Weird vinyl issue. Has anyone ever seen anything like this?

[DerbyCitySignGuy]

This was printed for a customer about three years ago. It was done on a Colorspan Gator to Mactac 5 year with a Mactac UV lustre laminate coating and mounted to dibond. Included a picture of the sign as it's supposed to look (not the same sign, however) and what it looks like now. Nobody around here has ever seen anything like this. The screw hole covers look fine, oddly enough. Anybody ever seen anything like this or have any idea what's going on here?

 

[niksagkram]

Wow!! My first thought was that it has to be heat. Which direction is the sign facing?

 

[jfiscus]

Are you SURE that is the sign that you printed? To me it looks like a screen printed sign going bad but the image is pretty small on here so it's hard to diagnose.
the tails of the recycling symbols (red arrows) not being gradients looks awfully odd to me compared to the other.

 

[Gino]

Some of the old mylars would do this. They simply could not tolerate heat or age. After a few years, they'd just bugger up like that and practically disintegrate, completely discolor and look awful. I don't know about MacTac, but perhaps it has some of the same ingredients of the old time mylar stuff. It was horrible to get off. Lotsa old screen jobs were printed on that stuff. Horrible-ugly memories.

 

[d fleming]

Agree with Gino.

 

[DerbyCitySignGuy]

Definitely made by us. The sign that looks fine is actually two years older than the bad one. I haven't been to the site, but my understanding is that they're getting about a half days worth of sun each (from the sales rep via the customer).

We've never stocked any kind of mylars as far as I know. Unless we got a bad batch (which has happened before, but not like this), I can't imagine what could be causing this.

 

[Gino]

Basically, it's a chemical reaction taking place under the laminate and on top of the vinyl due to either heat build up, chemical reactions to some incompatible combination or just cooking the sh!t outta itself.

I know...... I know...... I know...... I know...... OUTGASSING Yep, that's the ticket. Here come the foil hats and little green men theories. :ROFLMAO:​

 

[Billct2]

Since it seems to be happening where the black print is I would think something to do with heat.

 

[Snydo]

Had the same issue about 8 years ago, in our case the laminate was entirely to blame. Bad chemistry from the manufacturer.

 

[James Burke]

Nobody has mentioned the walls yet, but the bad one is on vinyl siding, which absorbs and retains heat more so than the concrete block. Block has the ability to dissipate the heat better.

JB

 

[SignProPlus-Chip]

I have seen this here locally on more than one occasion. I believe it may be an issue of a cheap calendared laminate over cast vinyl. Incompatible materials, cross brand sort of thing.

Although there is no black on this vinyl, it exhibits the same burned look. Look how the laminate has shrunk back and cracked. This was only after a year, and I have see other instances where it went downhill after only a couple of months.

 

[Jwalk]

Well if you didn't use your little green man cleaner before you applied it then there you are. Green men will always go after a sign.

That's a bummer though hate when you do everything on the up and up and you still get it up the rear.

The one on the hood of the car that must get mighty hot.

Well this isn't the worst thing for hand paint industry. The deal I made with the little green men is paying off.

 

[DerbyCitySignGuy]

Nobody has mentioned the walls yet, but the bad one is on vinyl siding, which absorbs and retains heat more so than the concrete block. Block has the ability to dissipate the heat better.

JB

JB, hadn't even thought of that. Good point.

 

[DerbyCitySignGuy]

I have seen this here locally on more than one occasion. I believe it may be an issue of a cheap calendared laminate over cast vinyl. Incompatible materials, cross brand sort of thing.

Although there is no black on this vinyl, it exhibits the same burned look. Look how the laminate has shrunk back and cracked. This was only after a year, and I have see other instances where it went downhill after only a couple of months.

Looks pretty similar. We use both Mactac vinyl and laminate, so I doubt it's related to incompatible materials. I wouldn't be surprised if we got a batch of bad vinyl or laminate though, since it happens from time to time.

I guess maybe it looks like a combination of faulty materials and/or excessive heat, possibly from being located on vinyl siding?

At least I have something to tell the customer. Thanks, folks!