Need Help Vandal Guard anti-graffiti laminate issues

[D&D Graphx]

Anyone have issues with this Vandal Guard anti-graffiti laminate. It seams to be shrinking and pulling the the vinyl as it sits on the table. It has even lifted and then shrunk and left a crease that will not go away. I printed with a Roland 540 and laminated with minimal tension on a Royal laminator. This is for flat windows nothing special but job is a total loss at this point. I have been doing this for 11 years and never seen this before. Is there a better anti-graffiti film out there.

Here is a photo.

 

[The SignChef]

We used Vandal Guard for quite awhile, without incident. A few months ago, we had similar issues with the anti-graffiti laminate, delaminating from the prints. We called the company. They sent new rolls, with new lot numbers, in case it was a bad batch. And we had still had the same issues, with the new lot numbers. The whole incident ended up costing us over $3,000 in time and materials I couldn't recoup.

Vandal Guard products have been permanently eliminated from our business.

We switched to Ritrama's specialty laminates and are quite pleased with the quality and results so far.

 

[printhog]

Make sure your laminate and print base are matched components. Each film has different expansion / contraction properties. Tunneling usually occurs when the substrate is a calendered film and the laminate is a cast or dimensionally stable film.

To test dimensional stability in shop just cut a large square of each product centered across the roll. Cut the films in several places identically, in an x shape. Don't cut thru the backer. Heat gun each sample for the same amount of time to get it above 350 and let sit to cool. Compare the shrinking. Cast films won't shrink. Calendered films will. Do not mix them or they will fail.

Often the shrinking will be fairly directional relative to the calendering process. This is usually across the web (parallel to the roll length).

If you've got proper materials and still have this issue, check your laminators tension. If you're graphic is curling or puckering or boat waking the tension of the laminator is off.




Sent from my SM-G900T using Tapatalk

 

[DrytacSoutheastLinda]

Very true, @printhog! Got to make sure the expansion rate of the lam matches that of the film.
Check out Drytac's line of anti-graffiti laminate. We manufacture our own products in North America, and rarely have issues: Search results for: 'graffiti' | Drytac

 

[bigben]

we used 3 different rolls of vandalguard in the past (3 differents lot number). All of them have fail and we even had problem with dry erase marker. We had to take acetone to erase what was written with the dry erase marker. We lost over 2000$ job with this product and have to redo everything with another material. Plus their customer service did not give a sh*** about our problems and did not help at all.

 

[ColoPrinthead]

We use Avery's graffiti guard and have had no issues.

 

[D&D Graphx]

Thanks for your info.

 

[D&D Graphx]

Everyone had been a big help. I used it in 2010 I think and still on the signs great. Its funny they say only use up to 10' at a time. Still didnt last and even says works great with cal or cast vinyl. I have the rep coming soon so lets see them try. It needs to work on all jobs and not just in a lab.

Thanks everyone your are a big help over the years.