What happened here? Bubbling

[Santimus]

Need help identifying this issue. We make a lot of these backlit sign faces and this hasn't happened before. Contractor customer has not returned the face he only sent me pictures so far. Could it be faulty roll of vinyl? Caused by the current heat wave we are having in California? Can the electronics inside be causing extra heat and causing this?

My customer is a contractor and installed themselves so I don't know whats inside the light box. The materials used on the face are 3/16" clear polycarbonate with a subsurface graphic on 3M 40C clear then laminate with white vinyl

 

[Boudica]

Could be a few reasons.....

Backlit Vinyl Bubbling After 3 Years

Hi Everyone, I came into work this morning to an email with this photo showing the entire surface of a sign we produced and installed 3 years ago bubbling up. This was Orajet 3850 Translucent (printed on HP latex) with a 3M8520 overlaminate, mounted to Lexan in a standard SignComp kit. I am...

www.signs101.com

My first thought though - you mentioned that you use 3M 40C.... we stopped using the air egress removable clear for this very reason. It happened on two different signs, two different locations at about the same time. Both were south facing signs. Now we use the Arlon permanent clear.

 

[JBurton]

Exact same issue, just accelerated because the sun is hitting the adhesive, making that bond weaker, and the outgassing lexan is sped up by our current heat wave. Question is, why not use a trans vinyl on the face with a print? I guess to match existing panels. It's a shame too, I bet yours looked better before this issue cropped up.
Solution in this case is to replace with acrylic, make sure your contractor knows he can't bounce the new face around like the poly one.

 

[Joe House]

Like discussed in the thread Boudica linked to, and for some reason this seems to be popping up a lot lately. We've had a couple of customers with similar complaints, but the spec sheet for 3m 40 states when applying to Polycarbonate -
"Might require drying with heat before use" If this was just installed, this is most likely the case, unless wet application was used with a comply adhesive. Acrylic doesn't seem to have this problem, but it has others, especially when rocks are used in the landscaping.

Good Luck

 

[Santimus]

Could be a few reasons.....

Backlit Vinyl Bubbling After 3 Years

Hi Everyone, I came into work this morning to an email with this photo showing the entire surface of a sign we produced and installed 3 years ago bubbling up. This was Orajet 3850 Translucent (printed on HP latex) with a 3M8520 overlaminate, mounted to Lexan in a standard SignComp kit. I am...

www.signs101.com

My first thought though - you mentioned that you use 3M 40C.... we stopped using the air egress removable clear for this very reason. It happened on two different signs, two different locations at about the same time. Both were south facing signs. Now we use the Arlon permanent clear.

Wow thanks for the link that was a wealth of knowledge in that other thread. Yeah we are definitely going to stop using the 40C for these applications.

Exact same issue, just accelerated because the sun is hitting the adhesive, making that bond weaker, and the outgassing lexan is sped up by our current heat wave. Question is, why not use a trans vinyl on the face with a print? I guess to match existing panels. It's a shame too, I bet yours looked better before this issue cropped up.
Solution in this case is to replace with acrylic, make sure your contractor knows he can't bounce the new face around like the poly one.

Yeah and to think I suggested he go with polycarb instead of acrylic to replace the broken panel so it won't break again

 

[Santimus]

If this was just installed, this is most likely the case, unless wet application was used with a comply adhesive. Acrylic doesn't seem to have this problem, but it has others, especially when rocks are used in the landscaping.

Definitely not wet mounted. Dry mount through our laminator only and yes that's exactly why we went with polycarb over acrylic

 

[JBurton]

Yeah and to think I suggested he go with polycarb instead of acrylic to replace the broken panel so it won't break again

Hey now, your suggestion holds true, that ain't going to break any time soon... Oh now what, you want something both bullet proof and pretty?