Digitally Printing Window Clings / Decals

[TJD12485]

Good morning all,

Recently I've been having some issues with digitally printing window decals. We buy our material from a company called Catalina Graphics Films, which was specced out by the customer. However lately the clings have been very brittle and are tearing in field during installation. I am able to take the material both printed and unprinted and tear it in half with hardly any effort. However it seems that printed is slightly easier. I was thinking it was possibly our inks or the UV curing making the clings brittle, but it tears unprinted as well. Has anyone had similar problems digitally printing window clings? I also noticed that the company we buy from has a couple different products both with the same uses and same names however one is listed as Calendered Vinyl and the other is listed as Flexible Vinyl. I wasn't sure what the difference was exactly between those I could only find information on what calendered vinyl was.

Thanks for your time

 

[Mike F]

Calendered vinyl is meant to be used on flat surfaces only, and will shrink over time, especially if it's in direct sunlight. I'm assuming the "flexible" vinyl is cast vinyl, which is more suitable for curves and doesn't shrink over time. Cast is generally higher quality and will last much longer, however for window clings it's really not necessary. Has the material always done this? How long has this been an issue? If this is a new roll (meaning you've printed a roll of it before with no issues and this has come up with another roll), you may have just gotten old or defective stock. If that's the case contact whoever sold it to you and they should let you exchange it.