Thursday, October 29, 2020

What is the Difference Between Vinyl and Flex Banners?

 When promoting your business or event, you want to choose the most effective and affordable method which may include banner printing. What you may not know is that there are different types of banners, each with its own pros and cons. To make it easier for you when choosing signage to promote your business, we are going to look at the most common types of banners, vinyl and flex. Vinyl printing and flex materials both have their primary uses, so you can use this info to decide which is best for your needs:

Vinyl Printing Calgary

Vinyl banner printing

Vinylprinting is the most commonly used. Unlike the past where vinyl couldn’t be colored, there are new color printers on the market that can print coloured vinyl signage and 3M vinyl wrap. If you choose vinyl, you can choose your desired pattern and colours with your sign maker. There is a special machine where the sign maker loads the vinyl and cuts it into your selected pattern.

Vinyl has an adhesive material which helps attach to your banner board after cutting. The adhesive is pulled off before attaching it. Unfortunately, the process of first peeling off the adhesive material before sticking the vinyl to the board makes this type of banner prone to wrinkles.

Vinyl is mostly used to create signs and banners on surfaces that the adhesive material can stick to. They have the advantage that the PVC and 3M vinyl wrap is quite flexible and the vinyl can stick on the surface for many years without wearing.

Flex banner printing

Flex material is mostly used for printing on clothing, however, recently sign makers have diversified the usage of flex and are now using it to make signage as well. Unlike vinyl printing, flex is softer and moves better. These banners are made using special printers that look like the normal inkjets but have the capability of printing flex materials. After printing, your sign maker will use heat to attach the flex material to your final product. There are special tools that are used to bond flex to the surface.

There are three types of inks used when printing on flex. These include:

  1. Solvent ink– these have a strong smell and are non-biodegradable. They are carcinogenic and hence not recommended for long use. They also produce low quality final print.
  2. Eco solvent ink- unlike the solvent ink, this type is less harmful and is almost odorless. They are not harmful for use under normal working conditions and they are better quality than the former.
  3. UV ink– this type is the most recent and it has the advantage that it’s eco friendly. The UV ink doesn’t require any heating when curing it and hence can be used in more applications. It produces the most vibrant quality.

Flex banner printing simply uses a board whose material can perfectly bond with the flex material. These types of banners are most preferred due to their durability. They also tend to be safer than having your banner printed on clothing.

 

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