Large graphics single person install

[Johnny Best]

You went to college!

 

[ikarasu]

BodyGuard Knife - Twin

Create perfect strip cuts in vinyl films and backing papers with the BodyGuard Knife Twin. Discover our specialty cutting tools and shop online at Yellotools.us!

www.yellotools.us

Going to throw this out there, except you can get an amazon one for half the price... IMO the bodyguard is worth the premium, we went from a cheapo one to a few different bodyguards.


You can slit the backing paper in the mid - Tack it onto the vehicle...and theres your hinge, no need to make one out of tape. Sounds lazy....and it is, but its really nice - We use it for pretty much every wall install... Even if its just a 3 FT by 10 FT panel, you bodyguard the top and you have a perfect portion of material to tack to the wall... Align it, press down, let it go and make sure its straight / where you want it, then slowly start peeling the backer away... It makes doing wall alignments sooooo much easier when you're by yourself.


You can get by without it for sure though, but at the price of the tool... it pays for itself the first install.

 

[JBurton]

You went to college!?!?!

FTFY

 

[Boudica]

BodyGuard Knife - Twin

Create perfect strip cuts in vinyl films and backing papers with the BodyGuard Knife Twin. Discover our specialty cutting tools and shop online at Yellotools.us!

www.yellotools.us

Going to throw this out there, except you can get an amazon one for half the price... IMO the bodyguard is worth the premium, we went from a cheapo one to a few different bodyguards.


You can slit the backing paper in the mid - Tack it onto the vehicle...and theres your hinge, no need to make one out of tape. Sounds lazy....and it is, but its really nice - We use it for pretty much every wall install... Even if its just a 3 FT by 10 FT panel, you bodyguard the top and you have a perfect portion of material to tack to the wall... Align it, press down, let it go and make sure its straight / where you want it, then slowly start peeling the backer away... It makes doing wall alignments sooooo much easier when you're by yourself.


You can get by without it for sure though, but at the price of the tool... it pays for itself the first install.

+10 for the bodyguard

 

[Notarealsignguy]

I trim the top straight, roll it up, put my big boy pants on, unroll 6-8" and tape it to the top. Unroll it while taping every few feet and then go back over with a continuous piece of tape. You all act like you can't walk a little when you put on stickers. 6' is not wide.

 

[Notarealsignguy]

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.

Once it's taped across the top roll it up, set it on the roof and start peeling the backer about 1-2" end to end, let it roll down and then you can pull the backer without wrinkling and fighting with it.

 

[gnubler]

This one is lower to the ground, in fact the bottom 4 feet of the trailer. I'll be sitting on a stool or crate for this one.

 

[Texas_Signmaker]

You went to college!

An Arkansas college... In Texas that's equivalent to 7th grade.

 

[somcalmetim]

If you are out of the wind and sun using laminated 180...
I would tape in position 3-5 places across the top and pull entire backing away down from top and squeegee top to bottom in the middle and work out from there...180 is slidable and repositionable if it isnt too hot so sometimes if you squeegee well you only have to pop the tape off and pull out the slack a couple times as you go outwards and never have to hold the graphic at all...gold squeeg if you premask or Wet Edge Teflon if you don't...
If you are installing in the wind or someplace weird...
I would lam for sure and premask as you can be a bit rougher with it if things go sideways and it wont get scratched/stretched...you will have to spend time taking the premask off, but in the event things get exciting, I have pulled an entire mis-measured lam/premasked 50"x100" trailer panel off, repositioned it and reinstalled using 180 when "someone" didnt do their centering math right on the first panel and luckily realized their mistake after install but before trimming, popping, depremasking and moving to second panel...

I would avoid at all costs but if you have to be in the sun I have even taken sheets of coroplast and masking tape to make my own temporary awning/install hut over my work area to block the sun...cheap and you can usually reuse the coro...

 

[JBurton]

An Arkansas college... In Texas that's equivalent to 7th grade.

I suppose you're right, y'all like to drink and party at a pretty young age, what with all the kids coming down with affluenza around there, who could blame them.

 

[Johnny Best]

You think gnubler is alright with the install,

 

[Texas_Signmaker]

I suppose you're right, y'all like to drink and party at a pretty young age, what with all the kids coming down with affluenza around there, who could blame them.

That's one thing Arkansas doesn't have to worry about .. affluence that is.....

 

[Gino]

I didn't know bats had tails ??

 

[JBurton]

That's one thing Arkansas doesn't have to worry about .. affluence that is.....

Oh don't worry, we have microcosms of it in every piddlin little town. How else do you think the walmart corpo's get fast food without having to stare at a trailer park all day? My kid now goes to school on the west side of town, you know how many mcmansions I drive by to get there? Funny story on that, some developers attempted to build some low income housing out that way, so all the richers showed up to the planning commission meeting and got the permit denied. It was sad. Within a week afterward, someone broke ground on a giant storage facility about a block down the road from it. Folks were lit up over there never being a public hearing or anything coming before the planning commission for them to complain at. Turns out there were two lots that had been notched out of the city limits. Now I am in talks to erect a friggin billboard right beside the school, a rich neighborhood, and a storage facility. It's a terrible location, but once it's annexed I'll have a new billboard permit (which the city no longer issues) that I can move in town to a more profitable location. And I wouldn't have bothered in the least if I didn't see all these rich a$$holes standing in the way of low income housing, f*cking nimby bullshit.
I forget where was I going with this... Longhorns suck, go Hogs!

 

[SightLine]

Depends on the materials and whatnot but this is what I do all the time on buses. This is me rolling the backing off a piece that is 40 feet x 52 inches. Tape the top edge, roll the entire backing off, pull it just a little tight (not enough to stretch it really), let it sit for about 10 minutes and it tightens itself up more, use a Bill Collector squeegee for the large flat areas, then a regular one for the rest.

 

[Texas_Signmaker]

Depends on the materials and whatnot but this is what I do all the time on buses. This is me rolling the backing off a piece that is 40 feet x 52 inches. Tape the top edge, roll the entire backing off, pull it just a little tight (not enough to stretch it really), let it sit for about 10 minutes and it tightens itself up more, use a Bill Collector squeegee for the large flat areas, then a regular one for the rest.

View attachment 166765

Exactly what I do, pull the whole backer off and pull it taught. The bill collector is the best squeegee...saves your wrist.

 

[gnubler]

This job ended up as a 2-person install so I didn't get to use any of these techniques solo. But we went with Burton's method on page 1, just working from right to left. I ended up using GF 830, a new cast vinyl offering from S365. It was really easy to work with.

I'm going to set up a test panel of ACM in my shop on a wall and practice installing large pieces by myself before doing it out on job sites.

 

[tulsagraphics]

I do this all the time alone. Either way will work fine. If it's not windy I would just center hinge and take all the backing paper off the left side then do the right side. 3' is manageable to hold. If it's windy then do Burtons way.

Out of curiosity, has anyone ever used a Big Squeegee for an install on a trailer if it's smooth sided? I wonder if it would work similar to doing a sign panel?

I wouldn't trust a big squeegee for a trailer or box truck install... even if it had smooth sides.. because there's too much give in between the supports. I have tried it on some large window installs, but even that can be finicky unless the conditions are near perfect.

 

[JBurton]

just working from right to left

Heathens! The lot of ya!

 

[gnubler]

Heathens! The lot of ya!

You a southpaw, or what?

The ambidextrous sign maker can go both ways...