PVC board printing on expanded PVC sheet, sold as Foamex, Sintra or Palight, printed direct and cut to shape at our Ravenhall workshop. Light, rigid, and simple to screw or stick to a wall.
Expanded PVC is a closed-cell plastic sheet with a fine foam core and a smooth skin on both faces. Foamex, Sintra, Palight and Komatex are trade names for the same material, which is why quotes from different suppliers can look unrelated. Sheet runs from 1 mm to 19 mm thick, white as standard, with black and colours to order.
Made by Melbourne Trade Signs, a large-format print and signage company on Unit 6/43 Orbis Drive, Ravenhall VIC 3023, in Melbourne’s west. Printed in-house and installed Australia-wide. Phone 0415 743 691.
It sits between foamboard and aluminium composite, and that is why people pick it. PVC takes a screw without crumbling, shrugs off damp air that would ruin a paper-faced board, and cuts cleanly into letters. It is softer than ACM though, so a trolley corner will dent it, and thin sheet bows across a long unsupported span in summer sun.
Printing, routing and drilling all happen at Orbis Drive in Ravenhall, which keeps the cut path registered to the print. There is no minimum order, so a single 3 mm reception panel gets the same treatment as two hundred store signs. Where a job ends up fixed to a building rather than handed over the counter, our own crews install it.
Thickness does most of the work here. It sets how flat the sign stays, how you can fix it, and how the edge reads from a distance.
| Thickness | Rigidity | Typical use | Fixing method |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 mm | Flexible, curls unsupported | Slot-in panels, shelf strips | Tape or a channel |
| 3 mm | Holds flat to roughly 900 mm | Everyday wall and door signs | Screws, standoffs or adhesive |
| 5 mm | Stiff, very little bow | Larger panels, sheltered outdoor | Screws or barrel standoffs |
| 10 mm | Self-supporting, solid edge | Cut lettering, freestanding shapes | Edge fixings, concealed studs |
| 19 mm | Block-like and heavy | Dimensional letters and plinths | Studs into plugged fixings |
Any size up to the full sheet is fine, and beyond that we join panels with a deliberate shadow line. Nesting several signs into one sheet cuts offcut waste noticeably.
Most PVC jobs come down to three decisions: sheet thickness, whether the edge is a rectangle or a cut shape, and what holds the panel up.
The default. Rigid enough for a sign up to about A1 with no framing, light enough to hang on adhesive, and cheap enough to reprint when the branding changes. Most reception, wayfinding and internal compliance signs land here.
Worth the step up once a panel passes roughly a metre in either direction, or when it sits somewhere people brush against it. Also the better pick under a verandah, where the extra body resists warping in the heat.
Thick sheet reads as a solid object rather than a printed panel. We rout letters, numbers and logo shapes from it for reception walls, fixed on concealed studs so nothing shows on the face.
Because the router and the printer share a bed, the cut follows the artwork closely. Arrows, shields, product silhouettes and letterforms all cut cleanly. Internal corners carry a small radius set by the tool diameter.
Holes are drilled slightly oversize so the sheet can move with temperature. Barrel standoffs lift the panel off an uneven wall. Foam tape suits smooth painted plaster and gives the neatest finish, though it is the hardest to remove later.
A laminate over the print knocks back glare under downlights and puts a layer between the ink and the weather. On sheltered outdoor work it is the cheapest single thing you can do to stretch the life of a sign.
Builders and fitout companies order PVC late in a job, once the walls are painted and the client wants their name on something. Cut logo shapes in 10 mm on standoffs, room numbers in 3 mm, a directory panel by the lift. It goes up fast with no wet trades involved, and comes down cleanly at the end of the lease.
Retail groups use thin PVC for shelf talkers, gondola end panels and counter signs, because it survives being handled by staff every week without creasing or tearing at the corners. Where a campaign runs across many stores, we nest the whole set into full sheets and pack it store by store, so nothing has to be sorted at the other end.
Workshops, warehouses and factories order PVC for internal notices, wall-mounted bay markers, plant labelling and induction boards. It handles wash-down areas and humid corners far better than a paper-faced board, and a scuff wipes off rather than turning into a torn face. Thicker sheet suits anywhere a forklift or a loaded pallet might make contact with the wall.
Cafes, pubs and function venues use it for menu panels, tap lists and back-of-house signage. Printed, laminated and cut to an odd shape, it looks considered rather than temporary, and it wipes down at the end of a service. When the menu changes the panel gets reprinted on its own and the fixings stay exactly where they were.
Vector artwork is best, though a decent raster file at the right size works fine. Settle early whether the panel is a plain rectangle or a cut shape.
A logo and a rough idea of what the sign should say is enough to start. Artwork setup is included, and we proof the trim, cut path and fixing positions before printing.
Because the sheet is printed, routed and drilled under one roof, we control the queue and can tell you where your job sits in it. Give us your date and we will say straight away whether it is achievable. Pickup from Ravenhall in business hours, delivery across Melbourne and regional Victoria, freight interstate.
Yes. Foamex is a brand of expanded PVC sheet, the way Corflute is a brand of fluted polypropylene. Sintra, Palight and Komatex are the same material under other names.
Quality varies slightly, mostly in density consistency and how white the surface starts. On a printed sign that difference is invisible, and we will tell you what we are quoting on.
They can, with a caveat. Expanded PVC will not absorb water or rot, so rain is not the problem. Ultraviolet light is, and in full sun the ink fades and the sheet turns brittle.
Under a verandah or on a shaded wall, a laminated 5 mm panel gives several years of useful life depending on exposure. In open northern sun, ACM is the better spend.
Work backwards from size and fixing. Up to about A1 flat on a wall, 3 mm is fine. Past a metre, or where the panel is held only at its corners, step up to 5 mm so the middle does not bow.
Use 10 mm or 19 mm when the sign should read as an object rather than a printed sheet, usually cut lettering on standoffs.
In principle yes. It is a single thermoplastic with no paper or aluminium bonded to it, which puts it ahead of foamboard. In practice it depends on what your waste contractor takes, and most kerbside systems will not.
Clean offcuts stand a better chance than laminated panels. If end-of-life disposal matters on your site, raise it at quote stage.
ACM, almost always. A shopfront sign lives in full weather, has to stay dead flat, and usually stays up for years. Aluminium composite handles all three better and will not dent when a trolley clips it.
PVC earns its place inside the shop and in the window reveal, where it is lighter, easier to fix and cheap enough to change with the season.
Yes, and it is a main reason to choose PVC over a rigid board. The router cuts letters, numbers and odd outlines from the sheet we just printed.
Two limits are worth knowing. Internal corners come out with a small radius, because a round tool cannot cut a sharp inside angle, and fine strokes get fragile in 3 mm. Thicker sheet fixes both.
Still deciding? See our sign materials guide.
Printing panels for a trade show stand? See exhibition printing for shell scheme panels and urgent reprints.
Aluminium composite panel for anything living in full weather. Stays flat, resists denting, and handles years of sun far better than any plastic sheet will.
See the detail →The lighter, cheaper indoor board. Excellent for short-term display and mounted prints, though the paper faces mean it will not tolerate damp air.
See the detail →Cast and extruded acrylic for reception panels and premium internal signage, with polished edges and standoff mounting that lifts the panel off the wall.
See the detail →Browse the full list on our A–Z of everything we print, or see how this fits into signage in Melbourne.
Send the sizes, the thickness if you know it, and your logo. We will come back with a quote inside two business hours.