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Spectacular printing service for Arcade art. Must see!

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pfriedel:
Just a heads up that might be obvious to anyone who has ever done this before, but it was a near disaster for me - even though their CP art comes backed with adhesive, don't expect it to stick to untreated wood - I (for some reason) spray adhesived down the edges of my CPO, leaving the center to the supplied adhesive.  Unfortunately, it started pulling up, and I couldn't stop it.  Thankfully I was able to pull it off my CP, get medieval with the 3M Super 77 Spray Adhesive, and re-apply it without too much damage.  (there are some slight crease lines where I was a little too aggressive pulling it off, but I'll see if it's the end of the world after I get everything back on it.)

  So either use spray adhesive or seal the wood - the stock adhesive is only just tacky enough to make you think it'll adhere.  It'd probably stick like a dream to a metal control panel, but it's lost on wood.

Sasquatch!:

--- Quote from: pfriedel on February 01, 2004, 12:30:20 pm ---So either use spray adhesive or seal the wood - the stock adhesive is only just tacky enough to make you think it'll adhere.  It'd probably stick like a dream to a metal control panel, but it's lost on wood.
--- End quote ---
My CP has a coat of primer and a coat of paint on it, so hopefully it'll be okay.  I haven't gotten my replacement (thin) CP yet, but I'm hoping to in the next couple of days.

pfriedel, which CPO did you get: the thick one or the thin one?

pfriedel:
I would assume it's the thick stuff - bending it is out of the question.  I had to knock the corner off of it so it wasn't so aggressive on my palms on the edges of the CP.  All told I'm pretty happy with it - see attached picture.  Hint for the thick stuff, if you don't have a router to trim it back with - cut _close_ with a razor, then sand it flush - trying to cut it exactly is _begging_ to mess it up.

Sasquatch!:
I got my thinner CPO from www.classicarcadegrafix.com.  Thankfully, the "scratch marks" that I had in the thicker version aren't present.

Overall, I'm still pretty impressed with how crisp the lines are - I don't see any signs of dithering.  That said though, the colors are a little washed out.  Maybe it's just a byproduct of the printing process and would happen with anyone?  I don't know.  Not enough that I'm dissatisfied - because I am very happy with it - but enough that I'm not singing their praises like Justin did in his original post.  For print quality, I'd actually give them an "average" rating.

The thinner CPO is a lot easier to work with.  It's still a laminated vinyl, but you can cut the holes out with an x-acto knife easily.  I would definitely recommend getting the thinner CPO if you're going to cover it with plexi or lexan.  It could easily be bent or wrapped around corners if you wanted.

The thicker CPO is nice though, in that it's tough/thick enough that it can be mounted as the top-most surface: no plexi/lexan required.  It would be a lot harder to cut (like pfriedel said), but you're saving yourself from having to cut or drill or route plexi/lexan.

Since I received two identical CPOs on the two different materials, I do have to say that the printing is more detailed on the thicker CPO.  Maybe there's a reason for this?  If there is, I'm unaware of what it might be.

I'm still not thrilled that the first CPO was scuffed up, but they were very quick and hassle-free about replacing it, so points there.  

I think that the packaging that they use might be a bit too small, because the CPO was twisted up pretty badly.  After letting it sit on a table for a couple of days, I still had to peel the backing off and reapply it to itself to get the bends and folds out.

My CP was primed and painted, so I didn't have any problems with it peeling up.  The adhesive isn't overly strong, but in a good way (for me, anyway).

So I guess overall, I'd give them an "average" or "slightly higher than average" rating.  The print quality is crisp, but I find it to be a bit washed out.  The product quality (the actual laminated product) is a bit below average to me.  Their customer service is very good.  I'm not sorry that I went with them, but I think I'm going to have my marquee printed elsewhere just to compare quality.  So in conclusion: I like them, but I don't love them.

(Picture attached.  The thicker CPO is on the left, the thinner one is one the right.)

Minwah:
Thanks for posting your new findings Sasq...

Presumably then the image is better on non-laminated material...I wonder if just printed vinyl would be OK (hard-wearing) enough for a CP?

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