Laminating print vinyl if there's no print?

[ktwigger]

Hey all, just need a debate I'm having with my coworker cleared up because it seems to me he wants to waste time and resources, but I have been wrong before.

I'll keep it short, we have two signs going up soon that will be white cut vinyl on black ACM polymetal. I would like to cut it from our regular print material instead of white cut vinyl for a plethora of reasons but I mostly want to be able to cut two of them side by side and the 54" material will allow that. Does this need to be laminated?

 

[cmoist]

No, it doesn't. That said, if I'm doing die cut vinyl on a printed sheet, and one logo needs to be in white, I'll just laminate the whole sheet and cut the logo from it, along with the printed bits.

The laminate's job is it provide UV protection and wear resistance for the printing.

 

[Gino]

Most all digital printable vinyls are generally a 10 year outdoor lifespan. It's the inks that don't last that long, thus need some extra help with a laminate.

 

[ktwigger]

No, it doesn't. That said, if I'm doing die cut vinyl on a printed sheet, and one logo needs to be in white, I'll just laminate the whole sheet and cut the logo from it, along with the printed bits.

The laminate's job is it provide UV protection and wear resistance for the printing.

Agreed. It so happens the signs are 25" tall so in this particular instance it would only be white and I can fit two perfectly side by side.

And that's what I thought! I actually feel like laminate can work against you in some instances, we've had signs before where the laminate has peeled back. We've put up many white door hours and such using scrap pieces of our print vinyl too, not laminated, and we have yet to get a complaint. I notice he doesn't give a crap about those but for some reason it's soooo important we laminate this one.

 

[Aaron Hunter]

Only reason I would laminate non printed vinyl would be to prevent it from yellowing due to UV/Carbon on exterior applications.

 

[ikarasu]

Only reason I'd laminate it is to give it a nicer gloss level, or matte level as well as a bit of additional scratch resistance.

But no, I wouldn't laminate some cut letters on an ACM panel that won't be getting touched or rubbed.

 

[FrankW]

Laminating is for protecting the print, not the vinyl itself.

 

[JBurton]

Only reason I'd laminate the non-print:
1. match other items on site that are laminated
2. thicken the print media up to something I'm used to, plotted and masked is one thing, don't ask me to stick a 30x60 sheet of ij35, it'll stretch

 

[clarksigns]

also remember that the black polymetal is going to attract alot of heat because black no matter which substrate you use is gonna get hot and the adhesive tends to heat up whether it is on the cut vinyl or laminated vinyl

 

[Sando]

If you read the Data Sheet for most digital vinyls, the expected lifespan is longer un-printed, un-laminated. For normal HP, Cast vinyl, it was never expected to be laminated. The laminate doesn't usually have the same expected lifespan. For example IJ180cV3 will last longer per 3m, if un-printed and un-laminated in a vertical application.

If laminated it should decrease the lifespan when un-printed. By the same token, when using calendared materials, the shrinkage multiplies rather than adds. If one was to use calendared vinyl and calendared laminate, the shrinkage rate more than doubles. Sometimes a budget laminate can pull a decent print right off the substrate.