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Anyone use Mactac (or another brand) frosted vinyl with air release?

neato

New Member
I have a client asking to cover a 28" tall by 87" wide interior window with frosted vinyl and his logo reverse cut. I'm a little hesitant to tackle this with regular vinyl, but may have to.

The other issue is I only have a 24" cutter. Was hoping to find someone who would want to cut this for me.

If you can, let me know and I'll PM you.
 

FatCat

New Member
We have used the B-Free vinyl from Mactac and it works well - just like any other air-egress vinyl really.
However, the only thing I will mention is that because it is an air egress much of how it looks initially depends on your stroke pressure.
So, if you stroke or rub hard in one area the frost appears a bit darker initially, but after a few weeks or so the adhesive wets-out and it all looks pretty much the same.
(This is one of those things you'll have to explain to your customer in case you see some dark blotchy areas after install.)

Good luck!
 

ProColorGraphics

New Member
I will second that it looks VERY Streaky when you first get done, but does even out over time.

I also thought that it creased very easy. And once it did, it wasn't coming out. I did do a job where I printed on it and laminated it with a matte laminate. That worked out great!
 

zeeky120

New Member
Ive used the Mactac B-free before, and it is such a pain to install. Stroke marks are no joke, they are very, very visable for weeks after install (they do eventually fade though); This, plus the inability to use liquid to install makes this a very difficult prospect. Although, I would say that after the stoke marks have faded, it has a very nice frost finish.

For this job, I would personally divide up the window into multiple panels to be able to cut their logo on your cutter. If you can, design it with a stripe of glass showing above and below the frost so that you don't have to worry with seeing the seam lines. I would use a different frost as well. Personally, I am partial to Oracal 210 laminate. It provides a very nice frosting, can be installed wet, and is pretty forgiving for frost.
 

jfiscus

Rap Master
We have used the Mactac before with great results. We had to do multiple large windows in dot patterns that just would never work right in regular 3M frosted. (windows in picture are around 9'x4')
 

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Zendavor Signs

Mmmmm....signs
Ive used the Mactac B-free before, and it is such a pain to install. Stroke marks are no joke, they are very, very visable for weeks after install (they do eventually fade though); This, plus the inability to use liquid to install makes this a very difficult prospect. Although, I would say that after the stoke marks have faded, it has a very nice frost finish.

For this job, I would personally divide up the window into multiple panels to be able to cut their logo on your cutter. If you can, design it with a stripe of glass showing above and below the frost so that you don't have to worry with seeing the seam lines. I would use a different frost as well. Personally, I am partial to Oracal 210 laminate. It provides a very nice frosting, can be installed wet, and is pretty forgiving for frost.
Interesting. You use Oracal 210 matte overlaminate as a frost vinyl? I have found that the 210 matte laminate as well as Mactac Frost vinyls do not hold up well long term outdoors. Must be something about the matte texture that absorbs more heat/sunlight.
 
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