Assemble the Minions!

Although they might at first glance be mistaken for something akin to “Despicable Me” minions, these are actually Simplexa 3M Integrated Cyclers from Focus Diagnostics – instruments used by laboratories to test for a variety of diseases. Iconography in Los Alamitos, California, adds a fun, custom element to these devices, wrapping them so they look like everything from dinosaurs to football helmets and even fishbowls (the end user chooses the final theme).

The shop uses its Roland Soljet Pro III XC-540 printer, with 3M Controltac IJ180 film and Scotchcal 8518 overlaminate in producing the wraps. Iconography produces about 40 of these per year.

“The install is very difficult and time consuming due to the round shape of these,” says Sarah Naccarato, Iconography’s president. “We have to be sure to off-gas the material a full 24 hours after printing and then 24 hours after laminating to make sure it doesn't fail. It takes about as long to wrap one of these as it does to do a full bumper on a vehicle.

“We had a few of them fail a couple of years ago and couldn't figure out why,” she continues. “We worked with the team at Focus Diagnostics and finally traced it back to a change they had made in the manufacturing of the plastic shells on the units. After that, we began adding adhesive, and also learned from Focus how to disassemble the units a bit so that we could wrap farther under the lids to give the film more surface area to adhere to.”

ICONOGRAPHY
www.iconographystudios.net