The Inside Scoop Cast Vs Calendared

How to Save Time and/or Money!

By Tyler Hull, Wensco

Knowing the difference between Cast and Calendared vinyl could save your shop a lot of money!

At Wensco, we sell vinyl at a scale where we see a lot of returns across all manufacturers. Often, this comes down to using the wrong vinyl for the job. This can look like a high-quality calendared wrap vinyl wrapped around the top back corner of a Transit Connect. It may look like it worked initially, but if calendared vinyl gets too much stress, it will not work long-term.

Our goal in distribution is to make sure that our customers get the right product for the right job. To do that, I will need to not just explain the differences between cast and calendared films but also why that is important and how it can save you time and money for your shop.

Cast vs. Calendared Manufacturing

I could write an entire article on the manufacturing of Cast and Calendared films. But, for the purpose of this article, there are only a few things that you need to know about how these products are made. Cast is poured over a casting sheet and then run through a series of ovens to cure into a solid film. Calendared vinyl starts as a dough-like material and is run through a series of hot rollers to squeeze it into the desired thickness. That squeezing of the material during the manufacturing process creates a natural tension in the film to start, whereas cast vinyl has no inherent tension and comes out completely relaxed.

Why is that important to you?

When you apply vinyl to a flat substrate, it is not as important which type of vinyl you use. However, when we start applying vinyl to vehicles and walls where we need to stretch and conform the vinyl, we can begin to run into issues with calendared vinyl. Due to the fact that calendared vinyl has been stretched and stressed in its manufacturing process, when you stretch it onto a vehicle it will have a tendency to want to return to its original form.

Calendared vinyl used in the wrong application can show itself in a few different ways that I am sure you have seen before:

Vinyl that has bubbled or popped back out of a channel on a commercial van.

An adhesive line on the very edge of a graphic where the calendared vinyl has shrunk.

A graphic that is faded, cracked, or peeling away after only a year or two.

When should you use Calendared vinyl?

As someone who makes a living from selling vinyl, you may think I would recommend cast for everything. It sounds like it works better for most applications, is more expensive, and is more reliable in all temperatures. However, I think there are more times than you might think that a calendared vinyl will do just fine and you do not need to spend the extra money on a cast film. If you are aware of the limitations of calendared vinyl, then you can find applications that do not require a cast film. An example of this that just came up in our wrap classes is the back of a Ford Transit. We have seen many shops opt for a calendared wrap film (such as an Arlon 4600 GLX, Avery Dennison MPI 2105, 3M IJ40C, and other “high-quality calendar wrap films) and have great success. If you aren’t wrapping around the edges or into the deep channels on these vans, you could do 80% of the van with a calendared film and have little to no issues. If you use something like the cut-and-drop method on the channel of the van and use proper post-heating procedures, a van is definitely doable with a calendared vinyl.

When should you use Cast vinyl?

With that being said, there are many benefits to using a cast film. One is you can do the entire van from front to back with one film. This would include the bumpers, inside the door handles, the channels along the van, and all edges without an issue. Although the cast wrap kit will be more expensive, it should also save you a lot of time when doing the

install. If you are a one-man operation, the savings in vinyl may not be worth it to you. However, if you are paying an installer and have a backlog of work to do, then the savings in labor will be more than the cost to upgrade to a cast film which will save you money. Cast vinyl also tends to last longer and has a longer warranty than calendared film. So, although you may have a job that calendared is perfect for, if the customer wants a longer warranty or plans to never remove the graphics from the vehicle, you may want to opt for a cast film. Many of the newer films that are coming into the market are coming with incredibly long warranties. Arlon Vital DPF V9700 has a 12-year vertical and a 6-year horizontal warranty (*Depending on zone). For some of your commercial jobs, they will retire the vehicle before the warranty expires on the vinyl.

What other applications does this apply to?

I have mostly been talking about vehicle graphics, but what other applications should you consider when choosing which type of vinyl you are using? If you are also doing wall graphics, many of you are probably using a calendared vinyl for that application. These are applications where the walls are flat and there is little to no stretch necessary. That may seem like the perfect application for a calendared film. What you may not be taking into consideration is how much easier and faster a cast wall film would be for this application.

Most outdoor murals are currently done with a high-tack calendared wall vinyl. The problem you can run into is if it is windy or if you are short-staffed that day, that vinyl can be difficult to work with. It can catch a gust of wind and stick to itself or you could mess up the alignment and need to peel it back off. A cast vinyl can give you a little more room for errors. This would help if you have new installers or the conditions aren’t as nice as you would like them to be.

An example of this product would be the new General Formulation 885AE Roughmark product. With this product and similar products, you can remove some of the headache that is typically associated with wall wraps. This is a product that will not be ruined if it gets stuck to itself, will not be an issue if it needs to go into deep channels in concrete or stucco, and will install faster due to its conformability and air egress features. So, although the wall may be ideal for calendared vinyl, it may be worth testing out a cast film to save money on labor and get more work done in a day!

How does this help save me money?

If you read the first sentence of this article and you are still thinking, “OK but how does this save me and my shop money?” I am glad you asked! First, I am hoping by knowing the difference between the two you will be able to find jobs that you are currently using cast vinyl for that you can substitute in some calendared vinyl for. This may be the sides and backs of vans, partial graphics on the side of a truck or car, and even some rivets.

Second, I am hoping that you can look at some jobs that you are currently using calendared vinyl for and substitute in some cast. This can be particularly helpful for a couple of different types of shops:

If you have a shop with high labor costs, cast vinyl can speed up your installs, reducing your total labor for the job. If you have a shop that is backlogged with work, the faster you can get through your backlog, the faster you can take on more jobs and make more money. Shops that want to spend more time on sales and marketing and less time on installations.

If you fit into any of those groups, I would consider looking at what vinyl you are purchasing and reaching out to your distributors to see if there is a better alternative for the job you are working on. Just because you have historically used cast or calendared for this particular job does not mean that it is the best material for the job.

If you find a job that is taking longer than it should and cast can save you time and labor costs, then let’s make the switch. If you find that a calendared product can complete a particular job just as efficiently but with lower costs, then that’s great as well!

Tyler Hull Director of Marketing, Wensco Sign Supply