Vandal Guard Laminate

[Marie]

We are making 10 exterior signs - 3 ft x 4 ft / 6 mil polymetal / oracal cast vinyl. The customer also wants vandal guard lamination. At the top and bottom of each sign there is a band of vinyl that bleeds to the edges (see attached). My tubelite sales rep says that we should apply the vandal guard so that it wraps around the sign and actually ends a few inches on the other side. The lam would go over the top edge of the sign by an inch and over the bottom edge by an inch. The rep also suggested then applying an edge sealing tape to the edges of the lam on the back side of the sign. The reasoning is in case the vandal guard lamination shrinks at a different rate than the oracal, it will still look good on the front.

Any thoughts on this?? Will the vandal guard shrink that much? Will wrapping the lam around the edges of the sign make more problems than it solves? THANKS!

 

[TXFB.INS]

there is no attachment

regarding the wrapping the edges to the backside, yes we do that often with ACP as it gives a much cleaner look to the finished product, do it both with cast and calendared.

We found that is you use several inches, minimum of 3", even with the calendared material shrinking there is no need to also apply edge seal tape. These signs are going onto a flat surface or into a frame so there will be pressure applied to the backside which will help with holding the wrap in place

 

[oksigns]

We are making 10 exterior signs - 3 ft x 4 ft / 6 mil polymetal / oracal cast vinyl. The customer also wants vandal guard lamination. At the top and bottom of each sign there is a band of vinyl that bleeds to the edges (see attached). My tubelite sales rep says that we should apply the vandal guard so that it wraps around the sign and actually ends a few inches on the other side. The lam would go over the top edge of the sign by an inch and over the bottom edge by an inch. The rep also suggested then applying an edge sealing tape to the edges of the lam on the back side of the sign. The reasoning is in case the vandal guard lamination shrinks at a different rate than the oracal, it will still look good on the front.

Any thoughts on this?? Will the vandal guard shrink that much? Will wrapping the lam around the edges of the sign make more problems than it solves? THANKS!

This is not PVC based and is HIGHLY resistant to shrink/expansion. It is very dense stuff and would remind you of optically clear lam. No need to edge seal it unless you are worried about that 3165 stuff you are using because THAT will shrink on you. I wouldn't edge wrap it, personally, but make sure you have plenty of material to go around those edges. The lam wont move, but your vinyl sure as heck will.

 

[bigben]

I don't know if you have used vandal guard products in the past. But from my experience, the product suck. Even with paint thinner and alcohol, I was not able to remove some DRY ERASE markers writing. It would always leave a cloud of ink. And if you clean it more than twice, anything will be permanent.

 

[Marie]

Here is the draft of the typical sign. Has anyone else had a bad experience trying to remove graffiti from vandal guard? THANKS!