Wonder Products

Before you read any further, I have to admit, we have not received the feedback from the customer to how our product worked in removing a decal from the plane.

Apparently these days, even private planes have marketing on the side of them. And when that plane has new owners, that old marketing slogan is no longer needed.

Due to the size of decal, we recommended the Wonder Wheel. This marketing advertisement was about 4 x 2 foot so a single Wonder Wheel would do the job.

Now most planes are painted with a high quality grade paint so we were comfortable that removing the decal would be fine. We did caution the guy who was removing the decal not to use any man-made / or flammable adhesive removers on the job, due to the strict levels of safety in the aviation industry. We recommended he use some naturally produced eucalyptus oil to remove any adhesive left on after the decal was removed.

So hopefully we have another happy customer and a fresh looking plane, free of decals.

About three months ago we received an enquiry from the food catering division of an International Airline - Emirates.

Apparently, those trolleys the air hostess push up and down the aisle’s that contain your meals, get a lot of decals on them. We are not sure what type of decals, but we know they need to be removed.

Generally the trolley’s are made from aluminium so there is no concern about damaging the surface. The customer was after the fastest way to remove the decals. Our suggestion… the Wonder Wheel.

There are other products out there that work at removing the decals. They could have used a metal razor blade (though I guess they didn’t due to employee safety and the chance of cutting yourself) or they could have used a plastic razor blade, such as the Wonder Blade. These products works well, though better for smaller and delicate areas where speed is not the most important element.

So what was the outcome… well the Airline must have a a lot of decals to remove as they have used a bunch of Wonder Wheels and from what I hear, they are pretty happy with the results

A couple of weeks back, a buddy of mine got a car parking ticket PLUS a massive 1 x 1 foot parking sticker put on the side of his window. Now this sticker is big, plus has so much adhesive that you can not pull it off.

He spent 30 minute’s using his fingers nails and got no-where.

The reason it’s so hard to remove is because there is a huge amount of adhesive used to keep the sticker on the window – I guess the parking officer’s use these almost impossible to remove stickers to deter people from parking illegally in future (in addition to the fine!!!)

So the good news is I managed to help my buddy out. I took over a Wonder Wheel and after about 15 minutes, had removed the whole decal…. He was most impressed. However, as there was so much adhesive, we did need to wipe some of this off at the end (we used Eucalyptus oil – which is a natural product so doesn’t affect your hands)

So hopefully you avoid getting parking notices in the future and if you get one of these big, ugly and hard to remove parking infringements stickers, then you know where to go to get the tool to remove it. (there is even a video of seeing the Wonder Wheel in action)

Safe parking

The other day I received a question about how to remove a sponsorship decal that was on a basketball court.

The first question I asked the young chap was:

“What sort of basketball court is it? Do you use it for training or it is for games…”

The reason being, is if it’s a basketball court that is only used for training, then it doesn’t matter whether you mark the surface. A little scuffing of the wood is okay. In that case, I would be comfortable using either:

1) Wonder Wheel: rubber wheel that wears away the decal, though can slightly mark the wood and remove the polish from the floor boards

2) Metal razor: this will chip some of the floor boards, though won’t leave too much of a mark

However, this was a court that was used for the local high school matches so the floor had to be kept in perfect condition. So what was my recommendation.

I recommended he use a plastic blade, like the Wonder Blade. The reason – as it’s made of soft plastic blade, it won’t scratch the surface or mark the wood. The plastic blade is strong enough to get under the surface of the decal, then you slowly pull back the vinyl whilst lifting the blade further under the decal. It’s quite easy and fast

When writing articles about the different ways to remove decals, we almost always deter people from using Metal razors blades to remove decals. Why do we take this stand?

Well using a Metal razor blade can:

1) Easily scratch painted surfaces (we never recommend them for removing decals on painted surfaces such as cars)

2) Be harmful for the user if slips (and cut themselves)

3) Dirt cheap

However, if you are trying to remove a decal or sticker from glass, then a metal razor is passable as its:

- hard to scratch the surface; and

- if you use a metal holder, its much safer and harder to hurt yourself

We would still recommend a plastic razor blade such as the Wonder Wheel as its almost impossible to hurt yourself and your wont damage the surface.

Good luck with your project and stay safe.