Challenge Laminating in Humid Condition RS 1402 CW

[Morph1]

Hey guys,

So I just dished out some money and bought the RS 1402 CW laminator, what a monster,
it had to be carried into my basement and that itself was a challenge lol.
It is a nice looking machine and I hope it will work well for me.

Back to the topic, I recently tried to laminate some automotive grade cast digitally printed vinyl,
with optically clear cast laminate, everything looked great till I noticed my vinyl started to deform on me rippling right over the tray
when laminating... I proceeded to laminate through but it did look horrible in the front before laminate was laid but at the back after laminate applied
it looked fine, I had to kind of press the vinyl outwards over the tray to flatten the vinyl and prevent it from rippling...
My question is this normal in humid conditions ? what steps can I take to prevent this from happening ?, the weather here recently is very odd
with so much rain almost on daily basis and hot upto 28c during days...
Is this normal ? , should I perhaps laminate in the evening when it cools down ? put an air conditioner ? anything ?

Another thing that really bothers me is the laser sensor, it is a pain to laminate when the rippling happens as it stops the run
and you gotta fight with the vinyl to flatten it so it is out of the way of the sensor, is there a way to disable that sensor ?

I also noticed the liner take up is sort of backwards of any other laminators I previously used and it does not hold the tension,
the backer sometimes jogs towards the front of the laminate over the top roll and I have to stop the job and re-crank it manually back to position,
anything I can do about it ?

I am sure there are things that I have to adopt to using this new equipment but I am learning as I go,
could anyone give me some tips and solutions to the above issues I'm having.

any help would be appreciated.

thanks !

 

[AF]

Rippling is a sign of user error or, less likely, the machine needs adjustment. Verify you are properly webbing the machine and if it still fails then check the machine for plumb/level/square before adjusting the rollers for parallel.

 

[CSOCSO]

Can you take pictures or maybe a video? It must be a user error. Make sure you feed the material correctly and the tensioners are not loose or too right.

 

[LarryB]

Your machine needs adjusting. I just went through this with my Royal Sovereign laminator. You have too much pressure on one side. Humidity has nothing to do with it.

 

[Morph1]

Your machine needs adjusting. I just went through this with my Royal Sovereign laminator. You have too much pressure on one side. Humidity has nothing to do with it.

are you sure about this ? , I laminated some regular calendered media the other day and it looked fine, it only does that to the expensive cast vinyl...
I will post some images today, I will run just the vinyl through the rollers without the laminate to see if this happens again...
Could that be possibly be the vinyl not enough off gassed ? as it only cured for about 10 hours and it was heavy black background print...
The unit I bought was a demo model so it probably wasn't used that much , is there any video tutorial showing the adjustment that I can do myself ?

thanks.

 

[T_K]

User error is the place I always start from. I recently joined a new company that had a different brand laminator with different setup than I was used to. I've had a number of issues as I adjusted to the new machine.
At first, I was tempted to say it was a machine issue. But with some experience, I've learned that it was mostly me. I'm still thinking it might need adjustment, but most issues have been solved with practice on my part.

 

[CSOCSO]

This is nothing to do with the outgasing.
Try to turn the arm so the top roll drops. But don't drop it all the way. Leave a tiny gap. now get on your knees and see if the gap is even left to right. Your problem can be miniscule.... you might need the tool from royal sovereign to check on the rollers. But you shouldn't have any problem with a new machine. Btw did you try to call RS? i had to call them a few times and there were always helpful.

 

[Morph1]

This is nothing to do with the outgasing.
Try to turn the arm so the top roll drops. But don't drop it all the way. Leave a tiny gap. now get on your knees and see if the gap is even left to right. Your problem can be miniscule.... you might need the tool from royal sovereign to check on the rollers. But you shouldn't have any problem with a new machine. Btw did you try to call RS? i had to call them a few times and there were always helpful.

I think they sold me a lemon !
I just checked the roller alignment , the rollers are not even ... when I lowered the roller to the third position 5-7 mm the left side very edge of the 2 rollers meet together then there is a space around 6" along the roller where I can slide a business card in then the rollers meet again until about 2/3 rd of the roller length and 1/3 on the right side remains open I can stick the same business card in...
Can somebody check for me if their laminator is sort of similar ? is there anything I can do ?
Like I said this laminator is not a brand new unit, I was told by a local sign supplies company that brought that piece of equipment for me from ontario that it was just a demo model and it is sold under regular warranty just as a brand new unit..., but now when I carefully examine it I can see screws missing on the plastic covers on either side, it looks to me like someone else had been fighting with this unit before...
This is horrible, I sort of had a bad feeling about this deal.

 

[AF]

I think they sold me a lemon !
I just checked the roller alignment , the rollers are not even ... when I lowered the roller to the third position 5-7 mm the left side very edge of the 2 rollers meet together then there is a space around 6" along the roller where I can slide a business card in then the rollers meet again until about 2/3 rd of the roller length and 1/3 on the right side remains open I can stick the same business card in...
Can somebody check for me if their laminator is sort of similar ? is there anything I can do ?
Like I said this laminator is not a brand new unit, I was told by a local sign supplies company that brought that piece of equipment for me from ontario that it was just a demo model and it is sold under regular warranty just as a brand new unit..., but now when I carefully examine it I can see screws missing on the plastic covers on either side, it looks to me like someone else had been fighting with this unit before...
This is horrible, I sort of had a bad feeling about this deal.

That unit must have crowned rollers. Crowned rollers are larger diameter in the center then at the sides. Because the crowned rollers are flexible aluminum, you have to develop enough clamping force to deflect the roller for full contact along their length. So as you close the gap, the center of the rollers hits first and as you further clamp it down then the sides contact. This adjustment can affect whether or not you can laminate without noticeable problems. Crowned roller laminators typically cost less for the entire unit then one flat-ground roller on an industrial laminator costs. With the savings come compromises and additional user savvy to get the right results. Your unit should be adjusted before wasting any more media through it.