How to mount a roll of prints to 4x8 sheets

[JPR-5690]

I have a Royal Sovereign laminator and Im trying to mount a series of prints onto 4x8 sheets of PVC.
The prints are all on a roll of polypropylene which I have installed where the roll of lam usually goes.

I have dead space at the beginning of the roll and in-between prints so I can get the process started without damaging a print, but how do I actually start? It's not a lam so I don't necessarily need to use a leader board to thread it...or do I?

Of course when I try and look for videos online they all talk about mounting flat prints. Im wondering if I should just cut the prints down and mount them individually but that seems like a huge waste of time.

 

[CanuckSigns]

I can't think of a way to do that that will allow you to properly register the prints to the sheet. The correct way is to cut the prints apart and mount them one at a time.

If the quantity is large enough that that would be a burden, these should be flatbed printed directly on the PVC.

We have a rolls roller that would let us mount these in about 3-5 minutes each, that might be a nice intermediate solution between a regular laminator and a flatbed printer.

 

[JPR-5690]

I realized I could just use the pvc itself as a leaderboard of sorts. The polypro is stiff enough that it doesn't stretch like vinyl or lam does when you're applying with the laminator, so I just had to balance the pvc sheet on a trash can and feed it in one sheet at a time, cutting the polypro in between each sheet.

I ended up wasting a bit of pvc (I could only mount 2 prints to sheet of pvc. 3 prints was exactly 8ft and the job didn't justify trying to find 5x10 sheets of pvc) but it worked.

New to this, so I wish I could afford a flatbed and just skip this whole laminator thing...am I the only one that thinks laminator designs need to be updated to be more user friendly?

 

[Martin Denton]

Before we got our rolls roller we would just leave a leading edge on the print apply that to the fiamex with squeegee then run through the laminator. That worked fine. As to redesign of laminator. They did it’s called a rolls roller..