Bubbles & Creases when laminating

[cmaxdesigns]

Not sure what to do at this point? We have never had luck laminating anything that is over 36" wide and tend to shy away from jobs that require long vinyl laminates. We have a 62 Seal Pro S which is probably a great laminator, however, we simply cannot seam to figure out how to laminate with this thing and not get bubbles or creases. We have tried the typical things such as squaring up the print, laminate roll, backing roll, adjusting tension, etc. Nothing has ever seemed to be a permanent solution. We have had success for about 10ft or so but that is a great laminate attempt if we get anywhere close to 10ft. I guess what I am asking for is some professional help - to help laminate without bubbles and emotional help for when it screws up Is there reps in certain areas that can help diagnose problems and assist us in how to remove the bubble issue? Are there videos online (we searched and could not find) that offer assistance for this type of problem? No lie, we have wasted more money in creased/bubble laminated prints then anything else in our business.

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[brycesteiner]

I think the laminator you have is a great machine and should work just fine.

The key is really practice, practice, practice just like any instrument. Once you get in tune with you machine you'll wonder why there was every any problem.

I would have problems early on because I was trying to attach the laminate to the front of the vinyl before putting in the machine. At one point I was so frustrated that I decided I would just start doing it all by hand and use a squeegee. That was not a long term solution by any means because it didn't solve my problem.

For me getting it started right was the solution. If it wasn't quite large enough at the beginning edge I would tape on some scrap just to start. I don't have to do that anymore. When I'm threading the laminate through I raise the large roller nearly as high as it will go. Then pull the backing up and attach it to the scrap take up reel bar. At this time it's still not taut. The large silicon roller, because it's high is free to spin, will have the laminate trying to conform to it. Spin it around so it feeds itself through, but keep the roller high. Now is the time to make sure there's no wrinkles. It should be perfectly conforming to the roller and through to the other side. You might even want to put a couple of pieces of tape on it now so it doesn't fall while you take the time to thread the vinyl.
Next, while the roller is still an 1" or 2" high, thread the vinyl through from it's roll and make sure there is good tension (but not to the point it can pull it), making sure it doesn't try to static cling itself to the laminate. I've had this happen many times and it's no fun. I'm not sure how the Seal is but my laminator has a small black sponge roller that keeps the laminate down to the metal plate leading to the roller. This useful for keeping it flat. All the numbers on the roll bars should be aligned between the laminate, vinyl, and both takeups.
The vinyl is sitting on straight on the plate and the bottom rollerwith about .5" over the roller. Now lower the top roller down slowly. Keep your hand on it to make sure the laminate stays with a little tension so it is nice and smooth when the roller comes to rest on the bottom roller.

Start the laminator going probably 10" so it can be attached to the takeup. Now it's ready to run. Even on the slowest setting it moves pretty darn fast. I'm amazed how well it does.

If you have done these things then it's probably just a matter of perfecting everything. Attention to detail on setup is very important. Alignment and tension is what I learned is critical for long runs.

 

[player]

Is your laminator new or did you buy it used?

 

[rjssigns]

Is your laminator new or did you buy it used?

this^^^

If you got it used you may have inherited the reason they got rid of it.

Although it could be something as simple as misalignment, or you could have worn components.

Anyway here is my super secret double naught spy trick for laminating. It's called 2" wide masking tape. Well that and make sure your lead(front) is perfectly perpendicular to the edge.

Two layers of tape go on the top of the lead edge(lined up with the front of leading edge) with one or two layers underneath. Sometimes it takes two layers underneath to get it to lay perfectly flat.

You've now eliminated two potential problems right off the bat and given yourself a safety valve. Laminate does not stick to masking tape so you can reverse and start over.

The masking tape serves another purpose, which is alignment. I use it as a sight line to make sure its feeding square. When I do full rolls I use a tape measure to make sure.

Long explanation for a super simple trick.

 

[Gman75]

If it's new

If you bought it new. How bout have the supplier come on and give you
a small training session. I have laminated an entire roll with my seal 54
succesfully time after time. One thing you need to not overlook is the material
you are using. If your backing paper is too thin on your media that will defiantely
make it tougher not to produce creases. Too much tension is not good. Very little is way better. also make sure that your heat is turned on. That also helps for a smoother lamination.
If all else fails have the person sold you the unit demonstrate it working like it should.
Good luck.

 

[jtinker]

We have the EL 65, had a couple problems with it but in our experience one was factory and the other was user error.
For us the first problem was the faulty step motor in the machine. There is a screw that attaches to the main sprocket for the motor. It has a tendency to come loose,
and that was causing a ton of problems, the prints would not move, then jerk then stop and start causing bubbles wrinkles and all kinds of nonsense.

We had to get a new motor with the part welded in place from the dealer to fix it.

Secondly was our user errors. We found that with the prints especially large prints that even if the material is crooked by half an inch when it goes through you are going to get bubbles
because of the tension on the rollers. That accompanied by the fact that we were feeding the thing wrong, well technically right but when we fed the material we smoothed out the material
as flat as it could go and then hurried and put it under the rollers. This also causes unnessecary tension that translates into bubbles.

Now we just roll the material up, make sure the edges are lined up and tap the edge of the material into place and use both hands to ease it into place from the center, once the laminate catches
the material and the edges are straight then everything falls into place.

Lastly and most importantly I think, we got the machine from the dealer and the dealer videos and the dealer were webbing the machine in my mind wrong. I used the method they showed us
and it was messing up prints to end, couldnt get anything to mount properly. Their methodology was that the way they mount it was to save material from being wasted but unless you have a really small
print or slight of hand like a 6th century ninja master you are going to destroy the print.

Their method had us taking off the release liner and putting the laminate underneath the roller then pulling it through and tightening it. This is a disaster because when we put it through there was more than
enough trial and error to make sure the laminate would not be set on the roller evenly, even though it looked like it was. When you ran it through you would enter bubble and crease city. Since we switched our
method we have had maybe 1 destroyed print per year and they were all because of human negligence or undue process.

This is very similar to what we do and since we started doing it we have had no problems
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fF_8OQQQV0I

 

[Zac]

I always start by putting the laminate under the roller with the backer on, on top of a leader and then using an Olfa top sheet cutter and making a cut on top of the roller. Then the backer goes on the take-up reel that has a line of banner tape to stick it, and run through a leader piece and it's ready to go. By looking at the laminate and make sure it's glassed out free of any tension going a certain way. We cut the masking tape off our leaders and re-use them until they get too many layers of laminate on them.

 

[JERHEMI]

I always start by putting the laminate under the roller with the backer on, on top of a leader and then using an Olfa top sheet cutter and making a cut on top of the roller. Then the backer goes on the take-up reel that has a line of banner tape to stick it, and run through a leader piece and it's ready to go. By looking at the laminate and make sure it's glassed out free of any tension going a certain way. We cut the masking tape off our leaders and re-use them until they get too many layers of laminate on them.

That's what I do too and works great. Here is a video I learned it from:

[video=youtube_share;fF_8OQQQV0I]http://youtu.be/fF_8OQQQV0I[/video]

 

[tjwilton]

If the rollers are worn the gap in the middle may be wider than at the edges (generally caused by mounting boards). This can cause a 'D Wave' in the material which will cause problems when laminating

 

[jsonpaul]

That's what I do too and works great. Here is a video I learned it from:

[video=youtube_share;fF_8OQQQV0I]http://youtu.be/fF_8OQQQV0I[/video]

This helped a lot.. no more bubbles! nice thanks!

 

[InstantOneMedia]

This may be a dumb question, but if you leave the rollers at 80% in between laminating jobs, don't you run the risk of a flat part occurring in the rollers where they are pressed together since they are somewhat soft? I'm sure this won't happen in a matter of minutes or hours. But if you are days between jobs, can't that happen?