Need Help Need help please Seal 65 El laminator.

[altereddezignz]

Does anyone have a Seal 65El laminator. I need help with loading straight. It wants to walk. Sometimes more than others.
We have a Epson S80600 so we have to cut the print of the printer by hand using a groove in the printer.. I ruined a 25 ft print just now at about the 15 ft mark.

 

[papabud]

whats your process to load the laminator. what materials are you using.
this is a very easy machine to use. if you take your time

 

[altereddezignz]

Cut slice in backing on laminate.Slide laminate through rollers with roller up and pull snug in the back. While holding with left hand crank down pressure untill it just stops and turn about 1/8 or so of an inch.
Use backfeed button until my cut in backing is about 3 inch out in front of the roller on front side of machine.
Place roll of material on lower blue tray and bring up end up to meet the roller with rollers still being closed.
Align print material with laminat.
Slide print material into roller until it is touching all the way across.
Move left hand to center while keeping material tight.
Use right hand to turn feed all the way down and press the forward on. Speed up just a little until it grabs 1/2 to 1 inch of print material.
Grab cut edge of backing and pull forward onto take up roller.

I have very few times that the material tracks straight. Most of the time looking from the front of the machine the laminate will be hanging off the material onto the rollers on the left side and print material extra on the right hand side.

sometimes it will track ok for about 10 ft and then like it starts to move very fast to one side. Unless it is a rather small print i always have some sort of off tracking.


Hope this helps.

p.s i have tried also just tossing the backing paper over the back roller and not using the take up roller just to make sure it wasn't an issue there. I have tried adjusting tension very loose to very tight over the last month to see if that helped but it has not.

 

[altereddezignz]

Materials tried are avery 1105 and orafol 3165 ra. Have also tried some substance and some 3m test material i have.

 

[dypinc]

Print to take up roll. Load your printed vinyl on the lower unwind shaft and make sure you have enough tension. Of course make sure you have similar tension on the over-lam on the upper unwind shaft.

There is all kinds on way to start the over-lam and vinyl. I prefer to tape them to the main rollers and turn them past the nip make sure that the tension is even and then lower the top main roller. Of course remove the tape after you lower the roller. After that you should be good to go. Just make sure you grab the vinyl when it comes off the lower roll and keep some tension on it until it gets to the lower main roller.

 

[rjssigns]

First thing that needs to be done is make sure the leading edge of the material to be laminated is perfectly square to the side of the material.
Another thing that I do is put two layers 2" of masking tape on the lead edge. Not only does it make it lay flat it gives me an alignment aid.
I get the material just into the nip then stand to the side of the laminator and sight down the roll to the tape.
If it's off I back up and reload until it is.
Best part about the tape trick is laminate will not stick to it. Makes backing up and realigning a breeze.

 

[altereddezignz]

ok the printer i use is a S80600. This machine doesn't have an auto cut feature so you have to use a razer blade or knife to cut the machine from the material. now there is a groove to cut in but it hardly ever cuts perfectly straight.

This makes taping the end of the material to the end of the laminate rather hard as they are not 2 ends to attach straight to. Getting the laminate straight is not an issue as it is on the roller and once pulled tight its rather straight. Is starting the print correctly and straight. I have read and read this tape way over and over and for some reason it just doesn't make sense to me.

The Laminator doesnt have a roller to place the print onto it lays in a tray on the bottom so pulling tension on it will not assure it is straight either. Unwind shaft i mean.

 

[altereddezignz]

I found this video and this is essentially the way i do it but without using the tape as i use a backing knife to cut the backing separate from the laminate. But loading the material straight is the issue here.

 

[dypinc]

The Laminator doesnt have a roller to place the print onto it lays in a tray on the bottom so pulling tension on it will not assure it is straight either. Unwind shaft i mean.

When I looked at the manual for your 65El it shows a lower unwind shaft. Without that it would be a real challenge to keep the vinyl straight and or even when over-laminating any length. Have you tried using a sled? Not real practical for anything 8' and over though.

 

[altereddezignz]

When I looked at the manual for your 65El it shows a lower unwind shaft. Without that it would be a real challenge to keep the vinyl straight and or even when over-laminating any length. Have you tried using a sled? Not real practical for anything 8' and over though.

Well i guess it has the roller where i place the brown paper on it when for some reason my lam and material are just an inch off or so. But i dont always have the prints on a roll. There are a lot of times ill just move it up on my table thats in front of the printer for lets say 8 ft of material or something along those lines.

 

[dypinc]

Even if I have a small piece I wind it around the idler rollers and tape them to the main roller to start and then lower the main rollers and keep some tension by hand around the idler roller and then main roller once it gets past the idler roller. You see how well the laminate works when it is webbed around the rollers so try to do the same thing with the vinyl.

 

[altereddezignz]

ok so just got off phone with a seal tech and he thinks that there is an issue with the tension from side to side. So let me ask this question for anyone who has a hand crank laminator that doesnt have a gauge? Whats the best way to set the pressure. turn hand crank till you just feel resistance and then go further or stop there?

 

[altereddezignz]

As well if my material is shifting to the left it would mean that my tension is to tight to the left causing it to pull that way correct or am i thinking backwards about that?