MSI manufactures a full line of Overlays including:

* Durable Custom Velvet Polycarbonate Overlays.

* Durable Custom Hard Coated Polycarbonate and Polyester Overlays.

* Durable Custom UV Polycarbonate Overlays for Outdoor applications.

* Selective texturing for LCD displays and LED windows.

* Custom Metallic Polycarbonate Overlays.

* Embossed Overlays

* Custom Dead front Overlays.

* Autotype Polyester.

* 3M Laminating Adhesives and VHB bonding tapes.

* Selective adhesive.

* Custom Color Matching.

Hardcoated Polycarbonate

Durable Hard coated polycarbonate has several excellent benefits for use in Overlay and Nameplate applications:

1. Enhanced scratch and chemical resistance.

2. Wide range of thicknesses from .005 - .060.

3. A wide range of gloss levels including 100, 90, 75, 55, 35 and 20%.

4. Polycarbonate remains clear even in thicknesses above .010 unlike polyesters which become milky white in thicknesses above .010.

5. Polycarbonate is extremely easy to print in all thicknesses and can be steel rule die cut up to .040 for the thicker Durable Custom Overlay applications.

Polycarbonate for Outdoor Use

UV inhibitors can now be added to the Polycarbonate, protecting the material from the harmful UV rays of the sun. Combined with 3M adhesives like 467 and 468 polycarbonate can now last up to and exceeding 5 years in the most demanding outdoor environments.

Lexan Overlays with Selective Texture

Selective texturing allows an Durable Custom Overlay to have "clear" windows for the LCD display while still having a velvet texture over the graphics. This gives the Durable Custom Overlay the durability of a velvet texture while retaining the clear window for readability. MSI uses a special UV cured hard coat clear that is more durable than the velvet texture that comes standard on the polycarbonate. This velvet finish is an excellent non-glare surface. These types of overlays can be printed Digital or Screen print depending on our customers designs. The polycarbonate materials come in many different gloss levels allowing a customer to vary the gloss level of the clear windows. In many cases customers will use a 90% polycarbonate to help reduce the glare on the clear windows.

Metallic Lexan Overlays

Custom Metallic Overlays are attractive and durable. The overlay is first sub-surface printed and then laminated from behind with a brushed silver polyester. This brushed silver polyester has a super clear adhesive to eliminate any bubbles or imperfections between the lexan and the brushed silver. These overlays can be used a in variety of overlay applications including small and large applications as well as applications involving LED displays.

Embossed Overlays

Embossing can add additional functionality to a Flat Custom Overlay Graphic Panel. MSI can do both cold emboss which allows about a .025 depth and a thermal emboss that can increase the depth of the embossing. A typical polycarbonate embossed overlay can withstand approximately 250,000 actuations. Polyester on the other hand can extend the actuation life of an overlay to approximately 2,000,000 actuations.

Velvet Polyester

While the Velvet Polyester looks similar to the Velvet Polycarbonate there are two distinct advantages to the polyester:

1. Increased chemical resistance.

2. Polyester films have an actuation life of approximately 2,000,000 cycles as compared to polycarbonate that has an actuation life of roughly 250,000.

One disadvantage to the polyester is the smaller range of thicknesses .005 - .010. Polycarbonate on the other hand ranges from .005 - .060 and higher.

Marnot XL Polyesters

Custom Marnot Polyesters Overlays come in the same wide array of gloss levels as the Custom Marnot Polycarbonate Overlays. The gloss levels are 100,90,75,55,40,35,20%. Polyester materials are used for the most demanding applications requiring additional actuation life and chemical resistance.

3M Laminating Adhesives

Is there any surface that 3M adhesives can not adhere to? If there is we have not found it. 3M is the leading provider of adhesives, bonding tapes and foam tapes. Whether your Durable Custom Overlay needs to adhere to metal, high surface energy plastics or low surface energy plastics 3M has the solution. MSI stocks a wide variety of 3M adhesive product such as:

* 467MP and 468MP (Excellent for metals and high surface energy plastics.)

* 9671 and 9672 (Excellent for low surface energy plastics

*VHB bonding tapes (Excellent for water tight seals.)

Above are just a few of the most popular 3M products MSI stocks. Our Durable Custom Label experts will be happy to help you find the ideal 3M adhesive for your special application.