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Posted on by Jennifer Corn Posted in Case Studies & Profiles
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Putting it to the Test: HP Optimal Gloss Air GRP is “a Winner”

Recently, Scott Kaiser and his installation team at Sunrise Signs in Gloucester City, N.J., received a roll of HP Optimal Gloss Air GRP from LexJet. Before using any new product for a project, Kaiser says they like to push the material to the extreme. “Any time we try out new material, we torture it to see what it’s going to do,” he says.

So how did the Optimal fare? “We tortured it and it stood up great,” Kaiser says. “We stretched it and it didn’t white out, which can sometimes be an issue with latex inks. I also like the repositionable quality, and it really does take to those rivets!”

In the video above, you can see the intense testing of the Optimal laminated with HP Gloss Polymeric Overlaminate which includes stretching, overstretching, heating, rolling over rivets and repeated repositioning. Not only is an installer looking to see how well the color sits on the material, but checking performance on different surfaces is also important.

“We put it on some rough surfaces on that truck. It’s an old, beat up box truck and it was in terrible shape,” Kaiser says. “We wanted to see how it does when problem areas arise. We lifted it back up and reheated it to see if it went back to its shape. It did.”

When it comes to fleet or box truck graphic installations, there can be some challenges. “He (the installer) was putting some graphics on a super smooth trailer, and he liked working with it, but for another trailer, there were lots of rivets.”

Although there were many rivets on one of the jobs, Kaiser says the vinyl held tight. “They just had to work a little bit slower through those areas, but the vinyl held, and the rivets look tight.”

Kaiser says that he will continue to use the HP Optimal Gloss Air GRP protected with HP Gloss Polymeric Overlaminate for trailers and box trucks. “I’ve used other well-known brands before, and I think the HP Optimal had great success when compared to the other products,” he says. “Our installer even put it on his own trailer.”

Whether testing against the rigors of installing on a less-than-perfect surface or overstretching it to look for white-out conditions, Kaiser and his installer put the Optimal Gloss Air GRP through its paces, and both have declared it a “winner.”

If you are interested in learning more about the performance of the Optimal Gloss Air GP – or any other products in the HP Adhesive Vinyl line – call a LexJet specialist at 800-453-9538 or visit LexJet.com today.

Posted on by Regan Dickinson Posted in Case Studies & Profiles
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Printing Custom Trailer Graphics in a Flash

 

Printing and installing trailer graphics

Alex Garcia, owner of New Wave Sign Co., Miami, recently encountered one of those rush jobs so common to wide format graphics production, particularly in the vehicle graphics niche. Fortunately for Garcia, he had access to everything he needed at his fingertips.

“The customer had a show scheduled in California and needed a trailer wrap in 48 hours. Thankfully, I had a new roll of LexJet Simple Flo Wrap Vinyl and told them I could do a partial wrap instead of a full wrap,” recalls Garcia. “And, since LexJet is able to deliver products to us so quickly I can turn a rush job like this around without having to charge extra. I was low on ink and fortunately I was able to call the order in to LexJet and I got the ink right away.”

Garcia was able to print right away, sending the design he created to his Epson Stylus Pro GS6000 low-solvent printer, then laminating the Simple Flo Wrap Vinyl with Simple Flo Wrap Gloss UV Laminate (2.4 Mil).

“The truck was white so I incorporated that white space into the design. The printed area is a line that’s about 52 inches tall that grows into three vertical panels. I also printed out the logos that were placed in the white space and contour cut them on my Summa cutter,” explains Garcia.

Though this was not a “full wrap” by definition, meaning that the graphics were not applied around the edges of the back and front of the trailer, it sure looks like a full wrap. Garcia and his team began applying the printed panels at 2 a.m., working through the wee morning hours to complete it in time.

“We washed the truck really well so that the white areas would really shine and to make sure the installation went smoothly. However, it was a challenge because we were wrapping in really cold weather, which is unusual in South Florida, even this time of year. We used a propane torch and heated the whole side of the truck to make the application surface warmer and kept the material in a car with the heater on to keep the graphics at room temperature,” says Garcia. “We love the Simple Flo Wrap Vinyl because it images nicely, it’s economical and it applies easily.”