so they do that occasionally and works good