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My client wants me to cover the rear glass on his van to obscure the viewing of tools and supplies that he keeps in his van. White vinyl will do nicely...but those darn compound curves cause fingers and wrinkles on the edges. Anyone know a technique that would minimize or prevent these problems?
-------------------- Tony Lucero Eagle Graphics Waterford, MI www.eaglegph.com Posts: 305 | From: Waterford, MI, USA | Registered: Apr 2000
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van windows are sorta flat....try doing the whole backwindow of a hiyundi tiberon!!!!! i did one....and the next one will cost em twice what i charged the 1st time!!!
-------------------- joe pribish-A SIGN MINT 2811 longleaf Dr. pensacola, fl 32526 850-637-1519 BEWARE THE TRUTH.....YOU MAY NOT LIKE WHAT YOU FIND Posts: 11582 | From: pensacola, fl. usa | Registered: Nov 1998
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You don't mention if you use the wet method or dry....but basically I would:
1. Cut a square piece of vinyl slightly larger than the window you are covering. 2. Turn this piece of vinyl upside down on a flat surface and remove the backing paper, being careful to save the backing material in a clean fashion. Leave the vinyl w/adhesive side exposed for a moment. 3. Now, take the backing paper and carefully lay the silicone (slick) side back over the exposed vinyl...but lay it so that you are only covering half of the adhesive vinyl leaving the other half still exposed. 4. Carefully smooth the backing paper over the applied half of vinyl with your hands...no need to burnish hard. 5. Now, grasp the vinyl and backing paper and carefully hold up to the window area LETTING THE FLOPPY UNCOVERED TOP HALF OF THE VINYL "FLOP" BACK OVER YOUR ARMS. CAUTION...DON'T LET THE ADHESIVE SIDE STICK TO ITSELF ON THE TOP, EXPOSED HALF. 6. Once you have it hovering over the window in position...place the backing paper/vinyl combo against the window...and while holding the application in place with the vinyl still flopped backwards over your arm, get a hold of a squeegee. 7. Carefully burnish the vinyl down onto the windo horizontally at the point where the exposed vinyl meets the backing paper. 8. Once you have this initial small area stuck to the window...carefully grab the exposed vinyl with one hand and hold it taut away from the window while you carefully squeegee in horizontal/overlapping motions moving upward until the top half of the vinyl is applied...go slow but firm. 9.when that's applied...grab the backing paper under the applied vinyl half and carefully roll back a little - but NOT ALL of it.... 10. Start Squeegee-ing the newly exposed vinyl bottom half in overlapping/horizontal strokes moving downward on the bottom half...unrolling the backing paper as you go. 11. the vinyl should stretch somewhat over the curvature as you go.... 12. If you have a few tunnels at the corners when you are done...you need to SLOWLY and carefully squeegee them out toward the edges moving perpendicular to the tunel and putting a little "english" on the squeegee as you go.... 13. You get a feel for this by doing it...there is no other way to explain..."putting a little english" on your movements to rid yourself of the tunnels.....it just takes practice...like a surgeon who has taken out a 100 kidneys and could probably do it in his sleep.
Hope this helps...I'd stay away from wet apps on windows...this is my opinion and my method for achieving what you're doing...there are undoubtedly other methods.
posted
Given a choice, I would follow Mark's suggestion and paint the sucker. If paint was not an option, I would pass and recommend a good tint shop - unless you want the experience. Then follow Todd and Joe's advice. I've also seen tinting done where the installer cut strips of window tint about 3"-4" wide and the stripes were applied one at a time. It looked like the installer tried to align the strips so the seams would fall on line with the window defroster stripes.
Havin' fun,
Checkers
-------------------- a.k.a. Brian Born www.CheckersCustom.com Harrisburg, Pa Work Smart, Play Hard Posts: 3775 | From: Harrisburg, Pa. U.S.A. | Registered: Nov 1998
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Todd, I gotta disagree with you-- wet is the ONLY way to do this-- a dry app, and as you suggest, slightly stretching the vinyl, will result in more wrinkles than grandma. Because of the curvature of the glass, what you actually need to do is shrink the vinyl as it approaches the edges. A technique used to do one-piece window tint apps on rear windows will also work with vinyl: cut the vinyl slightly oversize and remove the backer (no transfer tape), then flood it and the window with soapy water (DO NOT use rt, as it evaporates too quickly for this process). Squeegee one stroke across the center of the piece to lock it in place and wet the whole surface so your squeegee will glide easily. Use your fingertips to push the vinyl down in place so the fingers are relatively even across the length of the window. Then, gently squeegee from the center out while you heat the area with a heat gun- you want to break down each finger into two smaller ones and shrink the vinyl at the same time. Repeat the process until all fingers disappear- keep your sprayer handy and flood everything while you work. I recently wrapped a 28ft boat using this technique-the compound curve of the hull (plus hundreds of rivets, aluminum boat) required a LOT of heat gun. The keyword is PATIENCE- keep everything flooded and you can work it till you get it right.
Checkers- when installing tint strips on a rear window, the film is cut oversize and applied with the edges overlapping to the inside of the glass, squeegeed lightly to lock in place; then you cut thru BOTH pieces at the same time along the defrost line. Takes a very steady hand, and if done properly, the splice wont show.
-------------------- Jay Nichols ALPHABET SOUP
~the large print giveth and the small print taketh away~ Posts: 176 | From: SW Florida | Registered: Mar 2002
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I'm with Todd on this. His method is exactly how I do it - without wrinkles. Time is money. It'll take under 5 minutes per window and you can leave the soapy water and heat gun in the drawer. A Velcro (loop side) wrapped squeegee edge works wonders for apps like this. A good way to practice technique for apps like this is to apply square cut vinyl scraps to an old motorcycle helmet. Use an old crappy one because you'll want to hold it in a vice.
-------------------- Brian Snyder Sign Effectz Woodbridge, New Jersey Posts: 723 | From: Woodbridge, NJ USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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Thanks all for the excellent step-by-step and general advice. We ended up doing a dry method with strips that have a slight overlap. This made the job go fast and allowed us to layer more vinyl lettering on the covered glass without it lifting off when we removed the transfer tape. I agree the wet method would have been my first choice...but just didn't have time to spend on this job due to pricing issues and ultimately, our customers acceptance of the horizontal seams that were not objectionable. Like everthing...it just takes practice and a "bit of squegee english" Thanks again.
-------------------- Tony Lucero Eagle Graphics Waterford, MI www.eaglegph.com Posts: 305 | From: Waterford, MI, USA | Registered: Apr 2000
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Like I said...there are certainly other methods to doing this app.
I've done tons of boat hulls, and the rear glass panels of a van are not the same as boat hulls....the curve is sooooo slight on van glass that to apply dry, in my opinion is a cinch.
I personally (and again, their are other valid methods - Jay's works for him)would never use liquid on glass...unless the graphic was gargantuan. Takes way too long.
Like Brian says, it's quick and easy on a van window to do it dry and what [very] little tunneling you get is easily eliminated without resorting to a heat gun and water.
Really, rolling paint on the window as Mark suggested is a great idea...one that I hadn't thought of. You could always remove it with a razor blade if you wanted...probably easier than trying to remove vinyl/adhesive after it's been on for a few years.
Good luck and give each suggestion a try...they all will give you the end result you're looking for.
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