Looking for laminator recommendation

[icedhot]

also considering a laminating machine. how is this QOMOLANGMA? reliability?

USA Stock 110V 55" Full-auto Cold Laminator Wide Format Laminating Machine +Film | eBay

Qomolangma 55in Full-auto Wide Format Cold Laminator. Qomolangma 55in full-auto wide format roll to roll top heat assist laminator and mounting machine. No wrinkle, no silvering, no slidding! This new model can be widely used for pre - masking vinyl graphic, mount prints on substrate, over...

www.ebay.com

 

[truckgraphics]

We have had a Dmais Chinese made 62" laminator for the past two years. Works fantastic. (Knock wood.) Has pneumatic (small air compressor) loading to raise the roller. No adjustment required. There is a heater for it, but we never installed it.

Had USTech (Chinese) 54" laminator before that. Worked for about 5 years before the rollers warped or some such, so it only works with 30" wide laminate now.

Both stay loaded and are used daily.

Each was about $2,000.

The only think I'd do different is that at the first sign of trouble, I would buy another rather than trying to keep the older machine running (which caused problems). Don't know how long a $12,000 laminator lasts, but I'd want it to work perfectly for 30 years before needing to buy a new one. I probably won't last 30 years so am happy with Chinese laminators.

 

[Signscorp]

+1 for the Kayla. We upgraded from our old royal sovereign several years ago, and I really like the Kayla.

Hey do you guys do lots of small jobs? We do lots of smaller runs with different vinyl/lam combos. We're changing lams 3-5 times per day.

 

[Boudica]

Hey do you guys do lots of small jobs? We do lots of smaller runs with different vinyl/lam combos. We're changing lams 3-5 times per day.

Yes, we do. Sometimes it's exhausting swapping out the media 5 times a day.

Edit, sorry you were asking about the laminator (I had printer on the brain). Our jobs usually consist of about 2-3 different types of laminate. It's either cal matte, or cast gloss. Occasionally it will be dry erase, or cal gloss. So I group projects by like laminate, and do them all at the same time.

 

[Notarealsignguy]

Like Boudica said, gang your prints and you won't have to swap laminates so much. It is also helpful to give yourself some lead time on orders so that you aren't always doing these one off runs.

 

[JamesLam]

Like Boudica said, gang your prints and you won't have to swap laminates so much. It is also helpful to give yourself some lead time on orders so that you aren't always doing these one off runs.

If you have staff this is such an important point to drive home. They will be more than happy to stare off into the sunset, run the roll and watch you money hit the floor.

 

[Bryce I]

Update: purchased the GFP 355th, and after getting stuck on some super basic steps, we have run some jobs through it and they look great. not comfortable with the machine yet though. These four clutch/brake knobs on the sides are completely new to me. Our old cheaper one didn't have any of that. Any tips on how those work? In one of the very limited GFP videos the tech shows how he likes to have a little "bag" between the backing and the idler bar while laminating, so it's not too tight. I saw mine was running a bit tight, so I loosened the knob for the backing takeup, and sure enough a little bag appeared. but then it grew and the backing almost started to dip too low towards the rollers. I tightened it a bit, and just went back and forth a little until it leveled out. Still not really sure what is happening when turning these knobs. Any insights would be appreciated.

Also: Never used a laminator with a heating assist. How does that work? the temp dial goes up to six. Is there a specific media or laminate, or room temperature, or other context that should dictate when to use heat, and what to set it to? Not a lot of info in the manual or gfp website. I want to just play around with it and try different stuff, but we also have some expensive material that needs to be laminated this week, and my confidence with this thing is just not there yet. Thanks!

 

[brdesign]

Update: purchased the GFP 355th, and after getting stuck on some super basic steps, we have run some jobs through it and they look great. not comfortable with the machine yet though. These four clutch/brake knobs on the sides are completely new to me. Our old cheaper one didn't have any of that. Any tips on how those work? In one of the very limited GFP videos the tech shows how he likes to have a little "bag" between the backing and the idler bar while laminating, so it's not too tight. I saw mine was running a bit tight, so I loosened the knob for the backing takeup, and sure enough a little bag appeared. but then it grew and the backing almost started to dip too low towards the rollers. I tightened it a bit, and just went back and forth a little until it leveled out. Still not really sure what is happening when turning these knobs. Any insights would be appreciated.

Also: Never used a laminator with a heating assist. How does that work? the temp dial goes up to six. Is there a specific media or laminate, or room temperature, or other context that should dictate when to use heat, and what to set it to? Not a lot of info in the manual or gfp website. I want to just play around with it and try different stuff, but we also have some expensive material that needs to be laminated this week, and my confidence with this thing is just not there yet. Thanks!

About the only time, I have ever needed to use heat is on some of the thicker laminates like the 5mil or 10mil polycarb. Using heat and going slow helped to reduce silvering

 

[Bryce I]

Here's a video of me running some paper through the machine as a test before running these precious prints through it. I think I have a halfway decent grasp on the knob for the backing takeup, but I still have no idea how the knob for the upper supply shaft functions. In the video you can see some yucky waves appear in the lam as it comes down, and I make random adjustments to the brake tensions for the top film supply. Any tips?