Laminators

[blufftonsignguy]

I am looking at purchasing a new laminator. I am on a budget, so cost is a deciding factor. I know the seals and other like them are the better ones to purchase. I am wondering what others think of the Daige 55" cold laminator? I think it's a bottom line machine, but seems like it would do the job just fine once you get everything tuned in on it. I am also looking at an "Elite" which would be more cost. Your thoughts?

 

[FatCat]

Personally, I wouldn't go with the Daige. Lots of threads on here with various problems. For the money you can't beat a laminator from US Tech. Very simple, rugged machines that do what they were made to do.

http://www.bestdgi.com/index.html

 

[Tony McD]

I have had the Daige for 7-8 years...and it's done ok, but,
Mine has a tension knob on each side with no settings for roller pressure, takes some getting used to.
Hopefully they changed it, but mine has the geared take-up and toothed belt, which never really worked,
so I roll up the paper by hand as I go.
You have to run a sled through with everything, so plenty of room on each side is needed.
It works ok for short prints, but probably not so good for the longer ones.
I've run some fairly long prints through it by following one sled with another to keep it going.

To do it again, I would look for one that doesn't need a sled, and has a decent takeup system.

 

[thesignexpert]

Our Royal Sovereign has consistently proven to be an excellent balance between the pricey Seal and the lower featured Daige. We added the automatic take-up roll and it has been running like a champ for years.

 

[Z SIGNS]

I think the only way to go is a flatbed like a rolls roller.
You can use it as a laminator, a weeding table and also apply prints to your substrates.

I've had a diage and threw it in the garbage where it belongs.

I've worked with the best laminators and all are a PIA to set up and operate and the results are always crap shoot.

The flatbeds are pricey but you have to ask yourself how much would you be willing to pay to quadruple your production and never waste a print again.

If your doing long long runs of prints all the time get a good one capable of handling long runs.

If your doing one offs like most small shops you want a flat bed.
It will pay for itself very quickly

 

[Desert_Signs]

I think the only way to go is a flatbed like a rolls roller.
You can use it as a laminator, a weeding table and also apply prints to your substrates.

I've had a diage and threw it in the garbage where it belongs.

I've worked with the best laminators and all are a PIA to set up and operate and the results are always crap shoot.

The flatbeds are pricey but you have to ask yourself how much would you be willing to pay to quadruple your production and never waste a print again.

If your doing long long runs of prints all the time get a good one capable of handling long runs.

If your doing one offs like most small shops you want a flat bed.
It will pay for itself very quickly

The last shop I worked at had a Seal 62 Pro. Worked like a champ. In 4 years, I can count on one hand how many prints were wasted.

Now that I own my own shop, I'm on a tight budget, so I bought one of the US Techs. I've had it for about 3 months. I haven't wasted a single print yet. In the past week I've laminated 4 rolls of 3165RA with 210 lam. Each roll in one continuous shot. That's 600' flawless. On top of that, I've also laminated 2 complete rolls of IJ180cv3 with 8518. Another 300 feet of lamination, not a single wasted print.

The seal was obviously much nicer and easier to use, but I have zero complaints with a US Tech. For my shop, even though it's small, I don't think a flat bed laminator would serve me.

 

[Z SIGNS]

The last shop I worked at had a Seal 62 Pro. Worked like a champ. In 4 years, I can count on one hand how many prints were wasted.

Now that I own my own shop, I'm on a tight budget, so I bought one of the US Techs. I've had it for about 3 months. I haven't wasted a single print yet. In the past week I've laminated 4 rolls of 3165RA with 210 lam. Each roll in one continuous shot. That's 600' flawless. On top of that, I've also laminated 2 complete rolls of IJ180cv3 with 8518. Another 300 feet of lamination, not a single wasted print.

The seal was obviously much nicer and easier to use, but I have zero complaints with a US Tech. For my shop, even though it's small, I don't think a flat bed laminator would serve me.

Like i said if you are always doing long runs all the time get one of those.

But what about the one offs like most do ?
And what about applying the print to a substrate how do you go about that ?

This is a no brainier decision.

The only people that tell you that a flatbed is not the way to go go are the people that sell the other kind and the people that just bought one of those contraptions like you have.

Check out the video and tell me what could be better way to do your thing and how the US Tech serves you better

[video=youtube;f9zv61irxjo]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9zv61irxjo[/video]

 

[mpn]

Z, did you get your flatbed from the other thread yet?

 

[SightLine]

While I think the Rolls Roller is a very cool machine and would be very useful for some things I just don't see someone who is saying they are on a shoestring budget as having the amount of space one needs nor the money. Those cost 4 times as much as the laminators he is looking at. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to have one too and I have more than enough space for a few of them but I cannot bring myself to justify the price. We mount prints with our laminator almost as quickly as the guy does in the video. We just have to stop and spin the substrate around once the first half is done and with the particular on we have we are limited to about 3/4" thick. Any reasonably decent laminator should also be able to do long runs with no issue. If they cannot they are either junk, something is wrong with it, or the operator does not know how to use it. While we do a lot of short runs we also do a good many full roll runs. Ours is an older GBC Arctic Titan 165. Not top of the line by any means but far from bottom of the barrel although it is getting to be pretty old so I'm looking at my options as well however the bottom of the barrel is not something I'm really looking for my shop.

 

[blufftonsignguy]

Thank you all for your time in helping me with this matter. I do run a small shop and at this point, haven't had a need to run any lengthy material yet. All of my prints are fairly short. I hope to make it to the big leagues one day, but I don't see it happening this year! I don't want to purchase a bottom line laminator, but I am kind of on a shoe string budget. I purchased a Roland SC545EX in February and it has been a great machine so far. The person I purchased it from run a Daige laminator and had great success with it. They have not changed the Daige very much at all from what I understand. They still have the adjustment screws on each side for the pressure. I am waiting for a price on one Tublite sells called the Elite. Or maybe even find a good used one somewhere for a decent price.

Again thank you all for your time and assistance!!! All opinions will be taken into consideration.

 

[Z SIGNS]

Z, did you get your flatbed from the other thread yet?

No I did not get it yet.

Right now it's on the slow boat from china supposed to be here on the 24th of this month.
I'll post the pics when it arrives
It's been a scary adventure dealing with the Chinese.Negotiating shipping and customs etc.
I have my fingers crossed that they will deliver what they promised.

Meantime we are using our shop built version and could not live without it.

I predict you will see a lot more of these machines spring up on the market real soon.

There really is no debate of what a flatbed can do compared to diages of the world.

 

[AF]

A flatbed roller is on my wish list for our next shop expansion. Couldn't see living without a roll-to-roll laminator though.

 

[Desert_Signs]

Like i said if you are always doing long runs all the time get one of those.

But what about the one offs like most do ?
And what about applying the print to a substrate how do you go about that ?

This is a no brainier decision.

The only people that tell you that a flatbed is not the way to go go are the people that sell the other kind and the people that just bought one of those contraptions like you have.

Check out the video and tell me what could be better way to do your thing and how the US Tech serves you better

[video=youtube;f9zv61irxjo]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9zv61irxjo[/video]

A flatbed is interesting, but a HUGE waste of space, IMO. My itty bitty laminator can do everything the flatbed laminator can, in a 1/6 the space.

I can (and do!) mount prints with my US Tech. However, unless it's over 8' long, I can do it by hand as fast as the guy did it with the flatbed laminator. I'm sure there are many people for whom the flat bed is the right choice. To me, it's just a waste of space and money.

 

[blufftonsignguy]

I agree on the flatbead. They are a very nice machine if you have the space and production for them. I am looking very hard on the USTECH and the Elite right now. I think I have narrowed it down to those two.

Thanks again for everyone's help with this

 

[Z SIGNS]

A flatbed is interesting, but a HUGE waste of space, IMO. My itty bitty laminator can do everything the flatbed laminator can, in a 1/6 the space.

I can (and do!) mount prints with my US Tech. However, unless it's over 8' long, I can do it by hand as fast as the guy did it with the flatbed laminator. I'm sure there are many people for whom the flat bed is the right choice. To me, it's just a waste of space and money.

The machine has made a lot of space for us.

Got rid of the diage Got rid of the mounting and weeding table and now just have the one table.

To us it is not a waste of money it is a money maker because now we can laminate and apply 4x8s with zero waste flawlessly

4x8s done in the time it takes to load and setup a roll to roll

 

[The Big Squeegee]

laminator selection

Take a look at the Big Squeegee laminators. You will still use them even if you decide to go for an expensive laminator machine.

 

[Desert_Signs]

The machine has made a lot of space for us.

Got rid of the diage Got rid of the mounting and weeding table and now just have the one table.

To us it is not a waste of money it is a money maker because now we can laminate and apply 4x8s with zero waste flawlessly

4x8s done in the time it takes to load and setup a roll to roll

At the cost for the rollsroller, you are getting VERY close to just buying a flatbed printer. If you're mounting enough 4x8 prints to justify 20k on a machine, it seems you should be able to afford a $40-$50k flatbed. No more mounting vinyl, huge increase in production speed.

And, just to be clear, I wasn't saying a flatbed roller is a waste of money, just that for ME it would be.