Limiting shrinkage of sticker on backing paper.

[Saturn]

Looking for thoughts or philosophies on limiting the shrinkage of laminated & die-cut stickers that remain on the backing paper for weeks/months before being used. There should be some worst case sample photos at the bottom of the post.

I use GF-203 and Oracal 210/215 to great effect for the most part, but have noticed that some stickers definitely end up shrinking MUCH more than others. Obviously they're all going to shrink a noticable amount, being (calendared) vinyl, but I'm just curious if there's some things that I'm doing in the handling that can either help prevent it, or even help "pre-shrink" things.... Things like how it's stored between stages, rolled vs flat? Length of off-gassing, or length of letting it sit after lamination but before die-cutting.

Does temperature play a big enough factor that I can use it my advantage? Say, heating or cooling a finished roll before it goes to the cutter?

Probably not going to change the media for this issue, but any thoughts are appreciated! -Thanks!

 

[unclebun]

I don't think you can really stop the vinyl from shrinking. Once it's cut, it shrinks back from the cut. This really has little to nothing to do with printing and laminating; it happens with regular colored cut vinyl too.

If you have problems with delamination of printed decals or lifting and curling of the edges of unlaminated prints after cutting, you haven't let the solvents evaporate long enough before laminating and/or cutting.

 

[Saturn]

Appreciate the reply!

No problems with delamination or curling. I try to let things sit as long as possible before moving on to the next process.

 

[Sign Works]

THE CHEAPER THE VINYL THE GREATER THE SHRINKAGE.

 

[Saturn]

ABSOLUTELY. THANKS FOR YOUR INPUT!

 

[CanuckSigns]

I have found general formulations to shrink a lot more than other 3 mil vinyls, oracal 3651 seems to shrink very little.

 

[Saturn]

Good feedback, I appreciate it! Do you use the 3651 for hand-sized or smaller laminated stickers?

I'd love to find something like 3651 that was unbranded on the backing paper. If anyone has a suggestion there, I'd love to hear that too.

 

[CanuckSigns]

3m ij35 is unbranded on the back, I haven't used it in a few years but I remember it was pretty good for decals.