Anyone have any experience with Guardian Laminators

[DaFlea]

Seeing if anyone has had any experiences with Guardian Laminators. Mine has been nothing but poor results since the day it was purchased. At this point I have destroyed more material than what the machine is worth.

If I am trying to laminate a wrap it ends up wrinkling the material towards the end of the run, while leaving air pockets along the edges. More so on the right side than the left.

I have tried using the weight of just the roller, I have tried using the preset pressures and it will still wrinkle the material. I can avoid the wrinkling using a sled, however I will still have air pockets along the edges. Unfortunately the dealer where I purchased it went out of business along with the promise to come to my location to help troubleshoot the issue. Yet in all of the time I have complained about it he never involved 55 Supply about the issue until the unit was out of warranty.

The roller seems to be pinching evenly across the opening from what I can see visually using a light source on the revers side to look for light leaks.

Very frustrated on what seemed to be a very nice piece of equipment.

 

[CanuckSigns]

Get a fish scale and attach a very thin piece of metal to it, put the metal between the rollers on the sides and middle, pull on the scale and see if the same amount of force is needed to pull the metal piece free all along the roll. It sounds like uneven pressure.

Check with supply 55, I've had to call them a few times with questions about various products and they always seemed very eager to help.

Do you have experience with other laminators? If not you could be doing something wrong when you web it up.

 

[31legen]

I have a 30 inch machine but gave up on it and bought a seal. Now I just use it to apply application tape.

 

[DaFlea]

CanuckSigns I have used other laminators, that were on the less expensive side with great results, however I wanted to get into wrap market and have a heat assist unit. Thus prompted this purchase which was recommended to me by my dealer. It a shame becasue If its a small job and doesn't go edge to edge I can get away with just running it through the machine. However if there is any length to the material I better use a sled, however I will still get trapped air pockets on the edge. I will pick up a fish scale today to check the pressure across the rollers.

 

[AF]

The hidden cost of inexpensive laminators.

 

[DaFlea]

The hidden cost of inexpensive laminators.

Granted you can spend as much as you want on equipment, and a higher price point doesn't always mean your getting a better product. However I have had better results with Daige laminators which I consider an inexpensive piece of equipment.

 

[DaFlea]

So just a follow up on the issue. I spoke with Supply 55 this morning and they suggested that I make sure the cores on the supply and take up roll are not moving left or right while running a job. He said that could enplane the difference between a short job vers a long job where wrinkling occurs in the middle area. Regarding the trapped air on the outer edges. It was suggested that this was a byproduct of static and suggested using a product call rapid tack. Now he could not offer any advice on how the product was being used to solve this issue. I can understand using it if I was applying a graphic directly to a substrate using the laminator however not sure how I would use it when laminating a vehicle wrap. Actually I think it would destroy the print job trying to do something like that.

Just wanted to get thoughts from others based on the recommendations.

 

[AF]

Waves down the center are commonly caused by crowned rollers which have a larger diameter in the middle than the ends. The results in more feed rate down the centerline of the media that eventually causes issues. It is possible to adjust some of the crowned roller machines to produce good results but it is important to maintain the adjustment. Moving a laminator to a different location will require checking alignment since floors are never perfectly flat. Polished shim stock with a fish scale seems to be the best way to check pressure across the rollers.

When you find yourself laminating full rolls, especially for other shops, then the “expensive” machines start to make the most economic sense. It all depends on needs and budget. The most expensive machines weight over a thousand pounds, have massive flat-ground steel rollers with heavy-duty silicone sleeves. Not for everyone, but definitely a case where you get what you pay for. I suggest coordinating with a few local shops that have equipment to augment your business. For example, develop a relationship with a shop that has a flatbed and router, maybe find a shop with a roll-to-roll laminator for wraps, someone with embroidery, screen printing etc.

 

[CanuckSigns]

the price is not always indicative of the quality, we have a Seal 54EL, which is pretty much the least expensive laminator that Seal makes, I think it cost around $5k brand new 5 years ago, we run full rolls through it quite often, never had any issues. we do most of our laminating on our rolls roller these days, but if the print is over 8 feet long, it gets done on the laminator.