Question How do you apply

[Craig Sjoquist]

Problem... How do you apply 30" wide translucent vinyl 12 feet long horizontally ?

Ways I have put translucent vinyl before ..Vertically with water smaller areas.. Dry apply longer sheets no transfer paper with some success & hand cut letters after both

This time I tried with plotter cut vinyl with transfer paper & applied slowly ..Results it wrinkled wrinkled wrinkled badly & got off track just plain bad.

Now the customer wants bigger letters so everything changes anyway
How do you apply .. the acrylic is a pan face almost 3 feet by 12 feet way to heavy for one person to pull out so I am doing on site or is this the only way to apply vinyl, is to pull out face ?
I also have a smaller one 2 x 8 to do

Thank you

 

[visual800]

it sure would help with another human however I would use a felt 6" squeegee and tape in middle and roll up one end and go at a little at a time. it will work but it will wear you out, Id do it dry

 

[GaSouthpaw]

A solid piece, or individual letters/objects (I'm confused the "plotter cut vinyl" description)?
For a solid piece that size, up in the air (since you're saying it's too hard to remove by yourself), I'd suggest a scissor lift that you can walk back and forth on. Hinge it in the middle and apply. As you've already discovered, doing it on a ladder solo is a mofo.
If it's cut vinyl, tape it up where it's supposed to go then cut apart elements and apply individually.

 

[Gino]

I would never want to put a 3' x 12' piece of vinyl on a face up in the air, even with a scissors lift. You can't control bugs, dust/dirt or any other contaminates flying around up there, especially by yourself. Price it out for the rental of a unit to take it down, bring it in, do it properly and then put it back up. Otherwise, you're gonna run into all kindsa risks of things going wrong, not to mention something dangerous happening in your process. I know obtaining a permit might not ask you your process for doing this, but they are presuming you are doing this in a safely manageable fashion.

Like mentioned, if these are individual letters, then you can do it off a ladder, a lift or bucket truck.

You might want to stick to what you can do and not attempt things over your head (no pun). Does your insurance cover you up like that ??

 

[boxerbay]

I dont mess with crazy stuff like that. I call and have a bucket truck guy i know quote me to remove the sign, bring to my shop, and reinstall after i have done the work. this way i have clean work area, no wind, no debris flying around. I have my laminator to wet mount the long 144x30 translucent piece.

 

[bannertime]

IF this is just cut vinyl letters. Find the center of the graphic and mark it with a wide marker. Find the center of where the graphic is going to be installed, place some masking tape on the sign and mark the measurement on the tape. Do the same for the rest of the measurements. I prefer a good 3M Painters tape to hold it in place, like the [HASHTAG]#2094[/HASHTAG] 2in wide tape. Tape the whole thing up. Make a few cuts and lay them in parts. The other way is to do a top hinge and lay each letter individually vertically instead of a few letters at a time horizontally. This does work for printed graphics, but that would be too risky to install onsite and need to be brought in.

Having a bucket truck or lift can help. You don't have to be moving the ladder all over the place. Make sure you leave an open labor charge clause and charge enough for the lift.

 

[oldgoatroper]

You said it was a pan-face? i.e., the face is a (slightly) curved surface, not flat?

 

[Craig Sjoquist]

Thank You yawl for responding

This is one whole sheet of vinyl with reverse cut letters

The best way so far is yes take the pan face down with help, I am using scaffolding on site & yes my insurance covers injury, plus I am very use to safely using & limit my height I will go also , since I am 67 shortly, 3 sections scaffolding is as high as I go with no problems.

Also I have learned that water or Rapid Tac application & yes fold in center will also help with help of another person to hold as it slowly gets squeegeed down, the backing on translucent is plastic, so this gets heavy & needs to be cut every few feet as peeling back & installing

Today's result with customer on signs

After talking with customer & me not 100% sure I can get a clean install, job was canceled & paid for for what was successful, that covered my costs
Later this afternoon customer re calls & changes to just cut letters but bigger, so I got the job back & which I 1st tried to sell in the beginning because it is a white pan face on a rust red background building The green chosen was Kelly green so still good contrast & still will be on white surface.

This I can install no problems

Lesson to me will be stick to what I know I can do, reverse cut vinyl installs will have to wait till I know I can successfully install inside & with help

Please add anything that will help, because it will happen again 4 reverse cut letters in one week & my work has picked up so expect it will happen again

Thank you Craig