jskwarek

Matte clear over reflective vinyl

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I gave up searching for a matte black reflective vinyl and picked up some Oralite material. The material is beautiful and has the perfect reflective quality I'm looking for but it's not the matte finish I'm looking for.

 

My thought is to find some matte clear vinyl to lay over the black, to give it the matte look I'm after. Has anyone attempted this? Do you lose the reflective quality of the Oralite material if you cover with another film?

 

Also, do you think it would be possible to lay the clear vinyl over the Oralite before I do the cuts, so I get perfect cuts, each time? Or should I stick with the layering method? I've only got a LPII cutter and am afraid that I'd be pushing the limits of this machine to cut through two layers of vinyl.

 

The eventual goal was to lay a matte black reflective vinyl over a gloss black paint on a vehicle I own. This would give the ability to see the graphic during the day and get the cool reflection at night. Sort of like the Boss 302 stripes on a Mustang.

 

Thoughts?
Jason

 

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The reflective stuff has a metallic backing so trying to lay clear over it before cutting will probably be pushing the limits of your cutter, but trying out a small sample shouldn't cause any problems.

 

I've never tried laying matte over reflective, but I don't see any reason why it wouldn't work. So long as light will pass through the matte layer the reflective layer will bounce it back. Might be slightly dimmer than usual but I doubt you'd notice it.

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If you are concerned about not being able to cut thru both at the same time with your cutter, just do a test cut with some colored vinyl that you already have, if you find that you can cut thru both then you will be able to cut thru the transparent vinyl. But I think you shouldn't have too much of a problem, you will just need to increase your pressure and blade depth.

 

Also, In case you weren't aware you can buy a 24" x 36" piece of 751 transparent from USCutter for $6.99 to try out.

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