Wet Application....How wet?

[bbreault 0]

Hey everyone.

So I decided to try wet app yesterday for a friend who wanted lettering on the back window of thier car. I made the "home mixture" that BannerJohn advised for one gallon (water, 1/2 cup rubbing alcohol, couple drops of dish washing liquid) and it looked like there were absolutely no air bubbles in it, BUT when I went to go take the backing paper off the letters didnt want to stick down. I squeeged the heck out of it, even turned the car around to face into the sun to dry it and tried wetting the backing paper to soften the adhesive but still nogo. Im wondering it I made it too wet. I sprayed both the window and the vinyl. I sprayed it so it was VERY wet, as in starting to drip/run. Is that too wet? Advise woudl be greatly appreciated because I got a store front I have to do within the next couple of days and Id like to do it wet so I dont have any airbubbles. Thanks

[Dakotagrafx 7,297]

should have worked according to your description - what vinyl and what app tape?

[lynnpromotions 0]

proabably a little much. once it drys you should be able to pull the tape off. we switched to rapidtac and it works much quicker.

[BannerJohn 1,324]

when you squeegee, it is important also to wipe off the excess fluid on the upper side (as you go) or it will run right back under the vinyl and tape.

[Booper 2]

I never had any luck either on glass with the homebrew, Rapid Tac 2 takes care of it real quick. 

[bbreault 0]

I know it shouldve worked, lol. I tried all the tricks. lol. I even wrapped the squeege in a paper towel and did some hard bumping to pick up the water at the edge of the trans tape because as BannerJohn said it will go right back under the vinyl if you dont get that water away from the trans paper. I used the actual paper type, not the clear type, I know you cant use the clear for wet app. Vinyl, greenstar....unfortunately. If I find out that it was the vinyl, I wont be surprised, lol. I hate greenstar. I just ordered a BUNCH of Oracal because Ive had nothing but problems with greenstar. Seemed good when I got the cutter, but now I see my money couldve been much better spent on Oracal. lol. Oh well, live and learn. I was going to buy some rapid tac, but didnt find it on UScutter, where do you guys get it. I might try it if I cant get this homebrew to work.

[BannerJohn 1,324]

could also be your tape is too high tack. For glass, I use medium tack or low tack.

I do glass all the time with home brew,sometimes just plain water,with no problems...except in cold weather. Then comes the rapid tac 2.

USC sells something calls 'splash' which has been around a long time. It is concentrated, 8oz makes a gallon. I got some,and it works well.

http://www.uscutter.com/Application-Fluid_c_33.html

[MZ SKEETER 4,709]

I know it shouldve worked, lol. I tried all the tricks. lol. I even wrapped the squeege in a paper towel and did some hard bumping to pick up the water at the edge of the trans tape because as BannerJohn said it will go right back under the vinyl if you dont get that water away from the trans paper. I used the actual paper type, not the clear type, I know you cant use the clear for wet app. Vinyl, greenstar....unfortunately. If I find out that it was the vinyl, I wont be surprised, lol. I hate greenstar. I just ordered a BUNCH of Oracal because Ive had nothing but problems with greenstar. Seemed good when I got the cutter, but now I see my money couldve been much better spent on Oracal. lol. Oh well, live and learn. I was going to buy some rapid tac, but didnt find it on UScutter, where do you guys get it. I might try it if I cant get this homebrew to work.

If you do a search of Ebay you can find several sellers sell Rapid Tac products.   Just look for the best deal.  and best seller

[bbreault 0]

The transfer tape I use is a medium tack. I know you use the homebrew thing for everything, youre the reason I wanted to use it, because i know you use it for everything. I might give just plain water a try. I know I wont be able to slide it around, but I always use a hinge so I shouldnt need too. Im going to try it couple more times today with some scrap vinyl and see how it goes. And thanks for the heads up on some of the app fluid on here and ebay. Ill def check those out if I cant get the homebrew to work. Thanks everyone.

[bbreault 0]

Ok. So I tried....over, and over, and over again. I squeeged till the transfer tape was starting to pill up and there was absolutely NO water excess underneath but when I went to take the transfer paper off so did the vinyl. Ive come to the conclusion that its the transfer tape. because it really holds onto the vinyl. They dont sell low tack on USCutter, what brand of transfer tape would you guys advise? Places to get it? The other sad thing is that I went to do the same exact thing dry, and it came out perfect. No airbubbles no nothing, just a Very nice laydown. Im almost thinking of giving up on the wet method. lol.

[Dakotagrafx 7,297]

Just a thought the window doesn't have something like rainx on it does it??

[bbreault 0]

No, because I even tried it on a glass tabletop....every surface I try it on, it just doesnt work. I even waited 1/2 hr playing video games, lol, before I tried taking the transfer tape off, and the vinyl still pulled up with it.

[Team Satan 1]

before you squeegeed, did you spray the app tape and it sit for a while?

[bbreault 0]

No. I sprayed it after I squeeged and then sprayed and let it sit and sqeeged again. Ill have to try it like that. Because now that you say it, it sounds stupid the way I did it. lol. Ill have to try it agian. Because i got a storefront to do in the next couple of days and I would like to use the wet method. Thanks for the advise.

[TSQUIRTZ 0]

Might try a little less soap in your mixture,from my experience the less the better.

I use two to three drops of baby shampoo in a quart spray bottle with 3 or 4 oz. of alcohol with pretty good results on glass.

[bbreault 0]

AH!!!! Thank You Xtreme Graffix! lol. I let the transfer tape soak for a few. the took the backing paper off and sprayed the glass and vinyl with water. Layed it down. Squeeged the heck out of it. It seemed like it was going to work after I let it sit for a few minutes but still wanted to pull up so I sprayed a little water onto the transfer tape again and viola!! pulled off nice and easy. I was so happy. Now I just got to practice a bunch more. Before when I layed it down and just tried to to let the transfer tape soak after it still pulled up even after 10 minutes. so spraying it before and letting it sit obviously made a huge difference. Thanks everyone for all the help.

[BannerJohn 1,324]

am I reading that you sprayed the transfer tape while the backing paper was still on it? If this is the case, it would explain your problem from the beginning.

1.Remove the backing paper

2.spray either the substrate or the adhesive side of the vinyl

3.Apply, and squeegee

4.THEN spray the transfer tape.

[bbreault 0]

You are reading correct. The way you just described is the exact way that I tried it the first couple of times and it didnt work out at all. I dont know why. From what Ive read, that is the way EVERYONE is doing it, and thats why I tried it that way and why I was getting so frustrated when it didnt work, over and over and over. Idk what Im doing wrong now, lol. cuz that is obviously the way Im supposed to be doing it. lol