What's your view on the wet method of decal application
@Nickbs ? It looks a lot more forgiving than the dry method in the videos I've seen on youtube, but are there disadvantages, such as the water affecting the adhesive on the decals in some way?
The definitive answer to that question is .....,,,,,,,,,,
.... It all depends.....

The very large majority of things we do at work are applied dry, but that is fine by people doing it day in/day out who are quick & accurate (and also generally able to sort out any glitches fairly quickly using their experience). We apply wet typically when applying to very smooth surfaces (e,g. Glass, acrylic), but this would be done with a mist of water from a spray bottle (water + the tiniest drop of good quality washing up liquid).
The wet approach is good for people with limited ( or no),, experience, is more forgiving ( useful if you have an expensive set of graphics), allows you to potentially slide the graphic around to re-position or pull off to start again and is more forgiving if it all starts going wrong and the graphic starts sticking 'back to back' etc . It will take longer to adhere properly (but will do as water will soak into the cabinet or through the face of the graphic) - a hair dryer will accelerate the process.
The dry approach is quicker, 'cleaner' ( or less messy due to absence of water), gives a quicker turn around and better initial adhesion. Much less forgiving and when it has gone significantly wrong (e.g. Crease or wrong position -there is probably no way to rescue it).
Graphics application for the original machines would probably have been wet as, for the times, it was a new technique and technology for the glues and vinyls used. Vinyl technology has changed massively since then (and continues to do so), including the addition the use of application tapes to protect the vinyl ad you apply. You can now get vinyls with 'easy apply' adhesives (groove patterns built into the glue to allow air bubbles to be smoothed out as the graphic is squeegeed down), but I think it's unlikely that any of the current decal producers use that.
Hope that makes some sort of sense!

