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How-magnetic-signs-are-made

There are many ways to make a magnetic sign. Most lesser qualified shops buy magnetic backing from there local sign supplier buy the foot off of a roll kept at the supply house. For most shops there is no choice of features for this backing and they get what they get. See Types-of-magnetic-backing for more information.

Lettering and graphics are then put on the backing in a multitude of ways depending on what equipment the sing shops owns. Some cut lettering out of vinyl film and then apply the sections of film to the substrate (magnetic backing). For basic lettering in one or two colors this method will produce a good sign if a high quality film is used, however the process limits you to fairly large letters and not many text characters. Each color must be loaded into a plotter and cut out for each color on the sign. We have seen many signs where the vinyl lettering bubbles or peels and comes off as the signs start to age. As you can imagine the more complex the sign gets the harder is is to make it look nice. Anything but simple line art becomes a problem to cut properly. To add graphics a lot of smaller shops either do not do it or try to print a graphic decal to stick to the sign- this usually results in a mismatched graphic background that dramatically hurts the signs appearance. Some will use a printer to first print onto a sheet of vinyl and then try to stick that to the magnet - this can result in air bubbles and wrinkles and the ink quality is usually not up to withstanding the outdoor environment these signs where meant to be used in. There are many types of inks most of which are not very durable when exposed to the backing sun. We found that the only proper solution is to use true UV (ultra violet) cured inks for a super durable sign. Many companies use Eco-Solvent inks that just will not provide long term satisfaction. Some advertise that they use UV stable ink, this is not the same as UV cured ink that uses a high powered ultraviolet light to full cure the ink to the substrate as it comes out of the printer.

In short, there are many very high quality printers making excellent magnetic sign products - unfortunately there are many more that are taking lots of short-cuts that result in inferior products being sold to unknowing customers.