Daige 4 Laminator Question

[quikseps]

Okay...was going to blow a wad on a great laminator but for the little use I have for it, decided to try a 55" Daige 4 and just set it up today. My question is this:

After running the starter board through to thread the rollers, cut off the laminate behind the rollers and pull the material taught, once I let the laminate go it immediately adheres to the bed of the laminator which makes running the machine impossible. What am I doing wrong? Just following the instructions in the manual.

The only way I'm able to actually laminate anything after the started board is to leave the starter board, still attached to the roll and then feed the sled holding my print.

What the heck am I missing here? Shouldn't this, once threaded allow me to continually feed job after job through without the laminate sucking onto the deck upon cutting off the sled? I'm sure I'm missing some piece of imformation. LOL!

Maybe it requires 2 people? One holding that laminate off the deck while another feeds the job?

Totally new to laminating.

 

[ChiknNutz]

Not sure what's different about the Daige that would not require either a sled or carrier paper. I have a low buck laminator, but you have to use something to avoid this issue. One way to cheat a little is to use a short piece at the end of every print, but I've never had good success this way, so I just use a roll of brown kraft paper, or a sled as the case may be.

 

[Accelerated Graphics]

I do the short piece at the end of the print and then cut it off when I start the next print and repeat at the end. I actually pick up the foot pedal and run it with my hand so that I can stand at the end of the laminator and make sure everything is right on both sides.. I cussed mine quite abit when I got it.. probly not done cussing. I changed it from 30" to 54" last week and cussed badly...I haven't used the craft paper but will mostlikely order somewhen I get my laminator setup where it belongs..

 

[quikseps]

I like that short piece idea...putting maybe a 3" piece of paper behind the substrate on the sled.....then cut off the substrate and leave the waste piece.

I'll try that. Although I think this Daige is a 2 person gig for the most part.

Although very inexpensive, I must say the pieces I ran through today look great and I've never used a laminator previously. Not bad for 2K.

 

[quikseps]

Maybe I shouldn't speak too quickly about okay results....only have 30" in there now....as Rick mentioned above, I wonder what tidings of great joy 54" will bring. LOL!

 

[Matt Cuellar]

I'd use the scrap piece method on that laminator versus the kraft paper.
The reason being since the Daige only has one speed, the kraft paper has be aligned PERFECTLY to avoid buckling and more headaches than the scrap method! I've also found that the laminate backer works really well in place of kraft paper on the Daige because it's silicone lined and won't buckle as much. So after you've run a roll of lam through, save the backer on the take up reel and then load it to the bottom roll of the laminator, and there you go!

It definitely serves its purpose for $2k, but for me the downside is not having speed control. You have nothing to work up to...just one speed and hope you don't screw up! Good luck!

 

[Replicator]

I always use a backing board to run everything through my Daige II - ALWAYS !

 

[quikseps]

Thanks guys...always excellent opinion and help here.

Steve

 

[Matt Cuellar]

Rep,

You've been sipping the Absolut?

Actually, the backer board method works well too. Depends on what you're laminating I guess.

 

[high impact]

I have the 55" Daige and love it - never a problem once I sprayed wd40 on the rear table. I keep a can right next to the laminator and spray a little on when it starts to get dry.

I've never used the kraft paper but have seen others use it and it gets wrinkles. I just insert a short piece os of scrap backing into in between the rollers when coming to end of the print. Works like a charm for me.

 

[mediaman]

Three solutions J

• Cut the lam so only 1” is left on the aluminum bed. This small amount usually easily lifts off the bed if you are using a sled.
• Attach a piece of paper to your sled and leave that on the bed with the trailing edge left in front of the laminator for feeding the image to be laminated.
• And finally, one that I don’t really endorse is putting some WD-40 on the back bed to prevent the lam from sticking to the aluminum.

 

[Graphics2u]

I had a daige QM3 for 2 years and it worked great with only minor irritations. I kept all of my misprints and waste pieces and cut them into 6" strips and used them when my print was finished being laminated. I would stop just as there was about a 1/2" of the print left to go throught the rollers then slide one of the scaps between the print and the bottom roller then finished. then I just left the scrap piece with about 1/2" sticking out until I was ready to laminate again, then simply slide the next print between the scrap and bottom roller and begin laminating. Worked slick!
Some may feel you are wasting 6" of laminate everytime but when compared to the screwed up prints and ruined laminate and headaches it's pretty cost effective. Never used a sled for laminating, ever. Only time i would use any kind of kraft paper was if my laminate was wider than print media, which usually I tried to use the same size, it just works better.

 

[dunvarna]

Just a note. Most laminators have that same issue when single sided laminating. What we have done in the past when we sold a laminator that was specifically going to be used for single sided laminating is to purchase a "teflon" tape and wrap the areas that the exposed adhesive would most likely touch and stick. (feed board, rear feed board) Same principle as the wd-40, we just got tired of customers complaining. you still have to use a "sled" or kraft paper etc. or release paper.

 

[mediaman]

Any suggestions on a source for teflon tape?


I really just wanted to hit 100 posts!