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Laminator adjustment

S

shacho

New Member
Hello all,



Recently my Royal Sovereign RSC-1401CLTW laminator has been wrinkling my prints. It is only about a year old and I am a part time shop so it is not worn out. What happens is once it gets out about 3 feet you start to see wrinkles in the lam between the pinch rollers my rollers and the take-up roller. I tried to correct it by adjusting the tension screws on each side but now I’ve messed it up even more. So what I am doing now to try to correct it is I have removed the take-up roller and the back tension roller, just to eliminate that as a problem for now. So now I am just using and scrap piece of 54” x 12’ vinyl and running it through the machine and seeing what it’s doing then making an adjustment and running it through again to see if it has fixed it. I must have done this 100 time and I just haven’t been successful. Anybody have any suggestions?



 
DirtyD

DirtyD

New Member
Try these tips:

[video=youtube;ucI9Y8LvaCI]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucI9Y8LvaCI[/video]

[video=youtube;ls1kgSujqZc]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ls1kgSujqZc[/video]
 
Dennis422

Dennis422

New Member
No matter how stupid it sounds, but make sure your print and laminate are centered in the middle of the laminator.
Do not run it on the side .

Do not ask me how I have learned that :)
 
SlightlyChilled

SlightlyChilled

New Member
Its all about the loading and set up. Also you need to make sure roller pressure is even. You need a pull gauge. like 20 40 bucks from Royal Sovereign. I seen video from fellers I think and they were webbing up a seal but I have adopted the set up and have not had a problem sense..
 
rjssigns

rjssigns

Active Member
Sounds like a loading problem. A while ago I posted my super secret spy trick(masking tape) for making sure prints went in flat.

OP will have to get it back to factory spec then use the web-up techniques shown. That along with my tape trick should have things rockin'.

You have to find out how each laminator likes to be run then follow that procedure every time.
 
S

shacho

New Member
thank you all very much but it is not how I load it. I have done it many times successfully. I have tried adjusting the laminator so much I have really got it out of wack. I can see light in between the rollers on one side and nothing on the other side. I just wandering how I get them exactly the same.
 
C

chartle

New Member
shacho said:
thank you all very much but it is not how I load it. I have done it many times successfully. I have tried adjusting the laminator so much I have really got it out of wack. I can see light in between the rollers on one side and nothing on the other side. I just wandering how I get them exactly the same.
Click to expand...

[video=youtube;AGrkcb_17gA]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGrkcb_17gA[/video]
 
C

chartle

New Member
Also wanted to add I'm in the same boat.

I contacted RS about getting a scale and no response. I also need some replacement parts like the 3" fittings that hold on to the rolls and a new knife.
 
C

chartle

New Member
Ok I cobbled together a gauge. Used a thin piece of plastic from some packaging and a fish scale.

Tried it at work today and at full pressure as per the video it didn't slide at all. Maybe the plastic is too thick but maybe my pressure is way too much.
 

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P

player

New Member
Use metal "shim stock". Copper, brass etc. Very thin, but not tin foil. Be sure the edges are smooth and won't cut the rollers.
 
rjssigns

rjssigns

Active Member
Watch the video carefully. You can seen dust on the nip rolls. Once the stop on the back of the scale hits the platen the dust stops moving. The rollers stall/stop once the shim stock has been fed through. That is why you have to use the reverse button or lift the rollers. If the shim stock were to slip you would not get an accurate reading.
 
C

chartle

New Member
rjssigns said:
Watch the video carefully. You can seen dust on the nip rolls. Once the stop on the back of the scale hits the platen the dust stops moving. The rollers stall/stop once the shim stock has been fed through. That is why you have to use the reverse button or lift the rollers. If the shim stock were to slip you would not get an accurate reading.
Click to expand...

I think only the top roller stops. The bottom one is the one that drives the material through the machine. If it just stalled the rollers you would be measuring the torque not the pressure between the rollers.

Think of it like this, hold a long piece of paper loosely between your fingers and put the gauge on one end. The more you press as you pull the paper the less you slip so higher numbers on the gauge.

I think I know my first issue. My over all pressure is way to much. I used a piece of 3M 8518 laminate liner which may be thinner than the metal strip and was getting numbers in the 30's versus the teens and the top roller keeps moving. Also its 30's at the ends, 20 in the middle.
 
C

chartle

New Member
Update

Per above, using the cobbled together gauge I first noticed that I had too much pressure on the rollers which means too much on the ends so I was getting what someone once called "Smilies" the vinyl was feeding faster at the ends and it kind of backs up in the middle.

So fixed that but still getting bunching on the left and the laminate skewing to the left. Even though my gauge was showing even all across the roller it appeared that I didn't have enough pressure on the left. I gave it an 1/8 th of a turn and it was better so gave it another slight 1/8 th and did about 30 feet with no runout.

But I have another question about shim stock mentioned above. Would a soda can work? I've seen specs of around .004 " thickness.
 
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