help please: Printable frosted vinyl

[KH t's n Signs]

Hey guys, and gals,

I am looking for a printable frosted vinyl. I know there is the cut film but here is what I am trying to do.

Customer is turning an old airstream into a food trailer. They want the windows "blocked out" but something a little classier than just white vinyl with their info on it. I was thinking of doing the frosted vinyl and then just apply the info over top but that would significantly raise the cost. They want a longer lasting product than window perf otherwise I would go that route. They are also looking for some light to shine through.

another option I thought about was window tint and then just cut graphics.

Anyone have any suggestions on frosted or even maybe another idea that would still look nicer than regular white vinyl?

Any help or ideas appreciated.

 

[myront]

We use Avery Dennison SC5861 Etchmark Etched Glass Film
with our Latex HP's.

 

[mim]

We love the Aslan DFL 300 or 302.

 

[bob]

If you're wrangling a solvent or eco-solvent printer you can pretty much print on most any flavor of vinyl. I've printied on all manner of vinyl, including etched and/or frosted, which are pretty much the same thing. Beware that you'll get sa color shift when printing non-white media since your white point is the media.

 

[RabidOne]

We recently printed Concept 790AE LT etch with white ink for office dividers for the local university.
The results were excellent and we have since done something similar on a few more jobs.

 

[tbullo]

We also like the Concept 790AE as well. Prints nice and easy to apply.

 

[Patentagosse]

I use Hexis and it's also bubble-free so you can apply it dry. Great film, never had comebacks. Prints fine on my Roland.

 

[Clive Turner]

Intercoat 1693D17P3 fully printable bubble free air-escape frosted Etch like the Aslan DFL300 but not that price. We sell loads in the UK and most customers love this product.

 

[jfiscus]

We use MacTac B-Free perf mostly now, and it prints great. I would recommend laminating it with a matte laminate if you print it and it is going on a trailer. Since you're in Ohio, call Trigon Imaging and see what all they have/recommend.

 

[Joseph44708]

General Formulations has a great etched glass vinyl

 

[Melks]

We use Avery Dennison SC5861 Etchmark Etched Glass Film
with our Latex HP's.

What profile do you run when printing in this etch film on the HP Latex printer?

 

[MarkSnelling]

I've got great frosted vinyl in stock in Cleveland from Nekoosa. Great pricing as well for a polymeric vinyl.

 

[bob]

What profile do you run when printing in this etch film on the HP Latex printer?

Use whatever profile you use for plain old vanilla white vinyl. If you have more than one you have too many. Use a profile that has all Rendering Intents save Bitmap to "No Color Correction" and set Bitmaps to "Perceptual". Use the highest dither algorithm. Use RGB especially for bitmaps. What comes out of the printer is the truth and you should adjust your input to alter your output, not whatever profile you happen to be using.

 

[Sky Bryan]

I installed some cast window perf with lam 8 years ago. Exterior gets some direct sun, still looks brand new.

 

[JRF]

Use whatever profile you use for plain old vanilla white vinyl. If you have more than one you have too many. Use a profile that has all Rendering Intents save Bitmap to "No Color Correction" and set Bitmaps to "Perceptual". Use the highest dither algorithm. Use RGB especially for bitmaps. What comes out of the printer is the truth and you should adjust your input to alter your output, not whatever profile you happen to be using.

Hi, what do you mean when you say "if you have more than one you have too many"? We use 3 different vinyl medias and each has a different white point, so using the same profile on all of them yields 3 different colors.

 

[907Natalie]

We use Orafol 8510 Etched - Good price point and it prints great on our HP Latex printers. The installers love it too (wet apply).

 

[Melks]

We use Orafol 8510 Etched - Good price point and it prints great on our HP Latex printers. The installers love it too (wet apply).

Good to know. What profile do you run the Orafol 8510 Etched with in the HP Latex printer?

 

[Bengt Backhaus]

Good to know. What profile do you run the Orafol 8510 Etched with in the HP Latex printer?

Another vote for 8510. I tried a lot of etched vinyls and its by far the best/easiest to install.
I use my ordinary vinyl profile on my HP310.

 

[Maria_Kennedy]

As an alternative to printing on frost, we've cut out logos or just lines and curves or shapes. It looks really beautiful and classy. It also means you don't have to worry about ink/vinyl matching problems.

 

[johnnysigns]

We use the GF 790 AE as well, been good to us with everything we've done with it on our latex printer or just plotter cut.