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What material are these panels?

gplough

New Member
Can someone take a stab / let me know what material the panels are in this sign. It's backlit.

I appreciate it.
 

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BigfishDM

Merchant Member
Cast Translucent Vinyl on white polycarb or acrylic. I think all the vinyls will look the same as this, but make sure you use a good cast vinyl.
 

Gino

Premium Subscriber
Out of curiosity...... does that thing show up well at nighttime ??

My guess is cheap trans vinyl. It's kinda odd to see vinyl failing from all 4 sides at once. Try to get the vinyl to go out to the edge of the faces and not to the live area lip.
 

Dan360

New Member
We use calendared a lot for backlit and have never had issues, looks like it wasn't applied properly or cheap cheap stuff. They might have sliced it right at the frame and the vibrations after time started peeling the edges then it just kept going.
 

Gino

Premium Subscriber
We use calendared a lot for backlit and have never had issues, looks like it wasn't applied properly or cheap cheap stuff. They might have sliced it right at the frame and the vibrations after time started peeling the edges then it just kept going.


Some vibrations like these..............??

 

Texas_Signmaker

Very Active Signmaker
I'm thinking that's a flex face, the trim is huge if it's a rigid face, and the thing has no bow to it. You can see where the clips are over tensioned. They probably laid the flex face flat on the floor, stuck clear printed vinyl, then stretched it. BTW, never do that, either print direct to the face or stretch the face and then apply the graphics.
I used to carry an airsoft gun to plink signs with if I didn't want to drive a bucket truck out just to see what the face was made from. Couple of shots that thud and the face shakes, it's a flex face. Couple of higher pitched pinks and the pellets bounce really far, probably a plastic face.

Good observation, yes I agree. That would explain the vinyl falling off like that.... Only time I've seen vinyl sag or fall off was on flexface.
 

signbrad

New Member
The retainers look like the type I would make for a flexible face sign. It's hard to tell the scale from the picture. But if those retainers are three inches wide or so, that would point to a flexible face.
Also, when I have put new vinyl on an existing flexible face, I usually did it in place. The face was already stretched and squared up, so why remove it? Trimming the vinyl at the retainer edge does not seem like a good idea, though. But if the guy used cheap vinyl he may have also cut corners on the install, saving time by not removing the retainers for trimming.
By the way, flexible face material is very forgiving to accidental knife cuts when trimming in the field. If you cut through it it does not generally continue ripping. If the cuts are small they may not even be noticeable sometimes. A small cut can even be repaired with the little waterbed repair kits.

There could be a seam in the face but I can't see it.
 
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