Suggestions Laminated Decals Not Always Coming Up with the Premask / Transfer Tape

[jochwat]

Hi there. After searching, I've found some information on this situation and have even used some of the solutions / products for past issues, but it's come up again and it's a fight that the boss is not wanting to have any longer.

We use Briteline High-Tack transfer tape. All transfer tape is applied through a cold laminator. The majority of this particular customer's decals are produced on a Gerber Edge FX on clear vinyl. No issues whatsoever with premask performance. Same can be said for unlaminated, printed vinyl, which is usually a semi-gloss product from a company named Ritrama, now owned by MacTac. All of this, when unlaminated, works wonderfully.

However, a good amount of these decals are printed on Ritrama which is then laminated with a Ritrama gloss laminate product. Most larger, one-piece decals are no big deal. But now some of their products contain some very small die-cut characters/text, as small as 1/4" in height, standard bold font. And the lowercase i's are dotted, yes. Some of these small characters come up with the premask. Most do not. This has become a problem.

To dive deeper into the workings of this: the Ritrama vinyl has an aggressive adhesive. And of course, the laminate is slicker than an unlaminated, bare (but printed). I feel like the balancing act of how the transfer tape works is getting adversely affected by these two factors.

My first question to you is: is this expected, given the circumstances? I personally have dealt with this with past projects, and I'd just squeegee it down from the back/liner side, and then as I remove the tape, "baby" it when necessary and "bend" off any problem characters. But is this something that can be avoided? SHOULD I have to do this? Or should I be able to produce these decals with transfer tape, and know that the end customer will be able to remove the tape, all vinyl attached intact, without any issue?

My second question is (if the answer to the last question above is "yes"), what do I need to do? The cutting appears fine and we can weed the items out successfully (as well as one can do with a bunch of small text). We're using high-tack tape, and have also tried RTape Conform 4075RLA to see if it made a difference (it did not). The only success I get with these is the extra burnishing, and then the babying.

Can you confirm that this is "just how it is" given the product mix, and this is common? Or in your experience, should this work as the customer expects / wishes?

Thank you!

-Joe

 

[DL Signs]

When it comes to pre-mask some just work better than others with different scenarios, they're not all created equal. We use Rtape for most stuff, but have to stock Transfer Rite pre-mask for one client, it's the only one we've found that works with the vinyl/ lam specs for decals we provide for them. Maybe try to get some samples of their products, and maybe try Oratape to see if it gives any better results than the Briteline or Rtape.

 

[victor bogdanov]

Smaller text will be harder to work with, i do a lot of small text and the smaller it is the harder it is for it to stick to the transfer tape. Just how it is I guess

 

[Joseph44708]

Try a lower tack transfer tape.

 

[SlikGRFX]

I can recommend Oratape HT95

 

[jochwat]

Appreciate all the comments here, thank you very much!

As I was calling around for some sample tapes to test out, I spoke with a CSR from a vendor that we've never worked with before (TrimUSA). After discussing the issues, she said she's heard that it can work much better to put the decal tape-side down, liner-side up, and peel back the liner instead of peeling back the tape. Never heard of this, never had to do it, never did it. And I'll be damned. What was either impossible or very time-consuming and frustrating before, was now either effortless, or much faster with a little finagling along the way. Best results came when running the squeegee across it on the liner side 2-3 times, and then peeling the liner back. Pretty sure as long as the customer knows to do it this way, they will have little to no issues with the product.

 

[DL Signs]

Appreciate all the comments here, thank you very much!

As I was calling around for some sample tapes to test out, I spoke with a CSR from a vendor that we've never worked with before (TrimUSA). After discussing the issues, she said she's heard that it can work much better to put the decal tape-side down, liner-side up, and peel back the liner instead of peeling back the tape. Never heard of this, never had to do it, never did it. And I'll be damned. What was either impossible or very time-consuming and frustrating before, was now either effortless, or much faster with a little finagling along the way. Best results came when running the squeegee across it on the liner side 2-3 times, and then peeling the liner back. Pretty sure as long as the customer knows to do it this way, they will have little to no issues with the product.

That's one of those things that I, and probably most have been doing for so long that we don't even think about recommending to others. Yes, it's almost always better to do it that way. Glad you found a solution, and that it was so simple.

 

[jochwat]

That's one of those things that I, and probably most have been doing for so long that we don't even think about recommending to others. Yes, it's almost always better to do it that way. Glad you found a solution, and that it was so simple.

Most of this customer's products are printed on unlaminated, clear vinyl on a Gerber Edge FX, which comes right off no matter how you do it. I'm guessing we've only heard complaints from this one because they didn't know to remove it liner side up either, and all of our other non-complaining customers already knew like you.