TNT (Tips n’ Tricks)
Which Glue is Right for You? Navigating Adhesive Graphics By Jay Kroll e’ve all been there. It’s the 11th hour on a deadline, and the materials you were counting on haven’t arrived. That resourceful, desperate, creative scrambling takes hold. You grab whatever is available, getting you close enough to the spec, knowing you’ll likely have to redo it when the materials finally show up. It’s desperation-fueled ingenuity, and it has saved my bacon more than once. But what about when you have plenty of time and choose to settle for the materials on your shop floor? Have you ever tried to force functionality from films you knew weren’t a good fit? Or applied an adhesive, fingers crossed, hoping it sticks without destroying the surface? When we use cast vinyl for bumper stickers or short-term signage, or opt for economy vinyl for a car wrap, we’re doing our customers a disservice and likely leaving money on the table.
16 l WrapFam Unleashed l January 2024
A lot of this can be attributed to what Charles E. Hummel refers to as the “tyranny of the urgent”—struggling to keep up with complexities without taking the necessary time for education on all the options and moving parts. As a product manager at General Formulations, it is my job to understand the building blocks of adhesive-backed graphic films and what they can do, both as components and sets. My hope is that this quick overview of some of those pieces and parts will help you make better decisions when choosing material for your next job. A quick disclaimer: while I prefer working with GF films, the following information is universal for vinyl in the graphics industry. With very few exceptions, adhesive-backed graphic films will incorporate three key components: film, adhesive, and liner. Within those three building blocks, a whole world of chemistries and combinations exists. Let’s dive in with the first building block—film. For the sake of this article, we are talking about vinyl films. There are two main categories— calendered and cast—and there are different forms of calendered vinyl.
