laminator question

[decaldude1137]

which laminator do you all think is a better one diage or royal soveriegn thx for your advise

 

[Christian @ 2CT Media]

Neither look at a GFP... they are significantly better than either of them

 

[MarkSnelling]

which laminator do you all think is a better one diage or royal soveriegn thx for your advise

Don't do either, please. You will have more fun throwing money out the window on the expressway. GFP machines are good - American design built in China. I prefer Kala laminators as they are the only units out there which can self level the nip (makes sure the machine runs dead-ass straight through an entire roll). GFP, depending on the model, run from $8K-$12K and the Kala Mistral (heat assist) is right around $15K.

If you choose a good laminator, you will have it for 15 or 20 years. If you choose a bad one, you will struggle with it for four or five years, throw it out, and then realize you should have spent the right money the first time.

 

[RyanECS]

which laminator do you all think is a better one diage or royal soveriegn thx for your advise

I have a Royal Soveriegn and I’m happy with it, 5 years in at this point. I’m not a super high volume shop so take it for what it’s worth….

 

[Christian @ 2CT Media]

Also, I believe Royal Sovereign is out of business or was bought out... so that should be a part of your equation

 

[Charlie Davidson]

GFP by far. We have a 660TH and have been thrilled with it.

 

[somcalmetim]

Had a couple Royal Sovereign and they were ok but are very deep and had a second sets of rollers that could be a pain...
This is our current Chinese "AUTO LAMINATOR" it works great...63" pneumatic roller pressure (came with compressor)...its set more vertical, takes up less space and has a better takeup roller than RS...
I use the takeup on mine all the time and dont need much room or a runout table like a shop I used to work at...
got from a reputable sign equip supplier 7+ years ago...it came with spare glass heating rod I dont use and a couple spare handles and knobs I havent needed...but I also doubt it would be easy to get replacement parts...
the only problem I have had is the plastic pressure valve on the compressor blew one night so I had to buy a new fitting for easy fix...
If you have tables front and back the right height and take the Lam Holding/peeling rollers off it can even do a decent job mounting signs...not as easy as a Rolls Roller table but works in a pinch

Chinese Auto Laminator on Ebay

 

[StephenOrange]

Had a RS 1400 cold lam for nearly 10 years with no problems. Like most tools and equipment, look after whatever you buy, keep it serviced and clean, RTFM and you should be good.

 

[netsol]

Had a RS 1400 cold lam for nearly 10 years with no problems. Like most tools and equipment, look after whatever you buy, keep it serviced and clean, RTFM and you should be good.

We love our 1650c

 

[ikarasu]

Also, I believe Royal Sovereign is out of business or was bought out... so that should be a part of your equation

I believe rs doesn't sell in USA anymore... But does in Canada. Their us distributor sold his company or died, forget which!

We have an rs.... It's good. Upgraded from an old Seal 54... The RS runs a full roll perfectly straight, It deviates by maybe 1/8" in either direction...so not enough to be an issue. I think it was a few K cheaper than the GFP.


We also bought a Dmais straight from China for another job - Laminating 150 rolls of magnet a month... theyre heavy and we didnt want to put the workload on a good laminator. had it for 2 months now... it's very quick, it doesnt move at all... it uses air to hold the rolls in place vs those shitty rubber cords that always break, it has a sensor in the front so when the roll is done, the machine stops going.... which allows you to talk away while laminating, but it takes less than 1 minute to laminate a 150 FT roll, so no idea why youd need to! Has heat assist and a bunch of other features....we paid less for it than we did for the RS, but it's huge and built like a tank. The laminator arms swing out for you to slide the material onto it, which is also pretty nice.

We paid 3.5K for it delivered all in - Super cheap! https://www.alibaba.com/product-det...a2756.order-detail-ta-ta-b.0.0.5cb3f19cyY9EzY I wouldn't recommend one as your only laminator... They gave us a box of parts with it, so I imagine it does break eventually. But for its price you could buy 2-3 of them for the same price as a cheaper RS... and I'd put it up there with the high end seal in build quality / features. No idea on longevity, but we have ran 300 rolls through it in a 2 month period.... about 25 100 LB Magnetic rolls per day for 2 weeks straight, and we havent had a single issue.


If it were me, I'd buy the Dmais over the RS or Diage - If money wasn't an issue.... Kala would be nice.

 

[decaldude1137]

first off i want to thank all of you for your input i have a chance to buy a rs 32 inch (which is all i need) for 600 like new now i don't know what to do i can get a diage 25 inch for 400 but its like 12 years old.

 

[Charlie Davidson]

$600 is a steal for a laminator. You would faint if you knew what we spent on ours, lol. If that's what you need - go for it!

 

[Christian @ 2CT Media]

I believe rs doesn't sell in USA anymore... But does in Canada. Their us distributor sold his company or died, forget which!

We have an rs.... It's good. Upgraded from an old Seal 54... The RS runs a full roll perfectly straight, It deviates by maybe 1/8" in either direction...so not enough to be an issue. I think it was a few K cheaper than the GFP.


We also bought a Dmais straight from China for another job - Laminating 150 rolls of magnet a month... theyre heavy and we didnt want to put the workload on a good laminator. had it for 2 months now... it's very quick, it doesnt move at all... it uses air to hold the rolls in place vs those shitty rubber cords that always break, it has a sensor in the front so when the roll is done, the machine stops going.... which allows you to talk away while laminating, but it takes less than 1 minute to laminate a 150 FT roll, so no idea why youd need to! Has heat assist and a bunch of other features....we paid less for it than we did for the RS, but it's huge and built like a tank. The laminator arms swing out for you to slide the material onto it, which is also pretty nice.

We paid 3.5K for it delivered all in - Super cheap! https://www.alibaba.com/product-det...a2756.order-detail-ta-ta-b.0.0.5cb3f19cyY9EzY I wouldn't recommend one as your only laminator... They gave us a box of parts with it, so I imagine it does break eventually. But for its price you could buy 2-3 of them for the same price as a cheaper RS... and I'd put it up there with the high end seal in build quality / features. No idea on longevity, but we have ran 300 rolls through it in a 2 month period.... about 25 100 LB Magnetic rolls per day for 2 weeks straight, and we havent had a single issue.


If it were me, I'd buy the Dmais over the RS or Diage - If money wasn't an issue.... Kala would be nice.

I have looked at those DMAIS high speed laminators in the past, are they really that fast and accurate?

 

[ikarasu]

I have looked at those DMAIS high speed laminators in the past, are they really that fast and accurate?

I did a lot of research and Dmais was the best Chinese brand out there... Only one I could find where a few different shops ordered them.


https://photos.app.goo.gl/hUdg6obZivwsSEAE8 Heres a video of 100 FT of magnet being laminated with 3M 3430 Reflective - The magnet is about 100 lbs and the reflective about 20 lbs.... It's only a 24" roll, And we didn't have it centered... but it barely moved in the back. The magnet is 1/8" overall bigger than the reflective...and the reflective didn't drift off on either side. You can see at the end the machine just stops... It has a little sensor where if it doesn't see the material, it'll auto stop - Which is nice.. something I havent seen on any laminator here. 1 minute and 15 seconds at the fastest speed to do 100 FT...so 1.5 - 2 minutes max for 150 FT I'd say? And with the way it loads...its so much faster to setup than our other laminators as you never have to remove the bars for take up or feeding...they just swing out and you slide the material on and off.

Pneumatic too - those yellow rectangles you see on the rolls? You press a button and the bars fill with air pushing those yellow pieces up... so it holds the material in really strong. Makes taking it off easy as some cores are tighter than others... we were using a RS for the magnets, but we had an older model and didn't want to use our newer model for it - it was so heavy that the bars bent... And we snapped the cord probably a dozen or so times, removing the magnet from the core was so hard... Now its easy.


They have good support... A bit misguided, but good support! They asked if 240V was ok and we said yes. Then it showed up with a standard NA plug.... After a bit of back and fourth, It turns out they were trying to be helpful and they wired it up with the standard NA 120V plug, because they thought it was the same as a 240V So we had to cut off the end and install the correct plug. Aside from that its been all smooth - The rubber is as thick as my hand... The rollers are huge, which is why it can go so fast. Only had it for 2-3 months now...so again, I cant comment on longevity... but one of the reasons we were ok with buying a laminator from China is because they're not all that complex.... a motor to spin some rollers, and that's pretty much it. So long as it fed accurately, we'd be happy... And It does feed really straight, just as good as our old seal did... Better than our new (this generation) RS does.


When our RS dies, or we're in the market for another laminator, I'll be getting a dmais for it as well. I don't think it's better per say than the RS... Theyre both pretty much equivalent, except the Dmais comes in at half or 1/3 the price depending on which model you get. You can see how big and beefy the one in our video is, We needed one that can handle the weight of magnetic and thickness of 100 yard rolls, so the cheaper end RS / and even GFP's wouldn't work - Nothing local under 15-17K would handle what we were doing, we tried every manufacturer. We bought one of the most expensive models... it cost us $3500 landed after shipping to the port, and paying a broker to handle customs and delivery from the port to us. Figured for the price, it was worth the risk

 

[guillermo]

The RS is a no no for me, I have one that is not even 2 years and still until now, it does not do a good lamination, does not stick the film to the substrate as it should be, when laminate black prints with gloss lamination, the result is like and off black, I have to use a squeegee to get more pressure or use a 3/16" board to get a little better, the pressure of the machine was adjusted but still not great results. when I laminate, I use the handle to put more pressure down, the roller is too soft.

 

[Grizzly]

Also agree Kala Laminators are great.

 

[decaldude1137]

ended up getting the rs for 350 so could not pass that up

 

[Wlive]

I recommend the brand MEFU, also from China. Large-Format Laminator with Smart Control System, which makes it easy to check the Temperature, Speed, and Lamination Records for 30 days.
Also Pneumatic Lifting needs to be paired with Air Compressor. And we also have Manual Lifting. Support Cold and hot Lamination, Temp could be adjusted.

 

[Christian @ 2CT Media]

I did a lot of research and Dmais was the best Chinese brand out there... Only one I could find where a few different shops ordered them.


https://photos.app.goo.gl/hUdg6obZivwsSEAE8 Heres a video of 100 FT of magnet being laminated with 3M 3430 Reflective - The magnet is about 100 lbs and the reflective about 20 lbs.... It's only a 24" roll, And we didn't have it centered... but it barely moved in the back. The magnet is 1/8" overall bigger than the reflective...and the reflective didn't drift off on either side. You can see at the end the machine just stops... It has a little sensor where if it doesn't see the material, it'll auto stop - Which is nice.. something I havent seen on any laminator here. 1 minute and 15 seconds at the fastest speed to do 100 FT...so 1.5 - 2 minutes max for 150 FT I'd say? And with the way it loads...its so much faster to setup than our other laminators as you never have to remove the bars for take up or feeding...they just swing out and you slide the material on and off.

Pneumatic too - those yellow rectangles you see on the rolls? You press a button and the bars fill with air pushing those yellow pieces up... so it holds the material in really strong. Makes taking it off easy as some cores are tighter than others... we were using a RS for the magnets, but we had an older model and didn't want to use our newer model for it - it was so heavy that the bars bent... And we snapped the cord probably a dozen or so times, removing the magnet from the core was so hard... Now its easy.


They have good support... A bit misguided, but good support! They asked if 240V was ok and we said yes. Then it showed up with a standard NA plug.... After a bit of back and fourth, It turns out they were trying to be helpful and they wired it up with the standard NA 120V plug, because they thought it was the same as a 240V So we had to cut off the end and install the correct plug. Aside from that its been all smooth - The rubber is as thick as my hand... The rollers are huge, which is why it can go so fast. Only had it for 2-3 months now...so again, I cant comment on longevity... but one of the reasons we were ok with buying a laminator from China is because they're not all that complex.... a motor to spin some rollers, and that's pretty much it. So long as it fed accurately, we'd be happy... And It does feed really straight, just as good as our old seal did... Better than our new (this generation) RS does.


When our RS dies, or we're in the market for another laminator, I'll be getting a dmais for it as well. I don't think it's better per say than the RS... Theyre both pretty much equivalent, except the Dmais comes in at half or 1/3 the price depending on which model you get. You can see how big and beefy the one in our video is, We needed one that can handle the weight of magnetic and thickness of 100 yard rolls, so the cheaper end RS / and even GFP's wouldn't work - Nothing local under 15-17K would handle what we were doing, we tried every manufacturer. We bought one of the most expensive models... it cost us $3500 landed after shipping to the port, and paying a broker to handle customs and delivery from the port to us. Figured for the price, it was worth the risk

Thank you, I will look in to that just simply for the speed.