How to apply large vinyl stickers

[David]

Dear all-knowing

I have promised to put some A-boards together for a local charity and now have a. a blank metal A-board b. an A1 vinyl sticker to put on the A-board

Can someone tell me how to stick the big sticker with the design on onto the A-board without making a total pig's ear of it?

The problem as I see it is that if I stick one end and it's not entirely straight, by the time I get to the other end, the error will be very noticeable. And once it's stuck, it's probably stuck. Oh, and how to avoid wrinkles (no botox jokes please).

Top tips please as I've hed 'em for a month and Google has revealed nothing to me...

Ta

David

[George]

Start at the middle and work to both ends of the board,clean that board with white spirits first and dry off. When you start from the middle use a damp rag to sweep the sticker from the middle outwards ie left&right. Any bubbles can be sliced with a sharp craft knife and then pressed down to release the trapped air.

Just have patience. :-)

[Jonathan]

I would just use sewing needle to get a fine hole to let the air out.

Jonathan

[Huge]

Warm soapy water - a bucket of warm water with a squeeze of washing up liquid. Wet the board down (it might be better to do it horizontally). Peel the backing off the sticker carefully and splash water over the back of that, too. Then place the sticker on the board. Providing you don't press down too hard, you can slide the sticker about until it's flat, unwrinkled and where you want it. Then use a squeegee to force the water out from underneath it. This might sound bizarre, but it's how vinyl stickers are put on cars...

For example, the stickers, including the white circles on the doors here;

put on with warm soapy water. (Ignore the fact that the numbers are squiffy

- they're only used for one event and are peeled off and thrown away, so I just stick those on dry.)

[Doki]

Similar to what George said, but after cleaning, spray the board with a weak mixture of washing up liquid and water. This lets you slide it around and position it, and then squeegeeing removes the water and sticks it down.

[George]

Soapy water on the back of sticky backed vinyl? first time I've heard that one.

I know its done on film type decal where you do wet the surface then slide the decal around till its where it should go and then use a squeegy to flatten it out.

[sm_jamieson]

Is is actually sticky, or the type you apply with soapy water and squeegy ? Everyone has assumed the latter. Simon.

[David]

It's sticky - like a...er...big sticker...

David

[Peter Andrews]

[The Natural Philosopher]

Yu use a lubricant..and that keeps the vinyl from sticking till you have squeegeed it out.

I forget what works well..

[David]

Thanks folks - I'll get sticking!

david

[Adrian]

David (David ) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

...and the soapy water stops it sticking, allowing you to adjust the position.

Trust me, it works. We had some vinyls done for a car a few years back - biggest was full bonnet - and this was the ONLY way to get 'em in place. They stick like wotnot to a blanket dry, but with the water you can slide 'em about to your heart's content. Then just squeegee the excess out and leave 'em to dry - and they're permanent.

[Harry Bloomfield]

David wrote on 11/03/2008 :

Wet the board with water, with a small amount of washing up liquid added. That should allow it to float over the surface to its location, then squeagy the liquid out. The small amount left, will evaporate.

[Huge]

That's as maybe, but that's how it's done. I was skeptical the first time, but have done dozens of them since.

[1501]

The soap lowers the surface tension of the water and helps to get a thin even layer of water.

It really does work!

[:Jerry:]

That's how body trim vinyl is applied to motor vehicles (that black vinyl around the windows on many Volvos for example), diluted screen wash in one of those trigger spray bottle is what most people use.