Question When to laminate?

[MonkeyTurnip]

Theres a million and 1 posts, blogs, topics etc on when its good to laminate a vinyl print...and depending on the writers personal view seem's to sway the answers.

But one question i can not get an answer on, does the quality of the printed vinyl matter when making a choice weather to laminate or not? I know this will matter as to the application, but just talking generally.

Will a cheaper vinyl need to be laminated more than a higher priced vinyl?

I understand )laminating for physical protection, and i guess in areas with high potential of this type of abuse (floor stickers in high traffic areas, vehicle stickers intended for long term use (5 year +). But if the intended use is low abuse, indoor is it necessary?

Ritrama has a 3 year vinyl, gurantee the colour for 3 years... but how durable is it?

I do cut vinyl graphics, and just starting out with printed. I will be in 3 main areas...

1, Small to medium car and motor stickers. Short term use, approx 1 year (Mostly hobby to low professional race car, if the sticker gets damaged i doubt it being laminated would have helped.

2, Internal signage stickers.

3, Side of cabinet/vending machine small to full panel 99.9% indoor use.

So i know this is a how long is a piece of string type question, but i would be interested in hearing your experiences.

 

[rydods]

Our business may be different from yours but we laminate everything. I don't care where it's going or how long our customer expects it to last. We also use a cast gloss laminate for almost everything and we charge for it. I'd rather see my products looking great for years no matter where they are applied, whether it's a coffee mug or a fleet of commercial vehicles. I also don't want to be switching laminate rolls on our laminator all the time.

 

[Signed Out]

Fading prints is much more dependent on your ink than the grade of vinyl you are using. Laminate always adds UV and scratch resistance. Higher grade vinyls don't shrink and crack as quickly as lower grade vinyls, that's the main difference.

 

[Stacey K]

1, Small to medium car and motor stickers. Short term use, approx 1 year (Mostly hobby to low professional race car, if the sticker gets damaged i doubt it being laminated would have helped. I don't laminate race car decals - or I ask them if they want laminate for an extra fee.
2, Internal signage stickers. I usually use a calendared matte laminate
3, Side of cabinet/vending machine small to full panel 99.9% indoor use. I don't do these but I would definitely laminate them.

 

[signheremd]

1. Race car - we mostly use intermediate and don't laminate as they change them once per year. For car graphics otherwise we use cast and laminate with cast (gloss)
2. We do more in cast than calendared and we are split between gloss and matte lamination
3. We would use cast and gloss laminate for these. Windex and other cleaners and smear the inks, the laminate protects it from this.

Laminate can change the sheen, protect from UVs and some vandalism, protect from cleaning products, and can make the colors pop more. Most of what we do is for businesses, so we use products that will last and look good - helps our reputation when our work lasts...

 

[MonkeyTurnip]

Thanks guys, i think you have finally convinced me to buy a laminator and go down that route.

 

[10sacer]

Your installer will appreciate having laminate on the graphic as it makes it a bit thicker and less likely to have stretch issues

 

[TSC1985]

Ya we laminate just about everything now that isn't corex or throw away event stuff. We were using arlon 3170 as that was a nice sweet spot but since that 86'd we have done the cast/cal combinations to save a few bucks.

 

[caribmike]

Theres a million and 1 posts, blogs, topics etc on when its good to laminate a vinyl print...and depending on the writers personal view seem's to sway the answers.

But one question i can not get an answer on, does the quality of the printed vinyl matter when making a choice weather to laminate or not? I know this will matter as to the application, but just talking generally.

Will a cheaper vinyl need to be laminated more than a higher priced vinyl?

I understand )laminating for physical protection, and i guess in areas with high potential of this type of abuse (floor stickers in high traffic areas, vehicle stickers intended for long term use (5 year +). But if the intended use is low abuse, indoor is it necessary?

Ritrama has a 3 year vinyl, gurantee the colour for 3 years... but how durable is it?

I do cut vinyl graphics, and just starting out with printed. I will be in 3 main areas...

1, Small to medium car and motor stickers. Short term use, approx 1 year (Mostly hobby to low professional race car, if the sticker gets damaged i doubt it being laminated would have helped.

2, Internal signage stickers.

3, Side of cabinet/vending machine small to full panel 99.9% indoor use.

So i know this is a how long is a piece of string type question, but i would be interested in hearing your experiences.

We laminate all printed vinyl. So, no need to wonder about what to laminate or what not to laminate.

 

[47CP]

For us, printed vinyl is so much harder to work with on install without laminate that we just started doing it on everything.

DaveW