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Need help with workplace

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thehamsterman

New Member
Hello everyone! New forum user here, but i've used this site to answer questions before..

Just a little background, we're a print/design shop with several locations, but our production is centrally located in one building.

Recently, due to people leaving, i've been placed in charge of all oversize printing, which includes banners, posters, vehicle wraps, and now outdoor lighted signs. We have two printers, a mutoh 1604 and a 1614.

Our print room is also our media storage room, and it has its own air conditioning ( but non functioning heat). we also have a 64" laminator and a 48" cutter in this room. it opens in to our paper storage room for the digital printing section, which also has our hydraulic paper cutter.

This opens in to the install bays, which has a large work table, two garage bays, storage for our cut vinyl and heat but no a/c.

The entire area is largely unfinished. the print room is painted, but has exposed drywall around the door frames. the install bays have poor lighting, unpainted walls

In all of these rooms we have no windows, no fresh air intake, no exhaust

So here's the question: how isolated does the print room need to be? Should it be completed? does the dust from the paper cutter need to be controlled? should both parts be air conditioned and heated? how much fresh air do we need?

I tried doing searches but its all sort of overwhelming. any help would be great
 
Mosh

Mosh

New Member
The print and lam should be in a somewahat controlled area. To my suprise the printing is not so much affected but the lamination is. dust and paper parts will mess up a print getting laminated. I hate when you are 4 feet into a print there is something under the lam. So yes the print and lam area should be away from alot of movement and dust.

Vinyl cutting, not so much. Back when I started we would even wash our hands BEFORE touching any vinyl we cut, but that was back in the 80's. Not I chew on tator chips while weeding, but with the printer that is getting pretty rare.


BTW NO HEAT.. in IOWA???? That would suck in the winter, I live in Iowa so I know.
 
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thehamsterman

New Member
Usually we roll a PCR roller over a print before we laminate, but we are having an issue with high saturation prints gathering dust as they come out of the printer.

also, since the rooms are all open to eachother, we just crank the heat up in the garage in the winter and crank the a/c up in the print room int he summer


i'm trying to convince the boss that it needs to be fixed.
 
Mosh

Mosh

New Member
Yes, the print and lam should be isolated. So tell your boss the Mosh said so.

Where in Ioweigia are you?
 
T

thehamsterman

New Member
Iowa City all the way baby

also, if we isolate the print/lam room, what sort of ventilation do we need to focus on? do we have to have fresh air pumped in/pulled out?
 
T

thehamsterman

New Member
Its so boring around these parts, the only fun we can have is by making goofy names for the internet.

Think i will measure the shop today to see how big it actually is. This site looks like it will be very useful for the coming months...
 
petepaz

petepaz

New Member
one thing you could do to help the lam are is keep a air hose close by and blow the sheets off when laminating.
we ran line through out the ceillings and dropped air hoses in the areas we need them
by the laminators, silk screen areas helps out a lot and not real expensive
but the bottom line is the more controlled you can make the area the better
 
phototec

phototec

New Member
PRC roller is a better approach!

petepaz said:
one thing you could do to help the lam are is keep a air hose close by and blow the sheets off when laminating.
we ran line through out the ceillings and dropped air hoses in the areas we need them by the laminators, silk screen areas helps out a lot and not real expensive
but the bottom line is the more controlled you can make the area the better
Click to expand...

"the more controlled you can make the area the better"

So, you blow all the dust and dirt particles into the air so they can circulate all over the place, and land who knows where, what control?

I think a PRC roller is a better approach!
Get professional lamination results with the PCR Roller. This non-abrasive roller system quickly and effectively removes particulates like dirt and dust from your prints prior to lamination. These particles can cause unsightly flaws in your finished laminated prints. Simply pass the lightweight roller over the print, then clean the roller on a PCR Roller Adhesive Pad. Kit includes roller, pad, and pad holder.
 
T

thehamsterman

New Member
Thanks for all the advice!


We've been using the PCR roller since the guy who turned us from a poster shop to a sign shop started working here.

Unfortunately, he just left to start his own place in Kansas, so i'm stuck with trying to figure out where to go from here.

We've been at this location about a year. Before, we were in a more office/commercial space, in one big room with all the digital printing stuff, and the customer storefront. Now we're in this area and we have a whole slew of different issues to overcome. The space is nice to have, but the building isn't as nice. Plus, we have our own garages on site now, whereas before we had to find someone to rent from.


The issue i notice with lam is that say i'm doing a cold lam over my air-release wrap vinyl. The lam that is exposed on the roller before it goes through the lamintator tends to gather dust from the air while its rolling through the laminator.

I've already convinced the boss that we need solid doors between our area and the hydraulic paper cutter, but what else can i do to prevent free-floating dust?

Someone at work suggested those hanging rubber strip-door things. The only issue is that we take our prints off the printer and through this doorway to do our finishing (banner hemming, trimming, applying adhesives to substrates)but i worry that we would have to wait for the prints to be totally dry before going through such a door, so the rubber doesn't smudge the ink...
 
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