Regular vinyl on reflective for signs?

[unclebun]

Thanks. Giving thought to printing it. Just not sure which calendared vinyl is latex printable or if it would even be a good idea to print with latex. Eco-solvent might be better, more translucent? Wondering as well if laminating would hinder the reflectiveness. Should be okay?
Thanks.

We use ecosolvent and do sometimes print on reflective vinyl. Laminating does not affect the reflectivity.

 

[donkur]

We do printed reflective all the time it works well. What latex machine are you using?

The HP 360

 

[AKwrapguy]

We are using a reflective for Latex which is made by Vandalguard, called Night Bright (www.nightbrightvinyl.com). We have printed maybe 20 rolls of the stuff, I have 10 here in shop waiting for a PO to come through to begin printing more. It seems to be pretty good and a LOT cheaper than Oracal or 3M. We laminate with 8518.

Thanks a lot. Right now we're using 680 for everything which cost wise is a little tough. I'll look into this.

 

[equippaint]

Reflective is expensive which may be why the signs are regular vinyl. Do you have the business yet or just brainstorming? Are there any regulations about putting reflective signage on the roadside? I dont think we are allowed to do that here but Im not 100% sure.

 

[Billct2]

"How would the client know which way is the best?" Because you said "Highway Signs" which to most of us means the signs are for a government entity and have very clear specs.

 

[gabagoo]

Wow, that's something I have never heard of before. Thanks.

Just make sure you use a good 2ml laminate like 3m or avery..costs more but prints and looks great...but I have solvent not latex, so best you check.

 

[sonia]

Please read this article for more information: HP LKC - How to print traffic signage on HP Latex 360 and 370 printers

 

[I-try]

We present the options to the client and they typically specify. Normally... when we do airport signage or municipal signage, typically these type of places what the engineering grade reflective with reflective lettering. For the landlords and the like, we usually use a standard white blank with reflective lettering. Construction signage we usually print on reflective and laminate... Different application for different customers.

 

[Rick]

There is a reason why DOT/Highway signs have reflective copy and background. I looked for the DOT reflective study but it's no longer available online, you probably would not have read it anyway, it's a long boring read, but it shows clearly that reflective background and copy reads better at night. BUT as stated, reflective black reflects white and would not work - even DOT specs do not recommend.

I've done a few airports, municipality and MUTCD wayfinding, if the signs are funded by any DOT entity or in the jurisdiction of and state or federal DOT, it must follow MUTCD specifications. That means it requires a review and retroreflective materials. If this is a sign for a company, it does not matter.

 

[signbrad]

The highway department uses reflective green or blue backgrounds on big signs, with reflective white lettering. Typically on signs like one way signs or other smaller traffic signs, the lettering is screenprinted onto a white reflective background. The lettering itself isn't really very reflective in that case.

True, Interstate Highway signs are reflective on reflective. You will also note that the letter spacing on these signs is wide for increased legibility. This is to counter the effect of "halation." A letter that is lighted, or that glows, increases in size visually. The light glow tends to blur the letter edges and fill in the spaces between letters, so increased letter spacing helps counter the effect. This is why chunky channel letters, spaced tightly, are often difficult to read.
In addition, another phenomenon, "irradiation," can make light letters on a dark background appear larger and thicker even when not reflective. Why white looks bigger than black —the Irradiation Illusion

Reflective signs that are screen printed are often printed with an ink that is somewhat transparent to allow the reflectivity of the background to show through. This is how Grimco, a wholesaler in St. Louis, typically creates their reflective street signs. But, as mentioned above by unclebun, the reflectivity through the printed graphics is not that great. I've also noticed that some of these colors screened onto reflective vinyl fade fairly quickly.

The various stock colors of reflective vinyl have varying degrees of light reflection, too. I don't have my chart in front of me, but it seems like black reflects only 10% of the light, compared to 90% for white, with all the other colors ranged in between.

Brad in Kansas City

 

[ikarasu]

I don't recommend 3290. We've done quite a bit with 7930, and while I think the material sucks... It works pretty good. You can also use who/DG, but it's kind of overkill for a non traffic sign.

I've heard nikkalite works good with latex... But never tried it.

We print a lot of stuff on 3290 for highway projects, looks great at night... But only with our solvent.

Are you doing g a cnyk sign, or just cut graphics?

At least in BC, if it's for ministry of transport there's certain specs .All our signs our reflective on reflective... Or at the worst it's reflective, with 3m translucent vinyl. Or special silkscreen ink that allows some of the reflectivity through.


If it's not for MOST/the government, you can do what you want. We love 3290, but it's not great for latex .Latex does print beautifully on reflective, you just need to find the right one in your price point that works.

 

[ikarasu]

We are using a reflective for Latex which is made by Vandalguard, called Night Bright (www.nightbrightvinyl.com). We have printed maybe 20 rolls of the stuff, I have 10 here in shop waiting for a PO to come through to begin printing more. It seems to be pretty good and a LOT cheaper than Oracal or 3M. We laminate with 8518.

Do you find it cheaper than 3290? Curious what you guys pay for a 48"x50yard roll... As night bright seems to be more expensive according to their website price.

 

[visual800]

yes I have put oracal 751 on reflective signs, I have had no issues. keep in mind reflective at night in some cases can make the sign unreadable. I dont see the point in most reflective signs, especially for purposes like you described

 

[Mike Paul]

If you want to print the sign, I have printed full colour graphics on clear laminate, then laminate that and apply to the reflective coated board. Due to white reflective not being really white, colours can shift a bit, but they do look good...and a heck of a lot cheaper than cutting reflective copy.

Gabagoo,
Why don't you just print the graphics on reflective White, laminate and apply to the substrate?

 

[Christian @ 2CT Media]

We do the 3M method, we use 3M 3430EGP and then overlay electrocut translucent vinyl so it's fully reflective but the copy is brighter than the background.

 

[gabagoo]

Gabagoo,
Why don't you just print the graphics on reflective White, laminate and apply to the substrate?

I am pretty sure that I experienced head smearing with my printer using reflective.... and that stuff ain't cheap... I was also surprised how well the printer worked with printing on 2ml lam.

 

[Ready]

You definitely need to check with your customer on these "highway" signs. They are usually done with reflective backgrounds and translucent color vinyl on top. Some signs require prismatic vinyl. You really need to check and sell them the right thing.

Also there are only about 3 printers that are "DOT" certified and have the correct colors. Find a DOT shop in your area and go speak to them.

Bob P

Thanks for your reply. These are for 4x8 highways signs.

 

[Lea Marc]

When we need to print on reflective we use the 3M CR680, it's not cheap but it's a nice product. If there are solid colours only such as lettering we try to go towards plotting coloured vinyl such as Oracal 5300, the colour is much richer than what can be printed and stands out at night when illuminated. Haven't tried a reflective background per se but would imagine the CR680 for instance as is would be fine with plotted non-reflective letters would create a kind of knock out reflective?