Need Help UV Printed Cast Vinyl Cracks and comes unstuck after 6 months

[Retro Graphics]

My experience with UV-ink on vinyl is limited to small stickers but I can tell you that if they are printed to the edges and put up outdoors, the ink will continue to harden over time and the edges will start to curl in a couple of months.
I have seen stickers curl until they fell off because of this.
A laminate will most likely delay the process but I would not trust it for a car wrap.

FWIW, I have switched to flexible inks in my printer but it is too soon to tell whether it is any better.

I don't think that's how it works. The UV is cured coming off the printer, cured = 100% done. The whole concept of the term cured is there is no more drying or hardening to be done. That is why we can laminate our prints immediately coming off the printer and don't have to wait on gas outs. Perhaps the vinyl being used isn't ideal for stickers? I have been experimenting and found that vinyl wrap makes for terrible cut decals on glass. That's more an adhesion problem related to their low tac and pressure sensitive adhesive.

This guys issue is he used a calendar vinyl to print on then laminated it with a cast vinyl. Remember, calendar vinyl wants to pull back and shrink too. Calendar vinyl isn't meant to last long outdoors either. Add to that his inks may be of the older UV style and be more brittle too.

UV inks are not the ideal solution for wraps. Latex or Eco-Solvent are best. Always laminate with CAST lam.

i agree my job would be a lot easier had a bought a latex or eco-solv. the new UVs are able to do it, but you definitely do not get the same stretch you get with the other prints and have to be far more careful of overstretch.

 

[Mr. Signboy]

You can't print vehicle wraps with a UV printer..

I agree that latex is better for wraps, but we use our Canon Colorado for printing wraps pretty often without issues. It certainly doesn't stretch the same as latex or solvent but if you print it on decent vinyl and know what you're doing (**And laminate....) there no reason it should fail.

 

[Inks]

I have a customer/friend that decorates 1000 transport trailers per year and uses a UV flatbed printer.

 

[MikePro]

i was amazed too when I first started hearing about UV inks for vehicle wraps.

Ritrama cast is good vinyl.... OP is certain to ghost on this thread but my money is on him using a hard/medium inkset for rigid applications, where a soft inkset is intended for the purpose of banners/wraps/vinyl.