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which vinyl manufacturer is best or worst?

A

AD&M

New Member
I am buying Avery Vinyl currently but I was wondering if there is a notable difference between all the manufacturers. Oracal, Avery, Arlon?

Also I am considering buying supplies from a local place. I have been buying everything from Beacon because I saw them first basically. There is a place here in San Diego called Visual Systems and they're prices are about the same as Beacon (sans shipping). Any suggestions for San Diego? Is Visual Systems any good? Anyone have a suggestion?

Thanks for helping a noob :):U Rock:
 
AKWD

AKWD

New Member
I prefer 3M over Avery. Even current Avery vinyl seems to be squirrly for applying and working with compared to 3M. 3M is smooth as butter to me :) I do, however, want to try Arlon and Oracal; The issue is that the company that does Arlon nearby is hard as hell to get ahold of - Harder to get pricing, and I've yet to be able to actually order with them. Oracal I'd be getting from out of province unfortunately.
 
thomas barth

thomas barth

New Member
-Yes, I agree. Avoid Avery Vinyl. Only use it when you want something durable. Oh, we all know about the shrinkage problems they had a few years ago, and if you try you could still get some of the outdated material.
 
thomas barth

thomas barth

New Member
... but to answer the question about films, we use Avery, 3M, and MacTac. We use cast films instead of calendared films because we supply the automotive industry and need 7-year durability. We buy calendared films from FDC and use them for short term/temp signage.
 
Checkers

Checkers

New Member
The big difference between the manufacturers is support and warranty. As you can tell from some of the replies, Avery fell way short in this area and burned a lot of sign makers.
I guess what Thomas was saying is use the appropriate material for the project. For example,you really shouldn't use intermediate, calendered vinyl for wraps, because it doesn't conform well to irregular surfaces. Also, using high performance, cast vinyl on a temporary banner is a waste of money (although an insignificant amount if you're charging an appropriate price) because it probably would outlast the banner.
If you have a local supplier and they're knowledgable (not just order takers), I would try to patronize them as much as possible because you never know when they may be able to help you out of a pickle or land that special project/account.

Checkers
 
A

AD&M

New Member
Thanks guys. Looks like I am leaning toward white Oracal 651 for thermal printing and small decals. Is this easier to weed as well??

Mike
 
Mike Paul

Mike Paul

Super Active Member
Gerber 220 prints the best. Oracal 851, 751 & 651 also work fine for thermal printing.
Avoid Avery like the plague.
 
A

Arstron

New Member
For short term printing I have mainly been using Oracal 3641g and for covering corogated plastic I have started printing on the Oracal 3165ra. I really like the 3165ra so far, its a calendered vinyl with the textured adesive. It makes covering a 4x8 board with no mask as easy as can be, especially with the big squeege.
 
Fred Weiss

Fred Weiss

Merchant Member
AD&M said:
Thanks guys. Looks like I am leaning toward white Oracal 651 for thermal printing and small decals. Is this easier to weed as well??

Mike
Click to expand...

We use 3M, Oracal 651 and Oracal 751 for thermal printing. For whatever reason, we have noticed a significantly lower life to our print impressions on 651 vs. 751 or 3m Scotchcal. The 651 vinyl is just fine as is the look of the initial print but the impression in several cases has faded prematurely in outdoor use. I would recommend that you mainly use 751 for labels and decals that will see outdoor use in Southern California.
 
d fleming

d fleming

Premium Subscriber
Only used avery once in the last few years since they had all the trouble and left me hangin. I used it on a windshield of a customers showcar as it was the only vinyl we could find in the color he wanted to match the custom paint. For whatever reason I couldn't talk him into letting me do it off our printer. I told him I would not stand behind it at the time of install because of the product he made me use being Avery film. That was 6 months ago. I replaced it yesterday with a laminated digital print because the avery looked like it had been on ten years already, dried, burnt and curling on all edges. This is a show car, not a daily driver, not in the sun all the time and never hit with a windsheild wiper. Avery sucks, period.
 
gabagoo

gabagoo

New Member
Fred Weiss said:
We use 3M, Oracal 651 and Oracal 751 for thermal printing. For whatever reason, we have noticed a significantly lower life to our print impressions on 651 vs. 751 or 3m Scotchcal. The 651 vinyl is just fine as is the look of the initial print but the impression in several cases has faded prematurely in outdoor use. I would recommend that you mainly use 751 for labels and decals that will see outdoor use in Southern California.
Click to expand...


interesting that fade would be associated with the actual vinyl, I always felt that the fade would be the ink and shrinkage would be the vinyl. I have a shop door that faces due south and I put decals on there to see over time just how they will last and it is interesting to see how even decals of the same material will do different things. Some shrink fast, others don't and then others fade while others seem to hold the colour. I wonder if it isn't the mix and amount of ink that has something to do with fade.
 
Jillbeans

Jillbeans

New Member
Avery-Worst
MacTac-Crap
Accucut-OK
Oracal-Pretty damn good
Calon 2-never a failure in 10 years
3M-ditto
Love....Jill
 
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