Phototex seam double cut issue.

[frojasferrari]

We are having some issues with the cut of the overlap with phototex. I dont know if its because we are new to the material and theres a trick to do it different from other substrates, but everytime we do the cut, a white stripe is left. The blade is new, the pressure is right... dont know whats wrong.

Any ideas?

a couple of pictures from a test we did today for you guys.

 

[LeeTringes]

Just to clarify, you are printing and cutting separate images and then seaming them together and getting the white strip between the sections?

 

[frojasferrari]

Yeah, we are printing wallpapers, the one in the pictures is a "mini wallpaper" printed for the overlap cut test and take the pictures.

 

[Billct2]

by "double cut" you mean you are overlapping then cutting one straight cut thru both layers?

 

[frojasferrari]

Yes , exactly that, sorry if it was not clear.
i'm dokng that but the white line still shows, im using new blades but still.

(sorry if the english is not clear enough)

 

[eahicks]

Is the 'white' that is showing an actual GAP between the panels? Or is there white material showing because you didn't have an overlap in the actual image? You need to have an overlap of 1/2 inch to 1 inch usually to do a nice butt seam....not just a material overlap, but an overlap in the image.

 

[DirtyD]

Its not the wall that were seeing as in one picture the wall is purple.. it looks like were seeing the unprinted edge of the phototex after the cut.. like the print shrunk or something thing...Strange

 

[J Hill Designs]

are you removing both the overlapping and the underlapping pieces?

 

[eahicks]

I think he doesn't have an overlap in the print....waiting to hear back.

 

[eahicks]

Double cut with Phototex should show no seams, done right. It doesn't shrink so can't be shrinkage. This wall has 3 seams...can't see anything.

 

[frojasferrari]

Did a 2 cms overlap. (the 2cms are scaled on the "mini wallpaper") Then I did the cut, took out the remains and got that pretty white line.



I´m all ears to tricks, tips, ideas, manuals, books, magazines, witchcraft, vodooooo, etc... to make the right cut.

I think is all due a lack of technique with the knife (Installer)

What you guys think?

 

[eahicks]

I have no clue...if yours is overlapped, you're cutting in the center of the overlap, pulling out the top strip that's left and the bottom strip that's left underneath, there should not be white showing period...should be color print next to color print.... Very strange.

 

[bigben]

I think he make his double cut but only peel the part on top and leave the other part behind it. The white line is the ''thickness'' of the material.

 

[frojasferrari]

Im peeling both parts.

The white line are the "fibers" of the phototex, we will now try with new set of blades (olfa) and see how it goes.

 

[PushProductions]

Sometime phototex "unravels" when not cut all the way through. We had problems with this but never that bad. Make sure you are cutting all the way though. If you are doing a test then OVER cut it. Cut all the way into the sheet rock. You wouldnt want to do this normally but just for a test.

 

[frojasferrari]

Second "mini wallpaper", with overlap (image and paper), middle overlap cut, new set of blades, extra wall damage pressure on the cut, same result.

problems....

The blade?
Ink not staying on phototex?
bad phototex roll?
Lousy installer skills?

Phototex is kind of new here in Chile, so theres no one who can help me here with previous experience on phototex install, in fact, the installers that we interviewed to be our installers didnt knew the substrate at all.

Our strength is to die cut stickers on phototex (something like wallmonkeys) and we sell lots of door wraps on phototex.... neither of those have the overlap problem.

so... now we will try with no overlap at all.
We cut long sheets on a 104" keencut evolution 2 wich leaves no "white" border on the sheets, so maybe thats the way to go?

Thoughts?

 

[PushProductions]

when you pull off the spare pieces after you do the overlap cut do they come right off with no hesitation? Or do they catch here and there?

 

[frojasferrari]

they catch here and there even with the pregnant woman strengh that we are using for the cut.

 

[eahicks]

What kind of blade are you using? A steak knife? Looks to me like the edge is not smooth at all....you need to be using an Xacto, #11 or similar, or at least some type of super sharp angled blade, like Olfa. You need a nice CLEAN cut.

 

[PushProductions]

yea, thats the main problem we had with phototex. We stopped using it because of this. Wish i had a solution for you!