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large frosted/plotted window task

nashvillesigns

Making America great, one sign at a time.
Hello!
i hope the snow is treating you all well!

my questions are as follows:
1. what frosted/ dusted material would you use that HAS to be weeded and taped.
2. since they are taped, how would you install that? my tape is high tack, i feel this will be a huge problem. if i install this wet, the tape will not allow the material to stick to the window.
the last time i taped the material, i had to spray water all over it to make it release it's deathgrip.


i am concerned about the bubbles and streaks that may/will occur here. i don't think i could do this dry. since i have over twenty panes of indoor glass, i dont want to turn this into a nightmare!



-mosher
 

Mosh

New Member
++Dry. I did a conference center with 20 sets of french doors 10 windows each 100% covered and logos cut out in 2 windows on each door....all dry.
 

Malkin

New Member
There is an air-egress type out here (made by mactac?) but I have not tried it yet.

I use Oracal 8510, tape with as high tack tape as you can find. I was using Rtape 4075rla, but it wasn't quite enough. 3M SCPS-2 seems to work better, and I think we'll move to 3M SCPS-55 next time for the highest possible tack. The high tack is needed to lift the vinyl off the liner, maybe some other frosted vinyls release better, but I've not tested many.

The key is the apply wet with Rapid Tac II. Then remove the mask (soaking it to help release), then resqueegee down any remaining bubbles or places where it came up when removing the mask. I recommend more fluid here so the squeegee glides.
Rapid Tac II dries fast, so you do have to work quickly. Don't let it sit a while before removing the mask. Do it right away. This way if there are any bubbles they can still be squeegeed out to the edge.

Hope this makes sense.

EDIT: This was assuming that it's a full coverage design with copy/logos weeded out.
 

rdm01

New Member
We have done many of these, and tried both ways. I mix up a batch of wetapp in a garden sprayer, hose down the window and the back of the graphic. Install wet, squeegeeing out all the wetapp. Then spray down the application tape and wipe all over quickly with your hand. It should release quickly and not pull up too much of the graphics.
 

MikePro

New Member
i use high tack transfer tape, and wet apply cut frosted vinyl all the time.
+1 to wetting the application tape prior to removal.

do it dry if you think you can. I prefer it, actually. frosted vinyl hides airbubble poke-holes really well.
 

TammieH

New Member
Snow? What snow? All of our snow is up in the mountains where people can enjoy it! :)

BTW My opinion, the 3M Frosted Sparkle or similar are a lot easier to apply and more forgiving than the etched "Dusted Crystal" or similar vinyls if you are forced to use transfer tape
 

nashvillesigns

Making America great, one sign at a time.
frosted update

SO,
i am using the avery 5550 frosted sparkle. i gotta say, doing it dry had a small learning curve. Press too hard and it tears, press too soft and you can see bubbles.
doing it dry is the way to go. i got six big windows done less than a hour. big thumbs up on that material!!
gonna finish the rest of the windows tomorrow!

-mosher
 
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