Author Jim Hingst, a 42-year veteran in the graphic arts field, recently posted a blog (Hingst’s Sign Post) containing an excerpt from an article he wrote several years ago for Sign Builder Illustrated detailing strategies for how best to protect vinyl banners from strong winds. As printers broaden their production of flexible media applications using superwide printers like Fujifilm’s new Acuity LED 3200R press, these tips could come in handy at installation time to ensure your display and exhibition graphics resist what Mother Nature can deliver!
Hingst reports a 75 mile-per-hour wind can generate nearly 15 lbs. per square foot of wind pressure at ground level and 21 lbs per square foot of pressure for banners mounted 15 feet above the ground. For a 4′ x 8′ banner, that’s equal to 460 lbs of wind load at ground level and 671 lbs hanging!
— Jim Hingst, Hingst’s Sign Post Blog, October, 2016.“These tremendous wind loads not only can tear apart banner material, but can also bend poles used to suspend banners.”
Employing techniques like these can protect your quality display- and exhibition-sized graphics from gale force winds ensuring your clients get their message across in even the most challenging of out-of-home installations.