The Letterville BullBoard: Bubbles Bubbles and more Bubbles!

This is topic Bubbles Bubbles and more Bubbles! in forum Letterhead/Pinstriper Talk at The Letterville BullBoard.

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Posted by Jack Ambler (Member # 3255) on :

Merry Christmas, everyone.
When applying 2 layers of vinyl to a vehicle, I always encounter a serious number of bubbles along the outline edge of the 2 layers. I work at getting them out, but they seem to get (look)worse the more I work on them.
1) Is there a way to reduce the opportunity for the bubbles to form? and
2) Is there an effective way of removing most of the bubbles?
I use premium vinyl and dry application. Whenever I take on vehicle lettering, the time I spend trying to eliminate bubbles reduces my profit considerably.

Posted by Jill Marie Welsh (Member # 1912) on :

I apply with Rapid Tac or Rapid Tac 2 whenever applying layers.
Really cuts down on bubblage.
Love....Jill

Posted by Don Coplen (Member # 127) on :

Dry application is the culprit, Jack. Don't do that! [Wink]

Email Roger at roger@rapidtac.com . I'm sure he'll set you up with some small spray bottles of his application fluids to try out. He should rename the stuff "No More Bubbles".

Posted by Don Coplen (Member # 127) on :

"Bubblage"??? Jill, you crack me up. [Smile]

Posted by Jeff Spradling (Member # 1615) on :

It sounds to me like you’re putting the two layers together before applying them to the vehicle…I think you’ll get bubbles that way wet or dry…95% of my ap’s are dry with very few bubble troubles.

The best way to do layers…apply them one at a time on the vehicle.

Jeff [Smile]

Posted by Dave Grundy (Member # 103) on :

I'm with Jeff...Apply dry whenever possible and NEVER pre assemble 2 or more layers of vinyl. Apply each layer on the job individually. You bubble problem will dissappear.

Posted by Mike Pipes (Member # 1573) on :

I like to wrap a paper towel around the edge of my sgueegee then it can compress and expand to hit the lower layer of vinyl, forcing the bubbles out.

A felt squeegee for digital prints might work the same.

Posted by Jack Ambler (Member # 3255) on :

Thanks, everyone. Yes, I did pre-assemble the graphics - something I won't do again! Once I got the vehicle outside, the problem did not look near as bad and my customer didn't complain about it; sometimes I think I try to be too perfect when working with vinyl.
Thanks again, I appreciate all of your advice.

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