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I need a small Laminator... suggestions

natedawg9640

New Member
I need a small laminator. the only thing i have is an edge II, so i won't be needing to laminate anything bigger than 15 inch material. also don't need heat capabilities but a motor driven one would be nice. Any ideas for a decent price. like 300-600 decent? any recommendations to look for used stuff?
 
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GypsyGraphics

New Member
I need a small aminator... suggestions

i can't offer any suggestion about laminators, but...
i found the "L" just laying around... you're welcome to have it if you want to add it to your thread title. :tongue:
 

Locals Find!

New Member
You can get a manual laminator for about $200.00.

I found one a while back called the perfect manual laminator. Its only 25 inches, but for small stuff it should do what you need. Only problem is trying to find decent lam at a decent price in that small of a width.
 

AUTO-FX

New Member
Is that one of those little jobs with the hand crank on the side? Does it work consistently for you?
 

Locals Find!

New Member
Yes it does have hand crank NO MOTOR. I have used it for a while. Works well like I said for small stuff. It has a heck of a learning curve though. Getting the pressures just right on the rollers as you have to adjust each side separately. We use it mainly for applying vinyl on small coroplast or aluminum signs. Saves time and makes it a bit easier than a squeegee. They make them up to I believe 60 inches. I haven't used one of those. Once we had the pressures set right we left them as we do mainly .040 aluminum so I just leave it alone as much as possible so its ready to go. Also not bad for laminating posters and photos and other miscellaneous things.
 
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wetgravy

Guest
Doesn't daige have a good manual laminator for under 500 and an automatic for about 1k? could look into them.

and you could always just laminate with a squeegee like you would apply a digital graphic. I do it all the time on small stuff that I don't want to waste the time setting up to laminate. just throw some of the soft side of velcro on the edge of your squeegee and you are gold.
 

gabagoo

New Member
If you are using an Edge why not just use abrasion guard as you already have the machine that will apply it??
 

natedawg9640

New Member
well to answer your questions about why not a squeege or AG, I have a customer who uses some tempermental material that needs to be fully laminated so that rules out abrasion guard. The decal sets he buys are also sold in about 1 sq. ft. sheets (multiple sizes, all nested together) and i print them in runs of 6 to 10 or so... so getting consistant bubble free coverage would be a royal pain and more time consuming than i'd like by way of squeege.

I also don't need a massive behemoth and 60" rollers for the jobs. I don't have the room for a big laminator, not to mention it's overkill.

18 inch would be perfect, but i don't even think they make 18inch laminators. lol.

anyway, if someone spots a cold roll table top that fits the bill, let me know.
 

Locals Find!

New Member
well to answer your questions about why not a squeege or AG, I have a customer who uses some tempermental material that needs to be fully laminated so that rules out abrasion guard. The decal sets he buys are also sold in about 1 sq. ft. sheets (multiple sizes, all nested together) and i print them in runs of 6 to 10 or so... so getting consistant bubble free coverage would be a royal pain and more time consuming than i'd like by way of squeege.

I also don't need a massive behemoth and 60" rollers for the jobs. I don't have the room for a big laminator, not to mention it's overkill.

18 inch would be perfect, but i don't even think they make 18inch laminators. lol.

anyway, if someone spots a cold roll table top that fits the bill, let me know.

Read Post #5 then google "Perfect Manual Laminator"
 
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wetgravy

Guest
well to answer your questions about why not a squeege or AG, I have a customer who uses some tempermental material that needs to be fully laminated so that rules out abrasion guard. The decal sets he buys are also sold in about 1 sq. ft. sheets (multiple sizes, all nested together) and i print them in runs of 6 to 10 or so... so getting consistant bubble free coverage would be a royal pain and more time consuming than i'd like by way of squeege.

I also don't need a massive behemoth and 60" rollers for the jobs. I don't have the room for a big laminator, not to mention it's overkill.

18 inch would be perfect, but i don't even think they make 18inch laminators. lol.

anyway, if someone spots a cold roll table top that fits the bill, let me know.


Daige Cold roll laminator, 25" = $1250 and a stand is $250 with a peddle controlled motor.
 

AUTO-FX

New Member
The stand is junk, save your money and build one.
Personally , i think the daige itself is junk, but some people like them.
 

petesign

New Member
I have a Daige solo 55" laminator. At first I wanted to throw it off a cliff. Now, I have it working pretty okay. You will waste more material than a good laminator will cost you by the time you have the kinks worked out. I still pray every time I laminate anything cast..
 
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wetgravy

Guest
Good to know about daige. I was going to buy one this fiscal year to make my laminating easier (just using 28" wide silk screen squeegee that is too firm to pull prints with and coated one edge with a strip of velcro ... either that or I just squeegee like I would regular vinyl)

I will go over my laminator buying guide to see if someone else makes a 24" laminator.
 
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