Thanks for the Add!

[L&Bdesignworks]

Hello! Thanks for the add, I've been in the trade show industry as a designer for about 9 years, and started my own design business recently with a big portion as decals.

I had a customer that had some issues after having them installed by a professional, but now it's had some cracking about a week or so later. I'm guessing heat or a chemical. Any thoughts?

Material was Oracal 651 with a base of red and matte black on top. I've sold a few hundred of these in variations like this layered and had heard nothing like this before. Thanks in advance!

 

[Texas_Signmaker]

Strange

 

[L&Bdesignworks]

Thanks for your response! Unfortunately I sent the decals to the customer and they sent it to get installed, so I'm not sure who the installer was.

My customer said that they did not have this when it left the install shops. It's on the tailgate of a Gladiator, so I thought it could be off-road scratches, but that would be a low impact spot.

At first glance, it looked like a decal that sat out in the sun for 6 years and started cracking, but this decal is only a couple of days / weeks old after being applied.

 

[Gino]

Looks like it might've been the black top layer, didn't go down absolutely flat and formed a few creases. The creases were then heated up and squeegeed to death. Thus, splitting the black apart, but wasn't noticeable for short time,. Because it was 651 a kinda low end performance vinyl, it shrank and the cracks became visible right away.

To me, it seems to be a two-part problem. You're using an inferior product for trade show displays and the installed was no good.

 

[Gino]

Okay, I didn't see where you originally said this was outside on a vehicle. Same kinda deal, but worse. When you layer two cheap vinyls, one is always gonna shrink at a faster pace than the other and red and black both shrink at a rapid pace even faster outside with heat & cold on it. I still think he squeegeed hard over some wrinkles and that caused the cracking. It almost looks like he used some liquid, trapped some bubbles, they created the raised areas and he smashed them down and caused it.

 

[gabagoo]

I can't see something like that happening that fast. I would think that the fine cracks in the black were there before you even cut it, but they were not visible.

 

[Ray Miller]

May I ask what is all that other white stuff all over the place? It appears in the red as well as the black, but I don't see it on the truck body itself.

 

[The Big Squeegee]

2 from OK

 

[L&Bdesignworks]

May I ask what is all that other white stuff all over the place? It appears in the red as well as the black, but I don't see it on the truck body itself.

I think that was just sheen from the matte vinyl combined with a bad picture
Thanks for the thoughts everyone!

 

[FireSprint.com]

Welcome!