Dry Erase Vinyl Failing. What to clean it with?

[TheSnowman]

I'm really starting to hate my life right now. I've had a couple failures come back in a couple days, and I'm tired of eating them all. I had Signs365 print me some dry-erase vinyl about 6 months ago, and the customer just sent me the picture below. They said they're cleaning it with Windex. I don't know if that's the problem or not. I asked 365 what we should or should not use on it to prolong it's life so I'm not eating the cost of replacing them every 6 months (since 365 says they have zero warranty on them) and they said they weren't able to advise me to anything.

So my question is, has anyone seen this stuff do this, and is the Windex the culprit? Just trying to find some kind of an answer.

 

[signed off]

if they are rolling it up, that is the culprit. Dry erase has to stay flat

 

[TrustMoore_TN]

I'm really starting to hate my life right now. I've had a couple failures come back in a couple days, and I'm tired of eating them all. I had Signs365 print me some dry-erase vinyl about 6 months ago, and the customer just sent me the picture below. They said they're cleaning it with Windex. I don't know if that's the problem or not. I asked 365 what we should or should not use on it to prolong it's life so I'm not eating the cost of replacing them every 6 months (since 365 says they have zero warranty on them) and they said they weren't able to advise me to anything.

So my question is, has anyone seen this stuff do this, and is the Windex the culprit? Just trying to find some kind of an answer.

Windex doesn't cut it long term. Do a quick search for home made white board cleaner. We experimented with several of the combinations and the best we found was 60% H20 and 40% Hand Sanitizer. Worked great for the white boards we had in our shop that we couldn't get the ghosting off. H20 and IPA would probably produce similar results.

 

[TheSnowman]

They aren't rolling it. It's on a magnetic dry erase board, they just needed a grid on it for scheduling jobs, so I just ordered the dry erase material from 365 for it. They have like 5 of these and all the others are fine. Just can't figure out what's causing it. I'll research these other cleaning options.

 

[J Hill Designs]

not sure why they are even cleaning it...dry erase should ....erase .... dry

 

[Gino]

Many things will cause the dry erase board to not behave the way it should, from certain colors, to the wrong brand of markers not being compatible with the dry erase used, to how long it's been on or how old it is, but this product will clean most anything off. We have our board up for 15 years and it still erases without a problem, but I think blue is a killer to get off, so we coax it a little with this stuff and 'presto' it's gone.

Branford Expo​

 

[TheSnowman]

It came in a tube from 365. Whatever they print on (I assume it was 3651) with a dry erase laminate.

 

[Andy D]

Also, dry-erase vinyl and dry-erase laminate manufactures list the type of pens
should be used with their product. In your case, whoever you subbed this print project to
should have this information. This is what I send to all of our customers that I copied from
the manufacturers website:

For best results, we suggest the following dry erase brand marking pens:
Avery Marks-a-lot® (chisel point), Expo Scents® (chisel point), Expo Bold color® (chisel point), Expo regular® (chisel point) brand marking pens.

 

[Andy D]

Sorry, should looked at the picture before I commented...
I doubt that is a product failure, someone had to put some kind of harsh
cleaning product on the laminate for it have done that... or else the rolled it with the laminate to the inside
and left it in a hot car, who knows, someone screwed up and they're hoping you will cover their @ss.

 

[synergy_jim]

we recommend soap and water cleaning. Windex is the worst thing you could ever use on it.

In any failures we have had in the past 3 things usually cause it.

1) Not rolling a print laminate side out

2) cleaning with windex

3) too much tension on the laminator when applying. It stresses and already thin film and will cause failures.

 

[JoeBoomer]

Defective lam; Prob. from laminator pressure

Looks like the laminator wasn't putting enough pressure. That's not caused by the wrong pens or even cleaning solutions. It could be that the lam wasn't pressed down enough and cleaning solutions got between the vinyl and laminate. I'd hit up 365, they should give you a replacement.

I'm dealing with that now with my POS Royal Sovereign laminator.

 

[JoeBoomer]

Clean w/ alcohol

Also, you should clean it with Alcohol. That's the safest and most effective. If you ever get it where it is still kind of not coming off or "ghosting", draw all over it with a dry erase marker and then wipe it off, it helps to re-wet the baked on dry erase and makes it easier to remove.

 

[TheSnowman]

The substrates they gave me had a frame on them, so I laid them down by hand when they were laid down. 365 already said they have zero warranty on it, so that's why I'm even more wanting to make sure I figure out what's up, and my guess is the Windex. I have to stand behind the product, rather the guy that prints it chooses to or not. Kind of puts a bad taste in your mouth, but you gotta do what's best for your name in these situations.

 

[Christian @ 2CT Media]

Windex is fine if ammonia free.

That looks like something more than cleaning, we use a standard high loss lam for dry erase, it works fine for us... and it if get hard spray some alcohol and wipe it clean.

 

[Zendavor Signs]

My experience with dry erase lam is that it is very sensitive to heat. I had a job do that once when it was put in a nursing home (it was quite warm in there). I re-did the job with Avery Anti-Graffiti Lam and had no problems.

 

[XtremeXccessories]

Windex is fine if ammonia free.

My first thought was that they're using a Windex with ammonia. We use an ammonia mixture to remove old tint from back windows with defrost lines. It works its way through the film and attacks the adhesive, I'd say that's what's happening here.