With wide-format magnetic solutions, signmakers can move beyond common applications such as car magnets.
SMC: How do environmental factors such as temperature and moisture affect the performance of magnetic signs?
HB: On cars, they have a tendency to lose their magnetic properties in the winter and in cold temperatures. It’s good to use magnetic car signs up to -20 or -26 C (-4 or -14 F). After that, the customer might lose them. The opposite can also be true. I’ve seen some applications in the south of the U.S., where it’s super warm. If the sign isn’t well maintained—especially on an outdoor application—and the customer doesn’t do a weekly cleaning of the sign and the surface where the magnetic sign goes, it could create problems.
It’s not true that you can apply it, let it be for as long as you want, and then take it off, because there are many different aspects to take into consideration. For example, for a brand-new car, you need to wait several months before applying a magnet, because the chemicals, the paint, and the fumes are still evaporating. You don’t want to slap a piece of magnet on top of that. The humidity in some areas could also be problematic, so you need to be careful with this application. Otherwise, you’ll get a ghost effect, and we don’t want that to happen.
SMC: Are there other safety considerations sign professionals should keep in mind when working with magnetic material?
HB: It’s heavy. A magnetic roll at 1,219.2-mm (48-in.) wide—the 30 mil we use for cars—weighs about 130 lb. Therefore, you have to be careful. One person can’t lift the roll and put it on the equipment, the press, or the cutting machine. Otherwise, there are no chemicals involved, so that’s not an issue. It’s only the weight of the material on the wider and heavier gauges.
SMC: How can magnetic signs be effectively customized to meet specific branding and promotional needs?
HB: At the moment, many applications are indoor, not outdoor. Traditional car magnets have been covered for so many years, but it’s the inside application that is becoming more common. For example, Starbucks is using these solutions. McDonald’s followed the trend. Companies such as Adidas and Under Armour use the wide-format solutions in their in-store presentations. They’re easy to cut with a computer numerical control (CNC) table to do special shapes. They’re versatile, and if a sign shop is really creative, they could use several components to build something totally different, and the customer would appreciate it because it’s up to the next level.
Ultimately, there are many displays that could be built with magnetic solutions. You would just have to use your imagination to develop the right ones. Based on the size of the sheets, they can be customized for specific shapes and sizes and different applications, depending on what the project calls for. The magnetic material could be cut with a guillotine or an X-Acto knife when there’s no shape, but if you have a CNC table, you could make very creative graphics.
