Monday, 21 Nov 2016 13:38 GMT

The Latest Products for Sign-makers

Brendan Perring asks: “What are the latest products coming through your sign-making tapes and adhesives range, and how can they help the industry produce better quality results?”

Improving performance

We have been working in partnership with the industry’s leading companies for the past 15 years, during which time we have been involved in a broad range of signage projects from small one off installations to nationwide roll out programmes.

Our ethos has always been to work closely with the customer to establish what tape or adhesive product is best suited to the particular application. We back this up with rigorous independent testing for criteria such as initial and ultimate bond strength, temperature resistance, and the effects of differential expansion between dissimilar substrates. Whilst cost is certainly a factor in customer choice, all the above factors should be addressed, as an ill-informed choice can result in product failure and loss of reputation.

We are constantly being challenged by the industry to look at improved product performance, aesthetics, and environmental considerations. This has resulted in continuous improvement and diversification of the Nova range of tapes and adhesives. Recent innovations include both tape and adhesive solutions for bonding metals both prior to and after the powder coat process, which allows the customer greater flexibility in the production process.

An ill-informed choice can result in product failure and loss of reputation”


Where clarity and aesthetics are a consideration, we have a range of optically clear solutions for applications such as bonding built-up letters to glass and bonding acrylic whilst eliminating air bubbles commonly found in traditional bonding methods. These applications are backed up by useful ‘How To’ guides available on our website.
 
Environmental considerations have resulted in the reduction of solvents from many of our tape products and the removal of dichloromethane from our acrylic welding adhesives, reinforcing our position as a green company.

We will continue to work with the industry to deliver a range of products to allow our customers to reliably bond any substrates.

Endless choice


James Carpenter, managing director, Doro Tape UK



Nothing ever stands still in our industry for very long. Take, for instance, removable adhesives. In the early days of self-adhesive sign vinyl this was pretty much non-existent. Fast forward to today and the choice seems endless with a large variety of removable adhesives developed for specific applications.

These advancements have naturally led to an increase in marketing and promotional opportunities for a retail sector desperately trying to get customers off their computers and back onto the high street. These new removable adhesives allow retail designers the scope to apply graphics direct to surfaces, such as floors, walls, and windows in the knowledge they can be simply removed residue free. This is ideal for cheap, easily replaceable, high impact marketing that is not limited to one static position within a store.

On our stand at the recent excellent Print Show, we focused our attention on just this topic, presenting four of our popular printable films with the ability to be removed easily. Our stand graphic was printed with Digi-Fab, a versatile self-adhesive textured polyester fabric. Excellent for promotional posters, it can be applied easily to any surface and removed when required. What is more, it makes a versatile self-adhesive wallpaper with excellent print quality and ease of application.

Our stand graphic was printed with Digi-Fab, a versatile self-adhesive textured polyester fabric”


We supply Aslan’s range of quality films including their first-rate selection of removable direct-to-surface large-format printable media. On the stand, we presented the DFP 49 carpet vinyl, printing a fabulous graphic that was applied to the carpeted floor, which was removed leaving no residue at the close.

Applying graphics to windows has also always been an issue, and amongst the range of window films we supply, we focused on the Micro Tac polyester film supplied in white and crystal clear.

We also demonstrated the FF200 printable ferrous film. By first applying our 9054 self-adhesive magnet film to a surface, the printed ferrous film can be applied easily by shop staff and replaced on a regular basis. This makes it ideal for short-term marketing campaigns.

The great interest shown on our stand demonstrates how the market has embraced removable adhesive technology.

Researching adhesives


Simon Dearing, managing director, Eurobond Adhesives



For a company such as Eurobond Adhesives, it is interesting for us to see trends migrate from one industry sector to another as the months pass by. As a leading supplier of high performance adhesives to manufacturing businesses throughout Europe, we constantly develop products for very demanding applications in specialist areas such as sign-making, metal and plastic fabrication, electronics, medical device manufacture, glass bonding, general manufacturing, and engineering.

In recent years, we have witnessed many metal fabricators replacing mechanical fixing or welding of metal parts with ‘structural adhesives’ prior to putting them through a powder coating line. Twelve years ago, we researched the powder coat process to understand fully what properties an adhesive would need to cope with in such a harsh and aggressive environment. We met with many chemical engineers to find the right formulation and once we were happy with our own test results, we introduced two products into the metal fabrication industry. In the last few years this bonding technology has migrated into the sign industry. Eurobond have the only structural adhesive in the market called Penloc VT Plus, which will tolerate 200°C in a tunnel oven for 20 minutes. This product cures to a handling strength in just 15 minutes and fully cures in one hour. As a high viscosity adhesive, it also offers great gap fill capabilities. It is available in 50ml and 400ml cartridges, and is ideally suited for bonding rigid metal parts prior to powder coating.

It is interesting for us to see trends migrate from one industry sector to another as the months pass by”


A typical example of where Penloc VT Plus is used is in the manufacture of built up letters. The metalwork is bonded together and put through the powder coat oven. Then the coloured plastic face is bonded and sealed into place using our Eurobond ClearFix product. We have seen an increase in demand for our clear flexible adhesive in recent times. Many of the so called ‘clear’ products on the market leave highly visible shadow areas when back lit. ‘Eurobond ClearFix’ underwent rigorous testing and evaluation by dozens of leading sign-makers, getting a huge thumbs up from them before we launched it internationally. We have a huge and diverse knowledge of sign-making applications and adhesive chemistry, and that is ultimately how we can help improve your business.

Ever-evolving materials


Paul Robinson, joint owner, INDASOL



Industrial Adhesive Solutions (INDASOL) has been supplying the sign industry for over ten years, and we understand the importance of selecting the right product for each application, as well as the need to constantly move with the ever-evolving materials used in the industry. Working closely with our customers and suppliers has helped us ensure we always have the most innovative range of sign fixing tapes and adhesives available.

The latest addition to our range has been our Low Surface Energy UHB’s (15000-LSE series) and also our unique heat dissipating LED bonding UHB’s (21000-LED). Our LSE-UHB tapes offer high strength bonding to difficult materials such as polycarbonate and other difficult plastics. They do not stress or fatigue the plastic in any way and provide not only a structural strength bond, but also an expansion joint to cope with temperature changes.

Our LED-UHB tapes have been designed to cope with not only difficult surfaces, but also small surface areas. They have also been specifically designed to take away the heat generated by LEDs and eliminate hot spots.

LEDs are taking over when it comes to illuminated signage and a lot of these are coming in from various countries. Some with and some without an adhesive backing. The backing is sometimes branded, but it is dubious as to whether it is a genuine product or a poor copy.

The problems we are being presented with regarding the LEDs have been adhesive failure on the back of the LEDs”


The problems we are being presented with regarding the LEDs have been adhesive failure on the back of the them, where the supplied tape/foam is either not bonding well to the LED backing or failing during use due to heat. This is where our 21000-LED series and 15000-LSE series UHB products have proven to offer the answer by both coping with the difficult surface and also eliminating the heat issue.

At the end of the day, a sign-maker wants to produce and install once. Going back to a job is time consuming, costly, and can also harm their image, so using the right product first time should always be the main objective.

We offer free of charge technical advice either on site or by email/phone, free of charge samples, and want to get involved as early as we can in each project no matter how big or small. This level of expert service gives our customers the confidence they need to produce first class signs using first class tapes and adhesives.

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