Adhesive Vinyl / Varnish comments

[REBIRTH]

Finally attached my sideart and bexel and have varnished both and have a couple of personal opinions on both:

1)  Had sideart and bezel printed on adhesive vinyl.  I was really looking for a heavy card stock but the printer did not have anything I thought was heavy enough in the size I needed (sideart was 36"x60").  Adhesive vinyl seemed very promising, just peel it off and stick.  I did my bezel first, since that was a much smaller print than the side arts.  Whoa!  That adhesive vinyl is next to impossible to use.  It is so sticky that the slightest touch and it is stuck hard.  So when I was mounting it, as I was trying to align it, different parts of it kept getting stuck to the wrong spot.  I had to peel off parts a couple of times to get it aligned, causing the sticky stuff to wear off.  It was a horror show.  I am admittedly not an expert on sticking that stuff on, maybe if you've done that a lot and know some tricks it would work better - but knowing it would be hard I had it all planned out, a great idea as to how to do it without it sticking all over - but no, it was way too hard to do.  For the side art, I left the adhesive vinyl on it's backing and instead used 3M super 77 spray adhesive - whoa, it was like cake.  What is good about it is you have 10 seconds or so of play to move things around before things set in and gets stuck.  I got both side arts up in less time than my one little bezel.

2)  Varnishing.  I bought Krylon triple thick crystal clear varnish in a spray can - again, I admit I may not know the best way to do it - but after 3 coats the finish was very uneven.  I think it would be great stuff on something small, but my large sidearts the finish came out uneven.  I went back and bought similar stuff in a can and applied with a large brush - perfectly smooth, even finish.  The spray stuff also leaves a coat of varnish dust all over the house too... I inhaled a ton of it.  The can varnish applied with a brush, not only was much easier and came out perfect, but there was no dust and varnish cloud moving through my house.

So in my humble opinion I would go with (a) a very heavy bond paper/card stock thick using spray adhesive instead of adhesive vinyl - and - (b) don't go near the spray varnish, use a can and a brush!

[SNAAAKE]

Finally attached my sideart and bexel and have varnished both and have a couple of personal opinions on both:

1)  Had sideart and bezel printed on adhesive vinyl.  I was really looking for a heavy card stock but the printer did not have anything I thought was heavy enough in the size I needed (sideart was 36"x60").  Adhesive vinyl seemed very promising, just peel it off and stick.  I did my bezel first, since that was a much smaller print than the side arts.  Whoa!  That adhesive vinyl is next to impossible to use.  It is so sticky that the slightest touch and it is stuck hard.  So when I was mounting it, as I was trying to align it, different parts of it kept getting stuck to the wrong spot.  I had to peel off parts a couple of times to get it aligned, causing the sticky stuff to wear off.  It was a horror show.  I am admittedly not an expert on sticking that stuff on, maybe if you've done that a lot and know some tricks it would work better - but knowing it would be hard I had it all planned out, a great idea as to how to do it without it sticking all over - but no, it was way too hard to do.  For the side art, I left the adhesive vinyl on it's backing and instead used 3M super 77 spray adhesive - whoa, it was like cake.  What is good about it is you have 10 seconds or so of play to move things around before things set in and gets stuck.  I got both side arts up in less time than my one little bezel.

2)  Varnishing.  I bought Krylon triple thick crystal clear varnish in a spray can - again, I admit I may not know the best way to do it - but after 3 coats the finish was very uneven.  I think it would be great stuff on something small, but my large sidearts the finish came out uneven.  I went back and bought similar stuff in a can and applied with a large brush - perfectly smooth, even finish.  The spray stuff also leaves a coat of varnish dust all over the house too... I inhaled a ton of it.  The can varnish applied with a brush, not only was much easier and came out perfect, but there was no dust and varnish cloud moving through my house.

So in my humble opinion I would go with (a) a very heavy bond paper/card stock thick using spray adhesive instead of adhesive vinyl - and - (b) don't go near the spray varnish, use a can and a brush!

A pic or 2 would have been nice to look at..... .

[tagnetti]

Thanks for sharing. DO you know where to pick up that 3m Super 77 adhesive as I am planning a similar approach?

[acejas]

Very old topic...but someone may be looking for tips.

When applying vinyl always have 2 people....it makes it a lot easier why? One person holds the vinyl peeled. The other person grabs a solution of water and dishwashing liquid (10 to 1) in a spray bottle and sprays the crap out of the vinyl so its literally dripping.

When you apply the vinyl it is very easy to position Grab a soft object such as folded cardboard to squeeze out all the excess water and air bubbles.

If youve spent a lot of money of digital print on vinyl, my advice is go the yellow pages and look up sign supplies and get some vinyl lube and a squeegee to  substitute the above all for under 10 bucks.

Im no expert but have done a few this way and it works good

[Veinman]

Spray adhesive can be purchased in any art or hobby supply store. Great stuff, basically rubber cement in spray form.

[PoDunkMoFo]

The bond from the adhesive vinyl to the backing paper is not very strong.  Gluing the backing paper to the cab is asking for trouble.  The vinyl WILL eventually peel off the backing paper.

The wet method works OK but is a little messy.

When I apply my side art I will be sure to photograph the step by step and post it.

[Wade]

Applying the vinyl shouldn't be so hard, search the net for how-to's for installing Centipede and Missile Command full side art.  It isn't that hard, I have done it dry and it came out great.

Secondly, I agree, glueing the removable adhesive backing is a real bad idea.

I haven't used triple thick, nor have I sprayed on vinyl.  However, I have used standard satin finish spray clear from Krylon over large sideart printed on heavy, glossy paper with excellent results.  To get a smooth finish, it just takes the same kind of work that getting a good finish with any spray can would take.  (not painting too thick, several thin coats, long even strokes about 12" away, etc.)

Wade