- What it is
- A twin-wall polypropylene board with flutes running between two skins — cardboard, made of plastic. It is printed direct or faced with a print, cut to shape, and then cable-tied to a fence, screwed to a post or fixed onto a hoarding. It is the site notice, the directional arrow, the property board and the event sign that goes up for a weekend and comes down again.
- What it is printed on
Twin-wall fluted polypropylene, printed direct or faced with a printed vinyl. Polypropylene is a low-energy surface, so ink adhesion depends on the board having been corona-treated for print: an untreated board looks perfectly good when it is new and then sheds ink in the first heavy rain. Where the piece is small enough not to need a board behind it at all, a polypropylene synthetic sheet does the same weatherproof job in a sheet-fed size.
- Synthetic stock, 200 micron0.20 mmThe tear-proof, water-resistant sheet for a notice small enough to need no board behind it.
- How it feels
- Light and hollow, with the flutes findable through the skin under a thumb and a distinct click when a fingernail runs across them. The surface is slightly waxy, and the cut edge is open, showing the flute ends — which is both how you recognise the board across a car showroom and the reason it never looks premium.
- What it suits
- Site and safety notices, directional signage for an outdoor event, roadshow and open-house boards, and any outdoor sign whose job ends when the campaign does. It does not suit a long installation — UV embrittles it and the printed face chalks — and it does not suit anything read close up, where the flute lines telegraph through a solid area as visible stripes.
- Lead time
- Standard turnaround is 7–14 working days. Counted from approved artwork rather than from the enquiry.
- The common mistake
- Ignoring the direction of the flutes. The board is far stiffer along them than across them, so a wide sign cut with the flutes running vertically sags in the middle and folds in a gust, and a cable tie punched across the flutes tears out where one punched along them holds. State the flute direction with the size — it is the one specification on this board that nobody asks for and everybody needs.
Print idea
Fluted polypropylene panels
The corrugated plastic board used for short-life outdoor work: waterproof, light, quick to fix, and honest about being temporary. Sold under trade names including Correx and Coroplast.
Standard turnaround is 7–14 working days.
What fluted polypropylene panels is
A twin-wall polypropylene board with flutes running between two skins — cardboard, made of plastic. It is printed direct or faced with a print, cut to shape, and then cable-tied to a fence, screwed to a post or fixed onto a hoarding. It is the site notice, the directional arrow, the property board and the event sign that goes up for a weekend and comes down again.
Twin-wall fluted polypropylene, printed direct or faced with a printed vinyl. Polypropylene is a low-energy surface, so ink adhesion depends on the board having been corona-treated for print: an untreated board looks perfectly good when it is new and then sheds ink in the first heavy rain. Where the piece is small enough not to need a board behind it at all, a polypropylene synthetic sheet does the same weatherproof job in a sheet-fed size.
- The printed face.
- The core: Flutes standing between two skins. Far stiffer along them than across them, which is why the direction is a specification.
- The skin, drawn at its real share of the section — 8 per cent of it, which is why the drawing looks the way it does.
- The flutes, running the length of the panel — stiff along the sign, weak across it.
- The cable tie, punched along the flutes rather than across them, where it would tear out.
The specification
Six fields, and the last one is the useful one.
The same six questions are answered for every entry in this section, in the same order, so two objects can be compared without reading two pages of prose. The mistake is stated last and stated plainly, because it is the one that costs a reprint and it is the reason this page is worth sending to a colleague.
Where this sits.
Every entry is indexed three ways, because a buyer arrives knowing the occasion, the object or the material and almost never all three.
- Application
- Format
- Material and effect
Also worth looking at
- Foam PVC panelsStandard turnaround is 7–14 working days.
- Construction hoarding graphicsStandard turnaround is 7–14 working days.
- Mesh bannersStandard turnaround is 7–14 working days.
- SignageThe specification, and how it is quoted
- StandeesThe specification, and how it is quoted
- Every print idea, indexed three waysThe section index
- The materials libraryCaliper, weight and what each finish costs
Send the specification for this, and it comes back quoted.
Every job is quoted from its specification — stock, quantity, sides, finish, size and deadline.
- Quantity
- Stock — or the feel you want, if you do not know the stock
- Sides printed
- Finish
- Flat and finished size
- The deadline
Artwork is welcome but not required to start. Email sales@ezprint.com.sg if you would rather attach files.