Large graphics single person install

[Notarealsignguy]

Real cute there, gerbil man but you have the specs wrong. It's 6' W I D E , not high.

You can only work 4" wide at a time with a squeegee, width won't matter. Plus the bottom is a good place to chase all your mistakes to, like when you run paint, just keep it going till it makes an icicle that you can cut off when it's dry.
Stacey I tried the big squeegee on a flat wrap once, it sucked.

 

[Notarealsignguy]

I do like Burton said, but the opposite direction. If I'm working with air egress, I'll sometimes take the entire backer off once it's hinged...and pull the vinyl taught instead of holding the roll

Then it stretches easier.

 

[Notarealsignguy]

Notareal’s wife has a gerbil and uses it 10 times a day? How does he get any work accomplished.

It's a pricey habit.

 

[JBurton]

Only reason I wouldn't do width wise is the 6' vs 4'. I prefer to hang and use gravity, but to go one handed across 6', I have to take a step, and I'm far too lazy for that. My left hand doesn't squeegee like my right does, so swapping hands is a crap shoot. I can reach either side of a 6' span, but I can't hold both and squeegee.
If only I had Lemiwinks on my side like you guys.

 

[Boudica]

Lemiwinks!

 

[Stacey K]

The biggest thing to remember is keep it in your head not to stretch the vinyl. Don't pull it too tight from any corner or side. Nothing like ending up with a long droopy corner.

 

[JBurton]

The biggest thing to remember is keep it in your head not to stretch the vinyl. Don't pull it too tight from any corner or side. Nothing like ending up with a long droopy corner.

Hence the tape! No pulling, no holding, no stretching.
But still, always keep a straight edge for on site 'corrections'.

Have you consider SLX yet? It's good sh*t!

 

[gnubler]

I'm printing oversize and will trim after installation. I believe the actual surface area is 70" wide x 47" tall.
No SLX, I outsource my printing and reliant on whatever material my vendor stocks. In this case it'll be S365 in IJ180.

 

[Stacey K]

Hence the tape! No pulling, no holding, no stretching.
But still, always keep a straight edge for on site 'corrections'.

Have you consider SLX yet? It's good sh*t!

Yup! I LOVE IT! I remember last summer I had helper with a horizontal panel similar to gnublers but longer. They held the corner so tight it was stretched out like an extra inch. Was a real PITA to get it flat! But I trimmed it up and all was fine LOL Lesson learned! Hold it gently, just enough to where it's not flapping around.

 

[JBurton]

They held the corner so tight it was stretched out like an extra inch.

If you have some drops, you should play with it. You can stretch the crap out of it, tack it, pull it loose, then heat it and watch it return to nearly original shape. There's a video of someone pushing their fist into some stretched over a trash can, then heating it until it's pretty well flat.
(I was trying to convince gnubler to use it, though I guess she can't order in that flavor. I for some reason figured you'd ordered yours, but now that I think about it you'd darn well better have printed it yourself!)

 

[gnubler]

It's good sh*t!

Cheech & Chong's Sign Studio?

 

[Stacey K]

If you have some drops, you should play with it. You can stretch the crap out of it, tack it, pull it loose, then heat it and watch it return to nearly original shape. There's a video of someone pushing their fist into some stretched over a trash can, then heating it until it's pretty well flat.
(I was trying to convince gnubler to use it, though I guess she can't order in that flavor. I for some reason figured you'd ordered yours, but now that I think about it you'd darn well better have printed it yourself!)

Yup! I print most of my stuff here now! I used the IJ180 until all of you turned me on to the SLX+ - now it's the only thing I use! That police car partial wrap I did was made so much easier with the SLX+. I still order out my perf and I guess clear cling LOL

 

[JBurton]

Cheech & Chong's Sign Studio?

Slideability does sound like some stoner thinking; 'like, what if we made something sticky, but it doesn't stick, like, until you stick it.'

I still order out my perf and I guess clear cling LOL

F*ck printing perf, unless you have the guts to throw out a mess of it every time you print. But on clear, check out nekoosa histat, click the sample link, fill in the info, and they'll send you something like 3 yds of 30" for free!!!!!!!!

Hi-Stat® Static Cling Vinyl

Hi-Stat is a very soft, flexible cling vinyl that adheres to most clean, high polished smooth surfaces without adhesive.

nekoosa.com

I push their stuff all the time, but I don't think anybody around here has tried anything.

 

[Boudica]

We almost never use static cling anymore. It tends to fail a lot in the winter - not so clingy when it's cold. We use a lot of Glass Apeel these days.

 

[Johnny Best]

I like to install large pieces of vinyl by myself by cutting a 3 to 5 inch of liner on the horizoval side and placing piece where it needs to go and adhering that section down. Then let top droop down and proceed to squeegee down and then do bottom section while pulling liner away as I squeegee down vinyl. like to cut off that strip more towards the top as it is easier as notareal stated about gravity being your helper. Gnubler, unless you have short arms, 4x6 should not be a problem. You seem to have Munchausen towards work where there is a problem when one does not exist.

 

[gnubler]

I'd do it that way if it were vertical. The piece is 6 feet wide and I'd find that very difficult to pull down the liner and lay down smooth without stretching or wrinkles.
I think Gino's center hinge sounds like the way to go.

 

[Johnny Best]

I find that center hinge on a long piece like that, now that I realize it is 6 foot wide, is that pulling back a large piece it has a tendency to bend or wrinkle.
But tell us your experience and how it came out and tell us if you would have done anything differently.

 

[Johnny Best]

Another thousand words

 

[gnubler]

Munchausen Signs "Overthinking it so you don't have to!"

That sketch is pretty much my plan. I never thought to tape down to opposing end like Burton mentioned, and in the past struggled with trying to hold it rolled up. Too hard for one person.

 

[JBurton]

Another thousand words

Heathen!
Don't listen to him gnubler, do the left side first, right side second.
But really, I think I tend to left to right because while I'm a righty, my right hand got mangled in a drunken knife fight with a wall when I was in college, so 6 months of nursing split fingers had me using my left hand for finer work, so for me, holding/pulling the backer with right hand and squeegeeing left handed is most natural, I reckon right to left is easier if you primarily use your right to squeeg. Now all this to say, how does Tex do it when he has to go up and down a step ladder?