Signs – Sintra, Foam Board & Styrene

Sintra (PVC) and Foam Board Printing vs Coroplast

In short, customers prefer sintra, foamboard, or styrene substrates over coroplast because they are smooth.  Corrugated plastic is fantastic stuff, but slight ridges from the flutes inside the coroplast do show on the finished sign.  With this product, that is not the case.

Mounted printed posters, signs, and presentations appear at weddings, conferences, meetings and trade shows. Full colour prints mounted on rigid foamcore or sintra substrates look great standing on an easel, on a special track stand, or leaning against a wall.

Foam board printing is often used for wedding seating plans, giant cheques to be presented to charity, or for presentation posters at important conferences. Scientific research is often presented this way.

Printing Process

While some print shops print directly on the substrate, we print on pressure sensitive vinyl and mount the print on the substrate.   You select the print media – gloss, matte, or semi-gloss – and add lamination as desired.  More options and flexibility for you.

Substrate Options for Mounted Prints

Foam Board or Foamcore

Foam board or foamcore is a styrofoam sheet sandwiched between sheets of light card stock.

Pros: Foamboard is smooth and very lightweight.  It is very rigid, so stands up straight on an easel without bowing in the centre.

Cons: Foamboard must be handled with care. Corners can easily be damaged if they are bumped. It also creases permanently if bent too far or dented if a weight is placed on it. Not recommended for long term use.

Sintra (PVC)

Sintra is a lightweight yet rigid board made of a closed-cell polyvinyl chloride (PVC). It is 3 mil in thickness and has a smooth surface. Ideal for long term use and signage.

Pros: Sintra is more durable than foamcore and can be used outdoors as well as indoors. It is water resistant. Surface is smooth.

Cons: Somewhat bendy and will bow in the middle if leaning against a wall.

Styrene

Thin, bendable .020 styrene plastic is smooth.

Pros: Adds tensile strength to the poster or sign without adding too much thickness. Can be loosely rolled. Best used for signs that will be installed with adhesive.

Cons: Not as rigid as the other options.

Most customers tend to select  sintra (pvc) and install grommets for long term signage as it is robust and does not damage as easily as foam board.

Foam board is the first choice for short term event signs.

Smart buyers order styrene prints because it rolls up and therefore can be easily shipped.  They mount the styrene print on a plywood backing on their end.  Doing this, they save on printing costs by ordering a 4′ x 8′ sign at Laser Sharp and on shipping by transporting a relatively small lightweight package instead of picking up an oversize sign.

The preferred file format is pdf or eps.  The graphic size and proportions should be correct so that your image does not have to be blown up to fit on your selected size. 

Pixilation, which can result from increasing the size of a raster image (jpg or png) can significantly impact or ruin the quality of your print.