How many different vinyls do you regularly use?

[iPrintStuff]

So about a year ago we switched from using polymeric and monomeric vinyls and laminates to full polymeric (basically we stopped using the really cheap stuff). I’m pretty sure I got the idea from a member here.

when doing this, we also switched to only Matt vinyls. We used to have Matt and gloss mono, mat and gloss polymeric, Matt and gloss cast and then the same again but with laminates. (We chose Matt as the only prints we didn’t laminate were always Matt).

so we went from 6 regular vinyls and 6 regular lam to 2 vinyls and 4 lam. (We just use the laminate to choose between Matt or gloss finish now). 99% of the time it’s gloss lam so the only time we change rolls now is when they run out.

This has saved us countless hours on changing rolls and changing laminates. Also a lot less chance of you removing a roll and a job cones in on that media.

It costs a little extra on materials but that evens out with all the vinyl/lam we save from not switching rolls and leading/trailing edges on the vinyl and lam.

Definitely something to look into. Been a life saver during this COVID mess where everyone wants their prints ASAP. Definitely streamlined our productivity. Also don’t know about you guys but it’s saved us a LOT of space not needing to retain a decent stock of 6 different vinyls. Now it’s just 2!

 

[GAC05]

I've saved on materials and ink costs by printing far less during the lockdown (not by choice, but still saving).

I35 for the temp stuff and IJ180 for vehicles & long term signs.
Few rolls of odd stuff - window perf, translucent for menus, and Ij40cR for floor graphics.

 

[ikarasu]

We use a cheap generic brand for temp stuff.

Ij 35 for anything under a year... Ij 40 for intermediate.. 180 for anything long term or wraps. The we have high tac vinyl for plywood / powder coated stuff. Wall vinyl.

Then we have 6 white reflectives... 3 yellow... 2 orange..

Then we have clears.... Window perf... Idot, etc.

For overlam we have medium term gloss and matte and luster, cast matte and gloss... Anti graffiti wrap, anti graffiti flat sign, pebble, dry erase... A few customer specific ones, And that's just stuff we use all the time.... Lots of specialty vinyls.

I have a rack of about 40 vinyls we print on and a rack of 20 overlam. All stuff we use at least once a week... I wish I could cut down to a few different rolls, trust me. It's a pain.... Keeping track of inventory alone is brutal, let alone all the switching of materials.

 

[iPrintStuff]

We use a cheap generic brand for temp stuff.

Ij 35 for anything under a year... Ij 40 for intermediate.. 180 for anything long term or wraps. The we have high tac vinyl for plywood / powder coated stuff. Wall vinyl.

Then we have 6 white reflectives... 3 yellow... 2 orange..

Then we have clears.... Window perf... Idot, etc.

For overlam we have medium term gloss and matte and luster, cast matte and gloss... Anti graffiti wrap, anti graffiti flat sign, pebble, dry erase... A few customer specific ones, And that's just stuff we use all the time.... Lots of specialty vinyls.

I have a rack of about 40 vinyls we print on and a rack of 20 overlam. All stuff we use at least once a week... I wish I could cut down to a few different rolls, trust me. It's a pain.... Keeping track of inventory alone is brutal, let alone all the switching of materials.

We do have a lot of the specialty vinyls but I was more talking the run of the mill stuff.

Essentially, for your case, instead of the IJ35 we’d print everything short to medium term on the IJ40. Even just that little switch has saved us a bunch of time.

That and instead of buying in matt and gloss of the two vinyls we just use Matt now.

 

[victor bogdanov]

We primarily do wall decals, not really in the "sign" business. USE oracal 631 and 651 plus a few material for printing. Keep a roll of every color in stock so that would be close to 200 colors/materials we use. Oracal is killing us with the backorders on some colors, waiting 8+ weeks on some colors. Definitely don't enjoy keeping all those rolls but I have every color memorized

 

[Pewter0000]

We also use cheaper generic stuff for temp signage, high quality matte for our longer term signage, cast vehicle vinyl, a number of different orocals for cut, scrim banner, etched vinyl, window perf, a few specialty rolls leftover from projects.. lots of rolls back here! but we really go through mainly the cheap temp stuff and our one brand of high quality stuff.

 

[iPrintStuff]

Yeah we probably have about 40 open rolls of material in the print room and about 30 rolls of open cut vinyl. We’ve just dramatically reduced the amount of different printable vinyls we carry.

The material and time we save by not having to switch as many rolls and chopping and changing laminates more than offsets the slightly dearer vinyl. Definitely a big improvement for us with regards to efficiency.

 

[WYLDGFI]

We have a couple dozen along with lamination of every flavor.

 

[WYLDGFI]

We have a couple dozen along with lamination of every flavor.

 

[Boudica]

Regularly used vinyl... about 4 that we print on, and two "colors" white and black for un-printed cut vinyl. We have a lot of options, but regularly I'd say I use about 4 different: IJ35C (10 & 20), Ij180, IJ40 and Hi-tac. oh, and perf and clear (LOL, the list grows)

Plus 6, 8, 12 mil poster, backlit and Dreamscapes wall paper, static cling

 

[iPrintStuff]

We genuinely have about 8 different poster papers too. 80gsm, 135gsm, 150, 190, 200, 250 and 200 gsm waterproof, then 200gsm polypropylene. (All also need looked at).

Trying to train a new guy and he asked how we know what one to use. You just know, silly.

 

[CSOCSO]

ij40 for any flat surface. short or long term ( I have dozens of box trucks out there with no rivets that has 40c on sides and back for over 5 years and holds up better than 180 on the hood)
And use ij175 for car wraps. 180 costs way too much.

 

[rjssigns]

Orajet 3640 for temporary, Arlon 6000XRP/3220 for boats, vehicles, industrial labeling etc., and Solvex window perf. If I need anything other than that I sub it out. Got tired of paying carrying costs on stuff that I rarely used.

 

[Notarealsignguy]

ij40 for any flat surface. short or long term ( I have dozens of box trucks out there with no rivets that has 40c on sides and back for over 5 years and holds up better than 180 on the hood)
And use ij175 for car wraps. 180 costs way too much.

What lam on the IJ40?