Window tinting

[USMCRockinRV]

You have to spray the soapy water on THICK and HEAVY... To where it's dripping off and running everywhere - that way even if it touches together it just glides apart again.
You can't put on too much - soak it

[Zephod_beeblebrox2]

I sprayed the window thoroughly. Should I have sprayted thge film too?

[USMCRockinRV]

Yes that's what I meant to say

[USMCRockinRV]

As you pull it apart spray it at the same time - takes two people normally - soak it good

[Zephod_beeblebrox2]

Hmm... Trying to get the film not to curl is going to be very hard. It comes in a roll.

[USMCRockinRV]

You'll see the big big difference - kills the static electricity too

[USMCRockinRV]

Spray your work table too if you want and it'll suction to the table and not curl

[Zephod_beeblebrox2]

Work table? Such luxury! I'll see if my sheet of plexiglass will help.

[USMCRockinRV]

Here's my mom helping me

Notice our set up - I borrowed a cutting board
See the cutting board is all shiny... It's soaked with soapy water - just a lil soap is all

Soak the window
Soak the board
Soak the film...

Mucho Soaking!!!

When you get it close to the window it'll pull itself to the window and vacuum to it - then spray the outer film for squeegy'ing

[USMCRockinRV]

Originally Posted by Zephod_beeblebrox2

Work table? Such luxury! I'll see if my sheet of plexiglass will help.

Hahaha... Yea I can't imagine doing it without one.
That'll help out a lot too... You'll be a pro in no time!!

I haven't read all of this post but I hope you haven't done too many.

[Zephod_beeblebrox2]

Done 3 with varying degrees of suckiness. I have enough to do the bathroom door window because its smaller. That's easier to access too because I'm not leaning over a bec! Like I said, I'll probably improve and mightcredo the sucky windows later if I improve enough. I'm using 20% film at $10 a roll. Just ordered 3 more rolls.

[milkmania]

Originally Posted by Zephod_beeblebrox2

I sprayed the window thoroughly. Should I have sprayted thge film too?

absolutely!
it should be wet enough that when you first start to squeegee, you've got to hold the film with your opposite hand, or else it'll just slide in the direction you're squeeggeeing

*that's a screwed up word!


spray/SOAK 3 places....
1) window
2) adhesive side of film
3) non-adhesive side of film

I've watched the detail shops when they tint...
they typically use a pump up garden sprayer, if you have that luxury

[Zephod_beeblebrox2]

I located my plexiglass and scraped the frosting I'd sprayed on the window off. Then scraped the paint off the outside from when I painted the bus in December.

So, armed with knife supplied with film and spray bottle containing water and 3 or 4 drops of hand soap plus plastic spatula supplied with film and paper towels, I set to work.
Attachment 7839
Unlike my previous attempts, the film slid around a little too easily. No air bubbles this time though the edges proved a little tricky but I think they're down now.

That was my setup. Thanks for suggesting wetting a table too keep the film down. Everything seems to have worked a treat now.
No wrinkles or bubbles. At this rate if I have any leftover then I'll redo the windows I mucked up on! Any idea how to remove the film?

[milkmania]

Originally Posted by Zephod_beeblebrox2

I located my plexiglass and scraped the frosting I'd sprayed on the window off. Then scraped the paint off the outside from when I painted the bus in December.

So, armed with knife supplied with film and spray bottle containing water and 3 or 4 drops of hand soap plus plastic spatula supplied with film and paper towels, I set to work.
Attachment 7839
Unlike my previous attempts, the film slid around a little too easily. No air bubbles this time though the edges proved a little tricky but I think they're down now.
Attachment 7840
That was my setup. Thanks for suggesting wetting a table too keep the film down. Everything seems to have worked a treat now.Attachment 7841
No wrinkles or bubbles. At this rate if I have any leftover then I'll redo the windows I mucked up on! Any idea how to remove the film?

I peel mine, and use un-diluted Awesome from Dollar store
a knife blade, and paper towels

Bulk LA’s Totally Awesome All-Purpose Cleaner, 20 oz. at DollarTree.com

other cleaners will work, but, I use Awesome in place of all my chemicals anyway...
the adhesive will roll up and gum up, so it's just a process to get it cleared.

as I said earlier, use the opposite hand to hold the film in place until you get a pretty good area squeegee'd out, and the adhesive starts bonding to glass. plenty of water between squeegee and non-adhesive side.... it it runs dry, you'll scratch the film.



your tint job is EXTREMELY easy, as tint jobs go.....
wait until you peel the film off the back glass of a car at a 40 degree upside down angle, scrape it, clean it, and apply new tint.... them's the ones I take to the shop!

I'll do side glass all day, every day!

remember the old 80's & 90's hatchback Camaro?
it was easier to pull the hatchback off, because you had to apply tint in 10"-12" strips because of the complex curve

[milkmania]

ain't nothing wrong with that!

[family wagon]

Lots of good advice here! I haven't done tint professionally, but here are some tips I acquired from my SolarGard sales rep, the interwebs, a brother-in-law who did do tint installation, and my own experience on my 13-row bus. Much of it reiterates the excellent points others already made, but it's hard to write out the process I use and then go back and remove the parts others already suggested. Sorry!

soapy water: a quart-size squirt bottle with a little baby shampoo mixed in. Not much -- they all said "a few drops" and I probably used 1/4 teaspoon.

clean the window: scrape with a blade, then wash with the soapy water. Some sources specifically said don't use ammonia cleaners (Windex etc). When cleaning glass in a frame, get the dust/grit out of the edges. If you don't it'll come back to haunt you later. Use a microfiber towel rather than paper towels etc.

prepare the film: I like it cut with at least an inch of margin all the way around. This ensures I won't have an "oops, the film doesn't reach the edge!" and it allows some excess so the part I inevitably got fingerprints on can be cut away. Windows always have some kind of edge around them; the taller this edge is the less margin you can have because it gets in the way. That's more of a problem on residential windows than on skoolie windows.

peel the film: spray a NEARBY window. You'll stick the film wrong-side-out to this one temporarily. Use two pieces of scotch tape as described by milkmania to separate the film from the backing. Now put the tint up on the nearby window; the water there will hold it while you gently peel the protector film away. As you peel, spray the adhesive side of the tint with water to prevent buildup of static electricity. That'll help keep dust off the back of the tint. This technique also helps to avoid the tint curling, swinging in the slightest breeze and picking up dust someplace, etc.

place the film: Wet the target window -- aim for a heavy coat of fine mist all over it. Too heavy and the water beads up and rolls off the window. Make sure the adhesive side of the tint is wet too. Pick it up off the nearby window and place it adhesive side onto the target window. Make sure the film extends beyond the edge of the glass all the way around.

adhere the film: wet the inside surface of the film. use a firm/hard squeege like the blue one shown earlier. I like to start in the center and press out a line across the window in one direction, then start bowing the side of the line outward to the next window edge. Keep the squeege work area wet; it lubes the squeege and avoids scratches. Be careful to not use too much pressure; the film stretches easily and that'll create wrinkles. Watch the areas that aren't adhered yet while you're working; if you see a place that starts to lift up or curl it's because you're creating a stretch in the spot where you're working. You can probably peel the film back up a little and try again, or you can squeege in the opposite direction to let the stretch back out.

trim & finish: be careful as you get close to the edge. Do the middle of the window first, leaving maybe a half-inch border undone all the way around. If the film is pushed down and then lifts back up in this zone the movement of the water will carry little bits of dirt from the edge up into the visible area of the window where it'll leave a bubble in the film. It's a bear to get that dust back out. This part is hard to explain. Rotate the squeege so that you can trace along that border all the way around the window without lifting the squeege or backing up. Learn how to work with two hands to simultaneously press the film with the squeege and run the knife alongside to cut the film. That margin that we left on earlier is now our enemy; it causes the film to want to lift off the glass. Once it's cut away the film on the glass will stay there and the dirty water runs out harmlessly. I liked the Olfa GT126 breakaway knife. I'm such a penny-pincher and hate breaking away the knife earlier than I have to, but it's amazing how much difference a really sharp edge makes. Snap it off every 1-2 panes; the blades are cheap compared to the film.

film selection: I really liked the SolarGard. I used 50% VLT, their HP Smoke or Charcoal product I think, and it's amazing how much heat it rejects. They actually publish heat rejection specs for their films; I don't know whether the other brands do. I think I bought a 40" wide roll because it could do the bus windows with minimal waste and was big enough to be useful for other projects too.

[milkmania]

Originally Posted by family wagon

Lots of good advice here! I haven't done tint professionally, but here are some tips I acquired from my SolarGard sales rep, the interwebs, a brother-in-law who did do tint installation, and my own experience on my 13-row bus. Much of it reiterates the excellent points others already made, but it's hard to write out the process I use and then go back and remove the parts others already suggested. Sorry!

soapy water: a quart-size squirt bottle with a little baby shampoo mixed in. Not much -- they all said "a few drops" and I probably used 1/4 teaspoon.

clean the window: scrape with a blade, then wash with the soapy water. Some sources specifically said don't use ammonia cleaners (Windex etc). When cleaning glass in a frame, get the dust/grit out of the edges. If you don't it'll come back to haunt you later. Use a microfiber towel rather than paper towels etc.

prepare the film: I like it cut with at least an inch of margin all the way around. This ensures I won't have an "oops, the film doesn't reach the edge!" and it allows some excess so the part I inevitably got fingerprints on can be cut away. Windows always have some kind of edge around them; the taller this edge is the less margin you can have because it gets in the way. That's more of a problem on residential windows than on skoolie windows.

peel the film: spray a NEARBY window. You'll stick the film wrong-side-out to this one temporarily. Use two pieces of scotch tape as described by milkmania to separate the film from the backing. Now put the tint up on the nearby window; the water there will hold it while you gently peel the protector film away. As you peel, spray the adhesive side of the tint with water to prevent buildup of static electricity. That'll help keep dust off the back of the tint. This technique also helps to avoid the tint curling, swinging in the slightest breeze and picking up dust someplace, etc.

place the film: Wet the target window -- aim for a heavy coat of fine mist all over it. Too heavy and the water beads up and rolls off the window. Make sure the adhesive side of the tint is wet too. Pick it up off the nearby window and place it adhesive side onto the target window. Make sure the film extends beyond the edge of the glass all the way around.

adhere the film: wet the inside surface of the film. use a firm/hard squeege like the blue one shown earlier. I like to start in the center and press out a line across the window in one direction, then start bowing the side of the line outward to the next window edge. Keep the squeege work area wet; it lubes the squeege and avoids scratches. Be careful to not use too much pressure; the film stretches easily and that'll create wrinkles. Watch the areas that aren't adhered yet while you're working; if you see a place that starts to lift up or curl it's because you're creating a stretch in the spot where you're working. You can probably peel the film back up a little and try again, or you can squeege in the opposite direction to let the stretch back out.

trim & finish: be careful as you get close to the edge. Do the middle of the window first, leaving maybe a half-inch border undone all the way around. If the film is pushed down and then lifts back up in this zone the movement of the water will carry little bits of dirt from the edge up into the visible area of the window where it'll leave a bubble in the film. It's a bear to get that dust back out. This part is hard to explain. Rotate the squeege so that you can trace along that border all the way around the window without lifting the squeege or backing up. Learn how to work with two hands to simultaneously press the film with the squeege and run the knife alongside to cut the film. That margin that we left on earlier is now our enemy; it causes the film to want to lift off the glass. Once it's cut away the film on the glass will stay there and the dirty water runs out harmlessly. I liked the Olfa GT126 breakaway knife. I'm such a penny-pincher and hate breaking away the knife earlier than I have to, but it's amazing how much difference a really sharp edge makes. Snap it off every 1-2 panes; the blades are cheap compared to the film.

film selection: I really liked the SolarGard. I used 50% VLT, their HP Smoke or Charcoal product I think, and it's amazing how much heat it rejects. They actually publish heat rejection specs for their films; I don't know whether the other brands do. I think I bought a 40" wide roll because it could do the bus windows with minimal waste and was big enough to be useful for other projects too.

we'll make a professional window tinter out of him yet!


it already sounds like he's happier with the last window he tried

[Zephod_beeblebrox2]

I am very happy. I put together a tutorial on my blog
http://schoolbushome.blogspot.com/20...erly-with.html

[family wagon]

That looks great. It's one of those things that finally just clicks and one says "hey, this is easy!"

[milkmania]

Originally Posted by Zephod_beeblebrox2

I am very happy. I put together a tutorial on my blog
My Portable Home: How to apply window tint properly with Lexen tint film.

see, you came in here this morning and was about to throw it all away.....