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Discussion Do I have to wait 24hrs so I can laminate?

DerbyCitySignGuy

New Member
In the words of my old philosophy mentor "Don't be an a$$". Immediately does not mean instantaneously.

im·me·di·ate
iˈmēdēət/
adjective
  1. 1.
    occurring or done at once; instant.
    "the authorities took no immediate action"
    synonyms: instant, instantaneous, swift, prompt, fast, speedy, rapid, brisk, quick, expeditious
 

Gino

Premium Subscriber
Solvents have to get flashed out of the paint before it skins or you get solvent pop, so solvents do escape very quickly. This is why you have to wait between coats on any catalyzed paint or you risk burying the solvent.

Are we talking an inkjet printer or screen printing ??
 

bob

It's better to have two hands than one glove.
im·me·di·ate
iˈmēdēət/
adjective
  1. 1.
    occurring or done at once; instant.
    "the authorities took no immediate action"
    synonyms: instant, instantaneous, swift, prompt, fast, speedy, rapid, brisk, quick, expeditious

A dictionary collection of descriptions of word usages in vogue at the time of publishing.

A dictionary is descriptive not definitive. For those of you educated in public schools, that means a dictionary describes things, it does not define anything.

Arguing from a dictionary is yet-to-be-formalized formal fallacy, Argumentum ad Lexicon. It's one of the favorites of mouth breathing scissorbills throughout the land.

Instantaneously: He was vaporized instantaneously.

Immediately: He commenced walking across the Great Gobi Desert immediately.
 

DJr

New Member
has anyone actually witnessed what happens if you laminate lets say 2 hours after printing? I have done rush jobs where the client left me no choice, and have never had a complaint...just say'n

Yes the laminate will actually push off the print leaving a big bubble. I've seen this first hand however more common on wrap vinyl.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

mcngrafix

New Member
You don't HAVE to... But should you? Yes...

Every ink, every material, every shop is different... Theres different temps, different amounts of solvent in the ink, etc. So there is no magic number.

Ink is comprised of pigment, and "solvent", like rubbing alcohol. It takes more than minutes for the solvent to evaporate... It takes more than hours for all the solvent to evaporate. If you laminate it right away, All that solvent gets trapped, and wont evaporate.

Does that mean it's going to cause you issues? That all depends. We've laminated something 10 minutes after with no issues. We've also laminated something hours after, and had every single sign fail. Theres too many variables to tell you what you should do, and how long you should wait. We try to let it offgas overnight... But of course rush jobs happen, and we end up laminating it within an hour of the print. 90% of the time it's ok, but why risk it if you don't have to?

If you have time, let it offgas... If you don't, then don't. Just be prepared for the chance of a redo. It's not as big of a deal as some people make it out to be, but why cut corners unless you 100% have to? Design your workflow around offgassing, and you should be able to offgas 99% of the time.

For faster offgassing... if you can weld, you can easily make a "prop" to help. All you need to do is blow a fan under, or ontop of the roll. You could theoretically even loosen the vinyl so it's not tight on the roll, have the roll standing up with the plastic core holder, and hang a fan overtop of it.

But even then... Whats the magic number? an hour, 2, 12? It's best to let it sit at least overnight.
Thanks for the message. I laminated my first print after 24hrs and no reactions at all. Im in no rush and would rather wait the full amount of hours instead of doing the whole job again
 

equippaint

Active Member
Are we talking an inkjet printer or screen printing ??
Painting, but its all the same. The thicker the film the slower it will be. Inkjets milage is so low, i dont see how in the world solvents would last much more than a minute or 2 unless its some sort of oil based solvent which I highly doubt.
 

equippaint

Active Member
Theres some anecdotal evidence from people on here but the 1 time you got a bubble in your lam, doesnt prove solvent pop ruined your sign. Theres tons of failures of prints and lam posted in these forums that happened with the 24hr window being respected. On the flip side, theres tons of people who laminate 5 mins after they print without ever having problems. The (non scientific) stats dont seem to match the hype.

Id be more worried about full bleed edges curling from a quick lam than I would be with any other hypothetical problems.
 

ikarasu

Active Member
Thanks for the message. I laminated my first print after 24hrs and no reactions at all. Im in no rush and would rather wait the full amount of hours instead of doing the whole job again

No worries. Truth is even if you laminated after 5-10 minutes, you PROBABLY would be fine. Not laminating for xx hours is the best, most optimal conditions... but how often does everything in the world go perfectly?

I've laminated the moment ink wasn't tacky, and AFAIK there were no problems with the print. If you need to laminate quick... let it sit on the printed for 5-10 minutes until it's not tacky,and you should be fine.

While you shouldn't ever cut corners unless you have to, I don't think you'll find a sign shop that hasn't deviated from manufacturers suggested guidelines before.
 

DerbyCitySignGuy

New Member
A dictionary collection of descriptions of word usages in vogue at the time of publishing.

A dictionary is descriptive not definitive. For those of you educated in public schools, that means a dictionary describes things, it does not define anything.

Arguing from a dictionary is yet-to-be-formalized formal fallacy, Argumentum ad Lexicon. It's one of the favorites of mouth breathing scissorbills throughout the land.

Instantaneously: He was vaporized instantaneously.

Immediately: He commenced walking across the Great Gobi Desert immediately.

Bob can never be wrong. Bob the All-Knowing shall not be challenged. 3M says outgassing must be done? WHAT DOES 3M KNOW COMPARED TO BOB THE ALL-KNOWING?
 

DerbyCitySignGuy

New Member
A dictionary collection of descriptions of word usages in vogue at the time of publishing.

A dictionary is descriptive not definitive. For those of you educated in public schools, that means a dictionary describes things, it does not define anything.

Arguing from a dictionary is yet-to-be-formalized formal fallacy, Argumentum ad Lexicon. It's one of the favorites of mouth breathing scissorbills throughout the land.

Instantaneously: He was vaporized instantaneously.

Immediately: He commenced walking across the Great Gobi Desert immediately.

Also, you're wrong. Stick to philosophy, Bob. Your understanding of English is imperfect.
 

Gino

Premium Subscriber
DerbyGuy...... you make me crack smiles all day long. :big laugh:

You offer up little to nothing for the OP's request/question, but go ballistic over everyone else and then go on to TELL others what and how to answer things and what they are supposedly qualified to do. How did you get so-o-o-o-o far in life and never succeed at anything other than trivial nonsense ??

Anyway, at least you keep the boards interesting. It's like reading the Sunday Funnies..............:u rock:
 

DerbyCitySignGuy

New Member
DerbyGuy...... you make me crack smiles all day long. :big laugh:

You offer up little to nothing for the OP's request/question, but go ballistic over everyone else and then go on to TELL others what and how to answer things and what they are supposedly qualified to do. How did you get so-o-o-o-o far in life and never succeed at anything other than trivial nonsense ??

Anyway, at least you keep the boards interesting. It's like reading the Sunday Funnies..............:u rock:

Hey, the third stooge showed up.
 

Gino

Premium Subscriber
Yeah..... and you've been playing along the whole time.................


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DerbyCitySignGuy

New Member
Can't wait until summer break is over and you guys have to go back to middle school.

It's weird how EVERY thread you guys end up in turns into a back and forth with someone. I rarely see it in threads that don't involve you guys. Wonder why that is?
 
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Gino

Premium Subscriber
Can't wait until summer break is over and you guys have to go back to middle school.

It's weird how EVERY thread you guys end up in turns into a back and forth with someone. I rarely see it in threads that don't involve you guys. Wonder why that is?


Maybe because you just always show up like flies on sh!t and bring the best outta us.

Yep, can't wait to go back to school and be offering all those little kids free candy and cigarettes. Hope you learned your lesson. Try avoiding our corner or we'll getcha again.......... GOTHCA :eek:
 

DerbyCitySignGuy

New Member
Maybe because you just always show up like flies on sh!t and bring the best outta us.

Yep, can't wait to go back to school and be offering all those little kids free candy and cigarettes. Hope you learned your lesson. Try avoiding our corner or we'll getcha again.......... GOTHCA :eek:

What lesson was I supposed to learn? Only thing I learned is that internet bullies are not very original and travel in packs. Was I supposed to learn some other lesson from you internet tough guys?
 

d fleming

New Member
DerbyGuy...... you make me crack smiles all day long. :big laugh:

You offer up little to nothing for the OP's request/question, but go ballistic over everyone else and then go on to TELL others what and how to answer things and what they are supposedly qualified to do. How did you get so-o-o-o-o far in life and never succeed at anything other than trivial nonsense ??

Anyway, at least you keep the boards interesting. It's like reading the Sunday Funnies..............:u rock:
Gino you know as well as I do that if you laminate before outgassing Bob's head will explode. Then what?
 
C

ColoPrinthead

Guest
This forum often reminds me of the TV show Always Sunny in Philadephia with each thread here being like a scene that starts with a premise then quickly devolves into a bunch of nonsensical arguing.
 
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