Printing full bleed on reflective

[TeamOutlaw]

I am about to begin printing on 3M white reflective with our Roland SolJet for a police department fleet of vehicles. The last time I did this...we had an issue a few days later with a few spots where the edge of the reflective vinyl started 'curling' a little bit!?

Before I start on this new fleet...I am wondering how to remedy this BEFORE the job is complete & we are 'fixing'!

My thoughts are that maybe it has to do with the fact that the design consisted of a full bleed to the edge of the vinyl. So, once it was laminated & contour-cut that the ink saturation all the way to the edge of the film caused it to curl later.

The adhesive on reflective films are typically so aggressive that I was very surprised to see the edges lifting! Wondering if I should try to design a 1/4" 'border' so that there is no bleed!?

 

[ChicagoGraphics]

Let it dry longer maybe a couple of days then laminate and cut it

 

[CS-SignSupply-TT]

Solvent bleed printing

YES! A 1/4" border will really help

 

[MikeD]

I agree with a longer dry time

 

[J Hill Designs]

another thing you can do is print, contour cut, weed, laminate, and recut with a 1/4" larger cut path, thereby encapsulating the edges of the reflective in laminate when applying

 

[TeamOutlaw]

Let it dry longer maybe a couple of days then laminate and cut it

We had this suggested with some 3M vertical wall film (Fathead-type film) by our 3M rep. He suggested letting it cure/dry at least 24hrs before putting pre-mask on it.

I was wondering if the laminate we add may have similar effect as pre-mask...preventing it from curing/shrinking properly!?

 

[Bigdawg]

I don't know if you are supposed to....

But we laminate our reflective signs when we print

Been doing this for a while on 3M engineer grade (the one without the diamonds). Not sure if this is what you use on vehicles but we noticed the same thing on full coverage signs if we had a bleed (please note - these are not DOT street signs they are for internal gated communities).

 

[Malkin]

Noticed a similar problem, even when using my preferred IJ680cr. Definitely have to let it fully cure before laminating.

 

[SIGNTIME]

never had a problem with full bleed on reflective ... we use oracal 5600 and outgas for min. of 24hrs

 

[MikeD]

you can print and then immediately lam, and then cut. The vinyl may still shrink, but at least it won't curl. I have a decal that I printed and immediately laminated and cut. The vinyl shrank and there is now a clear border around the print... It's best to match vinyl to lams that have the same dimensional stability so they can "shrink" the same.
The best practice is to allow the print to dry and the solvent to evap prior to any handling, but sometimes you just need to get it shipped!
Good Luck!

 

[MikePro]

longer dry time for sure.
you may also want to look into the ink limits for your media.... using the same profiles for everything, could be what's causing this issue. some media absorbs ink more than, well, reflective vinyl.

 

[jfiscus]

Which with 3M Reflective? We use 680CR and have never had a problem with edges lifting on laminated full bleeds.

 

[TeamOutlaw]

longer dry time for sure.
you may also want to look into the ink limits for your media.... using the same profiles for everything, could be what's causing this issue. some media absorbs ink more than, well, reflective vinyl.

Printing to 3M 680 series...using PRV2 profile (Premium Reflective Vinyl) in VersaWorks.

I've begun to believe it is / was our drying time! Very likely it was printed / laminated in the same day (everyone's in a rush all the time)!

Gonna give it a try again, but wait at least 24hrs between printing & laminating.

 

[brian_fellers]

As many others said, more dry time is 100% the problem. Eco-Solvent is still a very heavy ink, and depending on how saturated the reflective is (dark backgrounds, letters, etc.), it WILL curl on the edges if it was cut or laminated within 24 hours of printing. You should print it, then let it sit MINIMUM 24 hours (the longer the better), then laminate it and run it through your plotter.

 

[MikePro]

your profile should be fine. its definately drytime.
if anything else, dial up your heat and increase passes/dial-down speed to give it some more "air time"

i'll even to take a heatgun to the print for a few, out of paranoia, before lamination of any print I plan to trim within the ink line. ...unless I can let it dry overnight, of course.

luckily, most reflectives I print have a white outline and i never have to think twice about same-day lamination.

 

[Mike Paul]

-Cast laminate over cast material is a must.

-Longer dry time is key.

-If you can offset a 1/4 in. White outline even better.

-If your using a dark outline like black, check your ink percentages and make sure your not laying to much on the material.

 

[wmshuman]

One thing I like to do is print on optically clear laminate and overlay that on a good reflective film. Just about any of the 3M reflective vinyl works well. No drying time and all the reflectiveness.