keeping lamination straight

[shacho]

I have a 55" Royal Sovereign cold laminator. I have been using it for a year now and I can never seem to get it to laminate run straight. What I mean by that is it always seems to wander off the print to one side, not always the same side. So by the time I get 6 or 8’ into the job the lamination is running so far off I have to stop and re-thread the machine. Sometimes I get lucky and I can do 20’ or so. I have tried various methods, the first being the manufacturer’s, by using a leader board. The second by using a scrap piece of vinyl, just to mention a couple. Does anyone have any pointers on how I get this to run straight?

thanx

 

[dypinc]

This forum is full of pointers, just read through them.

 

[Christian @ 2CT Media]

Are you loading the laminate and material dead center on the roller? These are Crowned rollers so they will pull if not centered.

 

[shacho]

I approximate center. i don't actually measure. I will try being a little more accurate next time and see what happens... thx

 

[rjssigns]

What I found with my RS is you have to load the material perfectly. Lead edge has to be perpendicular to the sides. If it isn't you need to trim it. Close isn't good enough. I also tape the lead edge for alignment purposes. I've written about this on several occasions.

 

[dale911]

I always use a leader board. What I did find though, is that most people I talked to don't properly load the media. The media needs proper tensioning to make it pull straight as much as the laminate needs to pull evenly. Make sure you wind the media back under the tiller that is under the media table and then back to you and onto the table. It's really easy to get the media straight if the feed pressure has some tightness to it. Recently I setup Avery 1105 with 1360 laminate and ran 100' without seeing it move more than 1/8".


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[shacho]

when you say tiller is that the bottom roller. I cant quite picture what you are talking about dale911. a quick sketch would be most appreciated. thx

 

[customquint]

I've had issues with Cheap laminate, Winkles and walking.
Better the laminate better the application. (we still have it walk off up to 1/2" on a run about 8 and 10 ft sometimes)

We are using a Chinese import that we've had for about 10 years.

 

[Joe House]

Many times people attribute the laminate to creeping or walking off, but in actuality it's the print that is not loaded in straight. I usually print a straight line across the media if the print edges are irregular and measure from there to the roller and tape it onto the leader once it's on there straight. This is the only way I know of to make sure that it's straight. Sometimes you can trust the cut edge if you're using the sheet cut function on a printer, but not always and not if you have to cut between jobs to straighten up the print after it's walked off.

 

[ColoPrinthead]

I went over how I work with the same laminator in this thread Lamination Tips
It is extremely rare that I have more than quarter inch of skew and I tend to run full rolls at a time.

 

[ironchef]

Are crown rollers really that important?

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[boxerbay]

check the collars that hold the media. they have red rubber bands. if those are worn and one collar is slipping more than the other it will skew. also check to be sure your rollers are parallel and even across. you have to take off the covers and at each end there is a tensioning spring. use a sheet of paper to check the gap. back them off then tighten until they just barely touch the paper.