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When It Comes to Performance, HP Prime Matte Air GP Vinyl Delivers
Posted on by Jennifer Corn Posted in Case Studies & Profiles
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When It Comes to Performance, HP Prime Matte Air GP Vinyl Delivers

If you are looking for high-performance adhesive matte vinyl to create indoor or outdoor graphics, HP Prime Matte Air GP delivers rave-worthy results and is compatible with solvent, UV curable and latex printers.

Introduced last year at SGIA, customers have been singing the praises for the new HP Adhesive Vinyl products.

Rick Haines of Dimension Design in Jacksonville, Fla., has been using one of the industry’s leading calendered vinyl for years. “HP set out to create a media capable of matching the performance of a tried-and-true product,” he says. “From my experience, they have done just that.”

Haines says that his team has incorporated the Prime Matte into their everyday use and paired it with HP Matte Polymeric Laminate.  “The results have been as advertised, and we’re very pleased that we can save some money without losing any quality,” he says.

The versatility is why William Roll of Signarama in Dothan, Ala., and his team like the Prime Matte. “My guys love the HP,” he says. “They grab it for every application they can use it on, and they tell me that the air-release component is the best they’ve ever used. It’s been used for interior menu boards at a garage and economical seasonal window displays.”

Are you ready to try HP Prime Matte Air GP? Call a LexJet sales specialist at 800-453-9538 or visit LexJet.com.

 

Posted on by Regan Dickinson Posted in News & Trends
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Important Wall Graphics Application Update

3M recently released a Bulletin regarding graphics application over low-VOC (volatile organic compounds) paints, which 3M says are becoming increasingly popular and can cause adhesion issues.

Installing Wall Graphics3M’s recommendation is to clean a section of the wall twice with a mixture of 70 percent isopropyl alcohol and 30 percent water.

Then, apply strips of the graphic to the cleaned areas where the graphic will be installed and observe their release characteristics after 15 minutes. If the adhesion looks good, use the same cleaning method to prepare the entire application area.

However, be sure the surface hasn’t been freshly painted. Installation professional Keith Bernard of Road Signs in Sarasota, Fla., says to avoid alcohol on freshly painted surfaces. “A lot of interior barricades you find at malls are drywall with a fresh coat of primer, and if you use alcohol you run the risk of smearing the paint, which will cause adhesion problems with the material you’re installing,” he says.

And, as you prepare for the application, the first rule with inkjet-printed media is to allow the ink to dry and set for a minimum of 24 hours. Then, it’s safe to apply to whatever substrate you’re using. Also, when you prepare the surface, don’t use soap, Windex or any ammonia-based cleaners as they leave a residue that will affect the graphic’s adhesion. It’s best to follow 3M’s recommended cleaning and application procedures, which you can also find detailed at http://3mgraphics.com/lowVOC.

If you need any additional help or advice, give one of our experts a call at 800-453-9538.

Posted on by Regan Dickinson Posted in Technology & Products
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Killer Application Test for LexJet Infinium at SAS Systems

Inkjet printing on three dimensional irregular surfacesDon’t try this at home. Nevermind. Go ahead and try it, but don’t think you need to try it on a skull. Cale Frederick, graphic designer at SAS Systems in Muscle Shoals, Ala., was dying to test the new Infinium graphic material from LexJet and found something that would put the product through its paces.

Touted as the industry’s first transportable, conformable graphic, Frederick wanted to make sure it performed as advertised before trying it on a project. Looking around the shop, he spied a skull sitting on a shelf someone in the shop had been given as a gag gift.

The skull had all the elements he was looking for – lots of nooks and crannies and irregular surfaces – and Frederick went to work on it with an appropriate graphic.

How to apply a conformable graphic“They say it’s conformable, and the test was successful. We’re pleased with the way it turned out. I’ve got some more ideas but haven’t had a chance to test anything else. We have a customer we print templates for that uses them as guides to carve cedar logs. He’s bringing some rough cedar and we’ll experiment with that as well,” says Frederick. “I used a generic vinyl profile and it seemed to work fine; it prints especially well in the dark colors. We’re really excited about it for future projects.”

The Infinium was printed with the company’s Roland solvent printer and applied using a heat gun and foam-textured surface applicators from 3M; a hot laminator for flat substrates like leather or canvas will work as well. Frederick says it took about 30-45 minutes to wrap and some of the steps in the process are shown in the photos.

Before applying a conformable graphic“The material worked really well and sank right down into some of the really deep spots. I also found that using a printhead cleaning swab for the smaller areas worked really well,” explains Frederick. “I kept my heat gun set on about 970 degrees. That is the temp we usually use for installing textured wall wraps. The force of the air worked nicely for helping the material sink into some of the concave areas.”