US sources for Film-Free Decal Paper?

Yeah, that’s one thing that actually surprised me with the glue packet. When I first saw it, I thought it was going to be not nearly enough glue for all 20 sheets of decal paper in the packet. But you find that, while you definitely want to give a good solid coat of glue to the entire surface, that glue really does stretch a long way.

The glue in the bottle I show is what I have left after about 15 sheets – in one case, I had to cover the entire front of a 1590DD enclosure with glue - and there’s still going to be plenty left for the remaining sheets I have.

Mike
 
giovanni said:
I am getting my first ever sunnyscopa today. I’m excited to try it out!
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xefned said:
I plan to try it for the first time today!
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Hey, just a possible word of caution. The last batch of film free decal I got, the glue seemed to cure much more quickly than before (meaning that it was much harder to peel off the film off and clean the excess glue after the initial curing then usual). Similarly, when I did the second bake to really cure the decal, baking it for my normal length of time (30 minutes at 230°) seemed to overcook it. Maybe it was just a bad batch of glue - but the event, be careful about over-curing. At least for this batch, I am going to cut my curing time for both the initial and the final cure in half just to be safe - so now I’ll do 5 minutes for the initial cure and 15 for the final cure.

Mike
 
mkstewartesq said:
Hey, just a possible word of caution. The last batch of film free decal I got, the glue seemed to cure much more quickly than before (meaning that it was much harder to peel off the film off and clean the excess glue after the initial curing then usual). Similarly, when I did the second bake to really cure the decal, baking it for my normal length of time (30 minutes at 230°) seemed to overcook it. Maybe it was just a bad batch of glue - but the event, be careful about over-curing. At least for this batch, I am going to cut my curing time for both the initial and the final cure in half just to be safe - so now I’ll do 5 minutes for the initial cure and 15 for the final cure.

Mike
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Thank you for the tip!
 
mkstewartesq said:
Hey, just a possible word of caution. The last batch of film free decal I got, the glue seemed to cure much more quickly than before (meaning that it was much harder to peel off the film off and clean the excess glue after the initial curing than usual).
Click to expand...

Their tutorials seem to indicate that they're continually adjusting their formula. One tutorial says to dunk in water for 5 seconds, another says to dunk for 20 seconds, etc. So, thanks for the heads-up.

Is your first cure with a heat gun? Or in the oven?

mkstewartesq said:
Similarly, when I did the second bake to really cure the decal, baking it for my normal length of time (30 minutes at 230°) seemed to overcook it. Maybe it was just a bad batch of glue - but the event, be careful about over-curing. At least for this batch, I am going to cut my curing time for both the initial and the final cure in half just to be safe - so now I’ll do 5 minutes for the initial cure and 15 for the final cure.
Click to expand...

I once overcooked another brand of waterslide and had carmelized corners on my front panel.

For the Sunnyscopa (film-free), I'm planning to do:
  • 2 minutes with the heat gun for the first cure, and
  • 15 minutes at 204˚C for the hard cure.
I’m using their newest formula:
  • Paper type: “M” for “multi-use,” now sold as “All in One.”
  • Glue type: “W1+” for non-porous surfaces.
 
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Let’s just say today was a bit fraught. Still something different about this glue mixture. I applied the decal and cooked it for the first bake for half the time at 230° (six minutes. The film came off but the ink did not adhere in spots. So I used some acetone and rubbing alcohol to weaken it and pretty much scraped off the original decal.

Then I applied the decal a second time and baked did it slightly lower temperature (225°) but let it bake for just one minute longer (seven minutes) since the temperature was lower. This time the decal film was an unholy bitch to get off (it finally came off in pieces) but at least the image is 99% there so I’m going to call it a day on this one.

Since I normally apply a coat of clearcoat, I’m not even sure if I’m going to do a second bake on this for a final cure – last time I did that, the decal actually looked worse after the final cure than it did after the initial cure.

Mike
IMG_1048.jpeg
 
mkstewartesq said:
Let’s just say today was a bit fraught. Still something different about this glue mixture. I applied the decal and cooked it for the first bake for half the time at 230° (six minutes. The film came off but the ink did not adhere in spots. So I used some acetone and rubbing alcohol to weaken it and pretty much scraped off the original decal.

Then I applied the decal a second time and baked did it slightly lower temperature (225°) but let it bake for just one minute longer (seven minutes) since the temperature was lower. This time the decal film was an unholy bitch to get off (it finally came off in pieces) but at least the image is 99% there so I’m going to call it a day on this one.

Since I normally apply a coat of clearcoat, I’m not even sure if I’m going to do a second bake on this for a final cure – last time I did that, the decal actually looked worse after the final cure than it did after the initial cure.

Mike
View attachment 72497
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Could it be that you got a bad batch of gllue?
 
mkstewartesq said:
Let’s just say today was a bit fraught. Still something different about this glue mixture. I applied the decal and cooked it for the first bake for half the time at 230° (six minutes. The film came off but the ink did not adhere in spots. So I used some acetone and rubbing alcohol to weaken it and pretty much scraped off the original decal.

Then I applied the decal a second time and baked did it slightly lower temperature (225°) but let it bake for just one minute longer (seven minutes) since the temperature was lower. This time the decal film was an unholy bitch to get off (it finally came off in pieces) but at least the image is 99% there so I’m going to call it a day on this one.

Since I normally apply a coat of clearcoat, I’m not even sure if I’m going to do a second bake on this for a final cure – last time I did that, the decal actually looked worse after the final cure than it did after the initial cure.

Mike
View attachment 72497
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In the end it turned out pretty damn good :)

What do you use for clear coat?
 
Zanshin said:
In the end it turned out pretty damn good :)

What do you use for clear coat?
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Thank you!

I use this – I buy it at Walmart. I can’t say I have any specific reason for preferring it over any other brand – I just picked it up once and it worked well so I stuck with it.

Mike

IMG_1049.jpeg
 
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