• I want to thank all the members that have upgraded your accounts. I truly appreciate your support of the site monetarily. Supporting the site keeps this site up and running as a lot of work daily goes on behind the scenes. Click to Support Signs101 ...

Wet Application on Glass

captainron19

New Member
I have alway encountered trouble using rapid tac on glass for a wet application. (Fluid never seemed to dry well)

I have to do a window tomorrow and a portion of it will be a wet application. I bought some "Window Juice" from my distributor. I was wondering how well it works. And also the window may be a little cold - outside temp about 50 or so. Should I warm the window up with my heat gun or will the window juice be ok?
 

captainron19

New Member
Why are people who prefer to sometime utilize a wet application always critizied???

Dont get me wrong I value opinions from others and if you prefer dry that is fine but there are sometime circumstances that in my opinion do warrant a wet application.

So when a question is asked and you feel the need to send me a PM next time and call me stupid for doing wet or an amateur for not having the ability to perform a dry application keep your opinions to yourself.

I am not bashing the people here that informed me of a dry dry dry (although I would of appreciated an answer to my question) but instead to the individuals who felt the need to go out of your way and actually send me a PM to bash me....YOU MAKE ME SICK

Forums like this are not intended to bash people for their ideas and ways but instead meant to educate people and provide needed information.

And yes to answer the question for the idiot that sent me a PM I am not a full time vinyl installer, I am a firefighter full time and I do vinyl on the side. So yes maybe you think the small business person who does it on the side is ruining your full time business ... if thats the case TOO BAD !

I dont get mad when dispatched to a fire and I found out someone already put it out with a fire extinguisher.

Sorry everyone had to vent!
 

32bantum

New Member
I have alway encountered trouble using rapid tac on glass for a wet application. (Fluid never seemed to dry well)

I have to do a window tomorrow and a portion of it will be a wet application. I bought some "Window Juice" from my distributor. I was wondering how well it works. And also the window may be a little cold - outside temp about 50 or so. Should I warm the window up with my heat gun or will the window juice be ok?


Most prefer dry on glass, however there are those instances when you need a little room for adjustment. When the case arises I put a little application fluid on a lint free rag and moisten the glass then apply. It gives you just enough for wiggle room without having to wet the entire application and hope it dries before tomorrow. Once you get the masking paper off it it should be fine.
 

ddarlak

Go Bills!
I dont get mad when dispatched to a fire and I found out someone already put it out with a fire extinguisher.

LOL that was funny.... but it made me think, of course you wouldn't be upset as you were paid anyway....

the dry dry dry answers you are receiving are experienced sign people telling you , don't do it that way. i've been sticking sticky stickers along time, and used to stick windows wet.... there's a reason i don't anymore. try it
 

captainron19

New Member
Most prefer dry on glass, however there are those instances when you need a little room for adjustment. When the case arises I put a little application fluid on a lint free rag and moisten the glass then apply. It gives you just enough for wiggle room without having to wet the entire application and hope it dries before tomorrow. Once you get the masking paper off it it should be fine.


OMG! An answer! A sincere and informative one. Thanks 32!
 
i say out the dirtbag that pm'd you but hey that;s just me.

be very cautious about warming up windows. the best way to do this is to let the buidling heat up indoors and wait for the warmest part of the day to install. i have seen too many people break too many windows heating them up.
 

JR's

New Member
I broke a door and a window heating them up. use performance cast vinyl and dry its quicker then whet but you can do whet it just takes a long time.

JR
 

iSign

New Member
I've done numerous wet apps on windows. it's given me grief many times too, but on a full coverage application, my application skills should be in the top half of my peers... but I ain't the best of the best, and sometimes a window is just too much in the front & center eye level line of scrutiny to put up with even the slightest imperfections.

Sure I can get a perfect application applying dry.. but not EVERY time. Doing wet applications, when it might be a 4' x 6 foot panel, I might be doing it without a helping hand... and there might be a fierce wind as well...

Hell, even a 2x3 with a little wind, I got no shame busting out the spray bottle...

So, Ron... If you apply app fluid, CLEAN the window very good first! Don't let it remain oily. Once it's completely clean and dry, I'll spray my application fluid on the top half of the window more than the rest because the fluid will run down as you squeegee. Another thing is I might NOT spray the top 2 inches or so, to help me get the app tape removal started easier. Sometimes I might even remove some fluid halfway through the process... as you squeegee down, and force almost all the accumulated fluid from above, you will clearly have excessive moisture. reach down (while holding the half applied graphic) and squeegee the excess down, then proceed. You should be applying with a firm squeegee pressure all the time, & from applying dry you should be good at that, but wet apps can make you lazy, but don't let them... you STILL need firm pressure to remove that moisture. (but that often needs to be a two step process, because to firm of pressure when things are floating, can force things to move, especially with side-to-side squeegees technique... so think of tacking it down first, but always reach back up with those overlapping strokes & apply a little more pressure the second time over areas that have been tacked down with lighter pressure on the first go round)

After I'm done applying a wet application on glass, I will squeegee again, with even harder pressure. Then if you have another window, or other sign work, move on... let that dry as long as it's convenient.

When time to remove tape, I'll start at that dry inch or two on top. The tape should get started easy if it was a dry app on top... then I will spray some water on the application tape. You don't need to use expensive fluid here, just water. This will lessen the grip of the application tape adhesive. Now, I'll tear my 2' 3' or 4' wide tape into about 8" or 12" wide wide strips & fold it down over my graphic... pull straight down, so very little pressure is tending to lift the vinyl back off the window. WATCH OUT for a wave or ripple starting to form though. If the graphic comes unstuck enough to stretch & form this wave, STOP.

I've pulled tape down with the graphic stretching & removed a full 3' x 8' tape while also managing to allow this wave to grow along the bottom or my tape removing process, all the way down for 8 feet... but it makes me nervous & I'll usually abandon the 8" strips idea if this happen. I abandon the strips idea because if the "wave" of stretching will be tolerated & dealt with all the way to the bottom, it obviously has to occur evenly across the entire job, so I have pulled the entire width of tape off while allowing this weird ripple phenomenon, but the best thing is to stop, squeegee again, & go to lunch for a while and/or try working from the center out as noted below.

The other thing I've had to try many time is to very carefully pick away at the transfer tape surface right in the middle of the job. You can make a hole & pick away some more to grab a corner & start removing the tape from the middle. It seems to dry first there, & there is greater surface tension there, so i often rip my way in, create 8" strips (or odd triangular sections radiating out from center) & remove the tape out towards the edges.
 

Jillbeans

New Member
I try to do dry on glass but sometimes you just have to go wet.
I prefer to use Rapid Tac 2 in this situation.
I have never tried Window Juice but the one person whom I knew who did switched to RT2 after trying mine!
Love....Jill
 

ABPGraphics

New Member
I have put window graphics on wet and then walked away for the day leaving the tranfer tape on the graphics until the end of the day or come back the next day and remove the transfer tape
 

animenick65

New Member
Wet is sometimes the way you have to go. Apply as you normally would, then move on to the next piece, leaving the transfer tape on while it dries for a bit. The main thing is not to leave bubbles of fluid beneath the vinyl.
 

Ponto

New Member
...either or, depending on the scale of the graphic... the end result is what counts !!!

JP
 
Top