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Opinion Any Opinions On Any Of These Laminators?

DerbyCitySignGuy

DerbyCitySignGuy

New Member
Our Falcon F-60 has finally shed its mortal coil. More accurately, we paid someone to re-coat our rollers and they ruined them, but that's beside the point. For the cost of replacing the rollers we might as well just get a new laminator without all the bells and whistles that just does what we need it to do.

We've narrowed down our search to these last few contenders:

MASTER WORF TX-600H
GFP 563TH-2
GBC Spire III 64Ct
Seal 62 Base-1

Anyone have any experience with any of these laminators? Clearly Seal and GBC have pretty good reputations, but GFP and USTech are pretty new to me. Any advice on what to avoid would be helpful. Thanks, amigos!
 
Starter

Starter

New Member
All I can add is that I have a Seal 54EL for the last 4-5 years and ran 100's of rolls through without putting a cent into repairs of replacement parts. Great machine in my opinion.
 
R

Robert Gruner

New Member
nldixon,

Seal and GBC have longest reputation in industry and both cost in neighborhood $12K
If you're ready to spend that kind of money, you might consider investing in a ticket to Las Vegas next week and attending the ISA Show at Mandalay Bay. You can see all these laminators in action and most likely find a really nice deal on a show special or show demo.

Good shopping

Bob
 
J

Joe House

Sign Equipment Technician
I've been really impressed with the GFP models, but haven't seen that particular one yet. I second the trip to Vegas if you're wanting to contrast and compare.
 
BigfishDM

BigfishDM

Merchant Member
The owner of GFP was an intrical part of the above mentioned companies. His machines are fantastic! US Tech makes an incredibly affordable piece of equipment but I would personally not use it for serious jobs.
 
tomence

tomence

New Member
US TECH is not worth the money they are asking for, I had it and sold it, was not reliable. When I bought it they sold for $4000 delivered which was ok price for it two years ago but now i see they want $6000 which is not worth the money.
 
E

equippaint

Active Member
US Tech seems overpriced when compared to other chinese laminators. I bet they all come out of the same factory with different colors and different names on them. If you're gonna go that route, just buy it on price alone. Just like stomp shears - Baileigh vs Grizzly, same exact shear, much different price.
 
SightLine

SightLine

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We have had a US Tech for a couple of years now. Run it daily and have really not had much of any issues. Early on I had to do some adjustments to make sure the upper roller was perfectly level with the lower. We are wrapping 40 35 foot buses and no problem loading and entire printed 54" roll and laminating the whole roll in 10 minutes. I think some of their models might be better than others though. The one I bought is basically their top of the line model (second really - same machine but heat assist capable, not full hot) with heat assist although we have never once used the heat assist yet.

We also have an older GBC Arctic Titan 165 which is still a workhorse that we also use but it cannot do roll to roll.
 
strypguy

strypguy

New Member
I use my $2700 USTECH for serious jobs all the time with no issues. When you can't justify a much more expensive unit you have to try alternatives and this has worked for us. John
 
T

TDFcustomSL

New Member
I've had my UsTech for about 4 years now. The first couple months the speed controller kept blowing but Dave kept sending replacements. They could not figure out why I was having the issue repeatedly so eventually they sent a replacement motor and it has been working great since. Its the only laminator I have ever used so I don't know how it compares to others but for the money, it does exactly what it was made to do and when it is time for a new machine, or another one I will probably get another UsTech.
 
DerbyCitySignGuy

DerbyCitySignGuy

New Member
We don't laminate nearly as much as we used to (we direct print as much as possible these days), but we still do large vehicle wraps pretty frequently, so we need something that can laminate two or three rolls pretty quickly and is going to work when we need it to work.

Thanks for the input, folks. I'll keep an eye on this until we figure out which direction we're going to go.
 
Charlie J

Charlie J

New Member
I have that model GFP and I'm not thrilled with it. It works okay, but i'm still struggling to get it to track straight. If I could do it over again I'd spend more money on a Seal.
 
O

oksigns

New Member
I have a SEAL 65 EL.. like a tank and straight forward operation.

abSOlutely not thrilled with the crowned rollers. I have a small stress fissure from too much pressure of all things; but, otherwise built really well.

Coming off the SEAL 65 EL, I'd look for non-crowned rollers and a material catch/basket as must haves for a multipurpose role.
 
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