Laser stickers won't last, for one thing the adhesive isn't strong enough
There is a market for permanent stickers (at a price) and semi-permanent stickers (at a different price). In what way isn't the adhesive strong enough? We have customers printing onto laser vinyl for crash helmets and for adhesion to go karts and it's proved durable enough for those purposes. We've imersed the printed vinyl in water for days and the colours don't move at all. So the printable laser viyl shouldn't be discarded. It serves a purpose but solvent printed stickers are much more permanent when it comes to UV light. There are different products for different markets for different applications.
Looking on ebay there are the following for sale
Edge - 320662300076
Roland PC600 - 270714952295
I currently run an older Roland PC60 great for smaller stickers. You have to watch out for the heads though (mine has lasted for 6 years so far - touch wood ).
Pro and cons on both models really.
Edge you need a seperate cutter and sprocketed vinyl, pro for the edge you have a larger printing area which will not be affected by banding.
PC600 - Prone to head failures (which white lines in print normally mean the head has gone), you need to make sure the vinyl is really clean and grease free, smaller print coverage which means multiple passes of the head. Pro: your cutter is included in the machine, and once printing is complete it will contour cut your sticker.
Both really need a overlaminate for durability, I use Liquid Laminate and brush on with a foam brush.
draig;17950 wrote:Martin, Is it possible to overlaminate a laser vinyl with a liquid Laminate (i.e. Frog Juice), or would a clear vinyl be more durable
I don't see why you couldn't overlaminate with frog juice or something similar if they would increase the life of the inks. We tested some metal prints a few years ago and printed these with sublimation inks and left them outside in full sun for around 9 months (would have been longer but someone pinched them!). Strangely the one covered in a spray of frog juice deteriorate in terms of colour faster than the one not coated - and yes we did double check we had them identified correctly.
draig;17951 wrote:
Both really need a overlaminate for durability, I use Liquid Laminate and brush on with a foam brush.
draig
BUMP
draig, are you printing-laminating then cutting or printing-cutting then laminating. I just wonder how your weeding using liquid laminate.
Also, which liquid laminate do you use please?
t
I print/contour cut with the PC60 (thermal transfer), then laminate with frog liquid (I have a 1 litre bottle which I got a while ago from Grafityp, the spray cans didn't go very far) coating with a foam brush (i.e. kids paint foam brushes, should be able to get them off ebay or any decent art shop) I allow the frog to set (approx 5-15mins depending on ambient temp) then weed away excess vinyl, then just leave the laminate to cure thoroughly (usually overnight). As this is only applying a thinish coating it's not a problem for curing time, unlike if you were using doming resin. It's also air drying/curing so no other equipment required.
The PC60 also prints onto material with wax I think. What do you think the shelf life of one would be as whilst Roland dont support it anymore I understand there is a company in the USA that does....even down to new heads?
Yep using Wax Ribbons you can transfer onto material (I have an old Citizen Printiva for wax printing though). I've had the PC60 for 8 years now, had to replace the head when I first got it (long story and it still leaves a bad taste, Karma might have done it's job though - hopefully!). For the type of stickers I do I think it's superb. The important thing is making sure the vinyl is ultra clean before comitting to printing (I always wipe the vinyl with Isopropyl), and not putting things like transfer flock near it. OK it's old hat and slower than modern equipment, but it still does a good job on metallic printing, and for me with not printing everyday I don't have blocked printheads to worry about. I've been using Print1 ribbons for the last 4 years (refilling the cartridges myself) with no problems. I would say my machine owes me nothing now, and if and when the head does have a problem I can still use it as a cutter.
But then again a couple of our cars could be described as old hat, but definately not slow :biggrin:
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