- What it is
- A rigid board of expanded PVC with a smooth, faintly matt skin. It is printed direct or faced with a mounted print, cuts cleanly with a blade or a router, takes a fixing without special preparation, and is light enough to hang on a plasterboard wall with very little behind it. It is the workhorse of the family: most indoor panel signage, most mounted display and most short-run exhibition graphics are this board.
- What it is printed on
Expanded closed-cell PVC, printed direct or faced with a laminated print. Because the cells are closed it takes up no water, so it will hold on a protected elevation outdoors for a season — but it moves with heat, and a long panel fixed rigidly at both ends will bow in the afternoon and stay bowed. Nothing about it appears in the caliper table, which holds sheets rather than boards, so no thickness is quoted here.
- How it feels
- Light, faintly waxy and slightly warm — nearer a dense foam than a plastic sheet. It takes a fingernail mark and keeps it. The cut edge is porous and a little furry rather than glassy, which is why a visible edge is usually routed or trimmed clean rather than left as it comes off the saw.
- What it suits
- Indoor signage, exhibition and retail panels, mounted photography, menu boards, and anything going onto a shell-scheme wall. It does not suit an exterior panel expected to last, where aluminium composite is the right answer, and it does not suit anything that will be leaned on — it is stiff but it is not strong, and a large sheet unsupported in the middle takes a permanent set.
- Lead time
- Standard turnaround is 7–14 working days. Counted from approved artwork rather than from the enquiry.
- The common mistake
- Mounting a print to it and then trimming both together with a tired blade. The board is soft and the print is not, so a blunt edge drags the film over the corner and leaves a lipped, white-cored line all the way round the panel that no amount of handling will hide. Trim with a fresh blade or route it, and look hard at the first panel before the rest of the run is cut.
Print idea
Foam PVC panels
A closed-cell foamed PVC board — light, matt, easy to cut and easy to fix — which is why it has become the default rigid panel for indoor display. Sold under trade names including Foamex, Forex and Palight.
Standard turnaround is 7–14 working days.
What foam pvc panels is
A rigid board of expanded PVC with a smooth, faintly matt skin. It is printed direct or faced with a mounted print, cuts cleanly with a blade or a router, takes a fixing without special preparation, and is light enough to hang on a plasterboard wall with very little behind it. It is the workhorse of the family: most indoor panel signage, most mounted display and most short-run exhibition graphics are this board.
Expanded closed-cell PVC, printed direct or faced with a laminated print. Because the cells are closed it takes up no water, so it will hold on a protected elevation outdoors for a season — but it moves with heat, and a long panel fixed rigidly at both ends will bow in the afternoon and stay bowed. Nothing about it appears in the caliper table, which holds sheets rather than boards, so no thickness is quoted here.
- The printed face.
- The core: One material through the whole section, so there is no skin to delaminate and no core to crush.
- The fixing. A screw needs something continuous to hold — decide how it stands up before deciding what it looks like.
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.
- Material and effect
Also worth looking at
- Aluminium composite panelsStandard turnaround is 7–14 working days.
- Honeycomb board panelsStandard turnaround is 7–14 working days.
- Fluted polypropylene panelsStandard turnaround is 7–14 working days.
- Life-size standeeStandard turnaround is 7–14 working days.
- PostersThe specification, and how it is quoted
- 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.