Second surface printing scratches

[gnubler]

I ordered some clear acrylic signs from S365, second surface print with a white flood coat. The ink scratches very easily and can be seen through the first surface. I just found that out the hard way.

To those who produce prints like this, are you putting anything on the back to protect the print? Clear overlaminate? Or would it not stick to the ink?

 

[StarSign]

We sheet with vinyl

 

[ikarasu]

We don't print with our flatbed because it gets scratched too easy on acyrlic..m and tbh, acyrlic is supposed to be a showpiece, I havent ever seen a flatbed print as clear as a roll to roll (I'm sure some do, but none that I've seen!)

We usually will print on clear a d apply white vinyl to the back. We use a thick 6 mil Aslan blockout product.... You can take a key to it and it won't scratch it, and it won't let even a percent of light through it... So if you tape it to the wall ( one hospital won't allow standoffs) you can't see a tape outline.

 

[Boudica]

Sometimes we will put R tape to protect during transport, but usually it cures pretty well. We don't add any special coating over the ink. Just have to be careful. Did they arrive scratched, or did you scratch them?
We did learn the hard way that we have to put an adhesion promoter on acrylic that helps the ink adhere to it. One time the ink just ....came off.

 

[gnubler]

Thanks for the tips. I scratched it by accident within 2 minutes of getting it out of the box. LOL
I found that if I put a strip of orange vinyl on the back over the scratch it's barely noticeable on the front (the print has an orange background). However, the vinyl didn't adhere too well...it was a scrap of 651 I had laying around.

Good info for future signs, this was my first time ordering printed acrylic from S365. Beautiful quality.

 

[gnubler]

Sometimes we will put R tape to protect during transport,

This is what I ended up doing. Put clear app tape on the back to protect the printed area. Easier to lay down than vinyl.

 

[White Haus]

We don't print with our flatbed because it gets scratched too easy on acyrlic..m and tbh, acyrlic is supposed to be a showpiece, I havent ever seen a flatbed print as clear as a roll to roll (I'm sure some do, but none that I've seen!)

We usually will print on clear a d apply white vinyl to the back. We use a thick 6 mil Aslan blockout product.... You can take a key to it and it won't scratch it, and it won't let even a percent of light through it... So if you tape it to the wall ( one hospital won't allow standoffs) you can't see a tape outline.

Which Aslan product are you using for this?

We usually just reverse print on 3651 clear then back w/ 651 white but with lighter backgrounds it definitely doesn't block out the light 100%.

Thanks!

 

[Notarealsignguy]

Substance print vinyl has an opaque white back and works good on reverse print acrylic, much better than 651. We print on their 3150 laminate and back with 3750 vinyl. It is also nice that you can run a bleed and have some fudge room since the material is 54 rather than 48. Makes things really easy.
We do a run of reverse print truck numbers every year and use the 54" laminate with 50" 651 (sold as 48"). It lets you put your cropmarks outside of the area that the white backing covers so no need to trim it out or do any other time consuming things to get it to register in the plotter.

 

[ikarasu]

Which Aslan product are you using for this?

We usually just reverse print on 3651 clear then back w/ 651 white but with lighter backgrounds it definitely doesn't block out the light 100%.

Thanks!

Iook for window blockout film. Doesn't have to be Aslan, a lot of companies sell it - it's white, with black on the inside so no light gets through, then white again... Provides a 100% opaque.


We just use Aslan because that's what was stocked, and it's a thick 7 mil.

The Aslan we use is -

Aslan windowblock dfp 25. 54" x 82ft is $490 a roll from nd is what we pay. Not the cheapest stuff, but it's the best we've found.. and it's nice that it comes in 54 instead of 48.

 

[MikePro]

i've never trusted bare ink on a decal/panel. lucky the orange vinyl helps, i've used colored sharpies in the past to touch-up and then dabbed on liquid lam to seal.

 

[White Haus]

Iook for window blockout film. Doesn't have to be Aslan, a lot of companies sell it - it's white, with black on the inside so no light gets through, then white again... Provides a 100% opaque.


We just use Aslan because that's what was stocked, and it's a thick 7 mil.

The Aslan we use is -

Aslan windowblock dfp 25. 54" x 82ft is $490 a roll from nd is what we pay. Not the cheapest stuff, but it's the best we've found.. and it's nice that it comes in 54 instead of 48.

Good to know, thanks! Will look into it.