Chinese Laminator

[Goat]

http://www.digiprint-usa.com/cold-laminator-1600/

I would like to have some discussion about laminators in general and specifically about the one I found here.

 

[player]

What do you want to know?

 

[Salmoneye]

Tell us more about your exact needs and concerns. Lots of folks have the US Tech laminators and have been very pleased.

 

[Goat]

Looking for feedback from users who have this machine.

Tell us more about your exact needs and concerns. Lots of folks have the US Tech laminators and have been very pleased.

Planning to use it primarily for laminating wrap film.

 

[jmcnicoll]

you'll want one with a take up of the laminated media

 

[Salmoneye]

I wish I had a take-up on mine too. I set a folding table behind it and wind the out-coming print onto a core. We rarely laminate pieces longer than 32' though. We have a 100' print on the board though, it would be nice for that. Honestly I have had 0 problems with mine. I haven't used many others but I wouldn't trade my buddies RS for it.

 

[player]

The trouble I have is the material drifts to one side or the other, leaving one edge with an overhang of laminate. When this gets wound up it sticks to the other winds. I wish it would go through straight.

I have adapted a Supply55 ReelPro take up reel to fit the laminator but I don't let it take up automatically.

 

[rjssigns]

Try a search of this site. There are hundreds if millions of threads regarding laminators. Okay maybe only a million or so. Should actually be a "sticky".

In the end it boils down to how much you have to spend or don't want to spend. From what I've read the Chinese laminators work quite well.

Remember: Laminating is an art not a science. You will have to learn the proper set-up and operation then learn your particular rigs idiosyncrasies.

You could have ten of the exact same laminators and all ten will more likely than not run differently.

We have our 65" RS tweaked out and a rather ahh...unique infeed to run 60+ feet with 1/8" drift. Took a long time to get there.

 

[Salmoneye]

I think that having the base square to the rollers is super importand and how you line and start the feed is everything. I have seen guys string the print from the holder to an extra bar on the back of the laminator stand and then up around the normal infeed roller. This looks like it would be a great way to line up and tension the infeed for roll to roll operation. I never use craft paper so it would be nice to have laminate that was maybe 1/2" narrower than the print material for the odd print that got out of skew.