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Laminator Help

timkaz227

New Member
Need to buy my first laminator. what is so hard about laminating something properly? I have a 24" hot laminator used for paper products, pretty easy to use. All of the forums I searched talk about losing lots of material when trying to learn how to use it. Any input would be appreciated.
 

Team One Displays

New Member
The hardest part (though its not really that hard) at first is keeping your material from wrinkling. If the roll of vinyl is not tight on the core or if it is not loaded in the laminator correctly you can have problems.

Loading a new roll of laminate can be tricky as well the first few times.
 

petesign

New Member
Get yourself a Daige & please get back to us. thanks

LOL. Daige has a steep learning curve thats for sure. It has taken me nearly a year to get mine to where I can really laminate without worrying about ruining prints. (Now I can run 50 feet or more through without any problems on a consistent basis). I don't even want to think about how much laminate and vinyl I have wasted during that time. The problem with the Daige laminator is the inability to keep the pressure equal across the rollers, because you have two knobs to set the pressure - one for each side. If you get the pressure off, the print slides sideways, your laminate gets wrinkles, etc. If you don't have enough pressure, you get bubbles or silvering, too much pressure, and the middle of the roller warps, and you don't have consistent pressure across the print, which makes the print wrinkle, pull to the side, or crease as it goes through the laminator. Each of those problems means a reprint, and wasted time and material. That problem is especially fun when you are printing on something expensive and it has to outgas for two days before you can try again.


Spend the money and buy something that isn't a hobbyist laminator. If you cant afford to spend 5 or 6k for a new one, better look for a good used model in my opinion. If you don't you will regret it!
 

MikePro

New Member
Seal 54 Base by Neschen has got to be the best I could recommend for someone new to lamination (as I still use it myself)

simple operation and inexpensive.
 
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