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Okay I have had a terrible day and to top it off when I did my install today I got wrinkles. The guy's van was in bad shape so he wanted a vinyl background 20"X60" with vivyl lettering on that. One side did fine but the other has a wrinkle about 1and 1/2 inches long in the lower left hand corner. I really hate to have to replace the whole things but I will because I want it to look good. Ant other suggestions on what to do? I have even thought about coveing it with a decal or something. Please help.
------------------ Where the possibilities are endless
Posts: 113 | From: Galax, Virginia USA | Registered: Mar 2000
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It's actually pretty easy to fix if you have the patience. If the vinyl hasn't adhered too tightly, carefully lift the offending corner and gently pull the vinyl up. If the vinyl stretches a little, don't worry. Continue to work the vinyl up until you are up past the wrinkle. Gently work the wrinkle out by pulling on both sides of the wrinkle. Then, with a heat gun, warm the vinyl until you see it react. Use your squeegee to work the vinyl back down flat. You will probably have some distortion in the vinyl because of the pulling. Just take a NEW sharp x-acto and with no pressure, trim the vinyl to shape.
That's it. I strongly suggest getting Rob Iver's video series on applying vinyl. What I described is in his video and is how I learned to do it. It has saved me a lot of headaches and cash. If I'm not mistaken, he is also (or was) an advertiser here. www.robivers.com
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:) Design is Everything! :) Glenn Taylor in beautiful North Carolina
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If it's not too far from the edge try peeling the vinyl back and re-squeeging, might work. If the corner gets distorted, trim with an exato blade. Good Luck. Looks like we posted at the same time!
------------------ Robert Thomas Creative Signs In Beautiful Naples, Fl.
[This message has been edited by Robert Thomas (edited June 21, 2000).]
Posts: 965 | From: Bonita Springs, Florida USA | Registered: Feb 2000
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posted
cynthia I use my wife's multi speed hair dryer works great
------------------ Ian Wilson Signmaker Toowoomba City Council Cnr Anzac Ave & Stephen st Toowoomba Queensland Australia may all your toubles be little ones The man that never make a mistake never makes anything
Posts: 656 | From: Toowoomba Queensland Australia | Registered: Nov 1998
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posted
You can get a heat gun at any decent hardware store. If you cant lift the vinyl back up, sometimes (depending on how back the wrinkle is) you can poke one end to release any air and use your thumbnail to flatten the wrinkle out. Defenitly try lift the edge back off first though. After you lay alot of vinyl you get a feel for what you can get away with - and it usually depends on the weather and other factors. Worse case add an embelishment and tell him you threw it in at no extra charge!
------------------ Brian Stoddard Expressions Signs A few puddles east of Seattle
Posts: 790 | From: Redmond, WA | Registered: Nov 1998
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posted
Cynthia,if you lift an edge and squirt a small amount of Rapid Tac under the vinyl it will come loose without stretching and you can get out the wrinkle then lay that part back down and squeegee in place. I'm not talking about Rapid Remover here,just the application fluid you should use to apply vinyl. Roger
------------------ Roger Bailey Rapid Tac Incorporated Merlin, OR
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I tried all those tricks. Lifting from the corner, trying to ease it done, and spraying Rapid Tac application fluid up into the wrinkle and then easing it back down but nothing worked. It was very hot and in the sun when I was appling it and I think it stretched a bit causing the wrinkle which was really more like a crease. I go back today to apply more and I'm going to see what I can do with it. I think it will be to apply something over it. Thanks Roger for those wonderful products, Rapid Tac and remover. I just wish I could find the prep somewhere. I just bought 2 more gallons of Rapid Tac and another gallon of remover. Don't go anywhere without it. By the way, Rapid remover is great for getting tar and burnt rubber off drag cars. I have people wanting to buy it for that. Can I have a commission? Thanks everyone. Oh smething else, Walmart doesn't have heat guns in our area and we don't have any paint stores except Lowe's and they dont have any. I tell you guys I live in no man's land. I think I'll use a hair dryer.
------------------ Where the possibilities are endless
Posts: 113 | From: Galax, Virginia USA | Registered: Mar 2000
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posted
Cynthia. For future reference. You can always see a wrinkle prior top removing the application tape. THAT is the time to take care of it. I find that slow pulling is a waste of time. What I do is SNAP the vinyl up off the surface,as far as necessary to work the wrinkle out, while it is still masked. It is a lot faster and a lot more likely to yield an acceptable result. IMHO
------------------ Dave Grundy shop#340 AKA "applicator" on mIRC "stickin' sticky stuff to valuable vessels and vehicles!" in Granton, Ontario, Canada 1-519-225-2634 dave.grundy@quadro.net www.quadro.net/~shirley "A PROUD $ supporter of the website"
Using a hairdryer in place of a heat gun is like hammering a nail into a board with a shoe heel. It'll work, however once you've found the infamous heat gun 'with different heat settings for best results', you'll never go back. Hair dryers are made to blow air, not throw heat.
I highly suggest to try and purchase one from the net if you don't have access to one. Punch in a popular brand name in your area (dunno where you are). If you're interested, I can pick up one for you and send it, however I'm in BC Canada, so if you're in the states, I'd highly recommend getting one from there.
Addressing your wrinkle/crease in vinyl, if it's a crease, rarely can you remove it completely. If a wrinkle, you still have some hope. I use the fingernail approach myself, then trim the vinyl with my knife if I've stretched it out of shape. Or, cut out the offending area completely if possible, and add/attach/change the area. If you layer over a wrinkle, your new piece of vinyl will show every single bump and buldge you're trying to hide.
------------------ Graphic Impact located in BC Canada gisigns@sprint.ca
Posts: 5630 | From: Yarrow, BC Canada | Registered: Nov 1998
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