Clear laminate over Sign Gold/Real Gold

[SellersSign&Design]

I am making several signs for a fire department using Real Gold brand 22kt. vinyl, which brought up this question... How do you handle the little air gaps around the letters when you put laminate over top? When I do a job with Real Gold or Sign Gold I always put clear laminate over top that extends past the edge of the gold to seal the edges. I squeegee it down, then go back with my finger and smooth out around the edges of all the gold where the laminate has to transition from on top of the gold to the sign or truck or whatever the lettering is on. I usually also use a very small amount of heat from a heat gun to help set it. But there is still always a little bit of a "tent" or air pocket where the laminate won't perfectly smooth down at the edge of the letter. It isn't much, it is actually hard to see unless you get really close to it, but I don't like it. Most trucks I have seen that were lettered at the factory look like they just put the laminate over top and didn't worry about taking the extra steps to make sure the laminate is down tight all the way up tight to the letters. Does anyone have any tricks for this? Or am I the only one who worries about this?

 

[reQ]

Maybe liquid laminate is a solution for you then??

 

[SignosaurusRex]

Sounds like you are doing everything correctly and getting good results. The only extra step I didn't see mention of is lightly poking with a fresh X-Acto knife tip, one or two spots along the air pockets at the edge of each letter. Doing so will allow any excess trapped air to escape. The micro hole that is left, will seal up with adhesive flow once the excess air is pressed out and heat applied as a final step.

 

[SellersSign&Design]

Sounds like you are doing everything correctly and getting good results. The only extra step I didn't see mention of is lightly poking with a fresh X-Acto knife tip, one or two spots along the are pockets at the edge of each letter. Doing so will allow any excess trapped air to escape. The micro hole that is left, will seal up with adhesive flow once the excess air is pressed out and heat applied as a final step.

That does the trick! While experimenting tonight I tried poking one or two places along each letter just like you said and it worked great. I have used a bunch of Real Gold vinyl. Some of it was edge sealed with a SealIt pen, which works pretty good. But most of it was done with clear laminate, and it has always been a pain. But this makes it much easier. I still have blisters on the tips of my fingers from pressing the clear down, but I guess that's the price of doing business!