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Possible to skip Laminate when printing with overcoat?

T

Theflex

New Member
Hi,

Looking to buy a HP Latex 630, does anybody know if it maybe possible to print on like Avery 6103 with overcoat and without laminate? Or will it break in to small pieces when it will be removed?

Usage: Vinyl will be apply to utside of a bus.

It would be so much more cost efichant to skip the laminate and the process.
 
J

Joe House

Sign Equipment Technician
It probably depends on the life expectancy of the print. If it's for a weekend promotional, you could probably get by without the laminate, but if the bus will be washed with the print on, it needs to be laminated. Overcoat is not a replacement otherwise no one would put laminate on vehicle graphics.

Good Luck
 
balstestrat

balstestrat

Problem Solver
johnnysigns said:
Exactly, overcoat is not a replacement for lamination. I think it's mainly to keep the inks from scratching during production handling considering how thin/fragile the latex ink sets are.
Click to expand...
Nah not true. If you print for example on coroplast you wouldn't ever laminate it.
 
P Wagner

P Wagner

--
Overcoat is an anti-scratch agent. It does not protect from potential chemical attack from gasoline or other harsh cleaning chemicals. Laminates are needed for this.
 
M

MNT_Printhead

Working among the Corporate Lizard People
Most of my banner latex prints will scuff and mar just from being dragged across a work table for finishing, I am working on the profiles, but I have never had this issue with solvent printers. Welcome to HP hell.
 
A

Aaron Hunter

New Member
Laminate for the most part is for UV & Environmental protection. Without a UV blocker your prints will fade pretty fast.
 
S

Superior_Adam

New Member
MntPrintHead said:
Most of my banner latex prints will scuff and mar just from being dragged across a work table for finishing, I am working on the profiles, but I have never had this issue with solvent printers. Welcome to HP hell.
Click to expand...
I print a ton of banner on our HP 560 and there is not scuffing like that when we go to stitch them. I would think the ink is under cured if your having that problem.
 
S

Superior_Adam

New Member
Theflex said:
Hi,

Looking to buy a HP Latex 630, does anybody know if it maybe possible to print on like Avery 6103 with overcoat and without laminate? Or will it break in to small pieces when it will be removed?

Usage: Vinyl will be apply to utside of a bus.

It would be so much more cost efichant to skip the laminate and the process.
Click to expand...
Yes you could but the print wont last as long. Those buses are not treated nicely. The biggest issue is removal. without lam the removal could be a PITA. The only thing we do not laminate off our HP Latex outside of posters and banner is when someone wants a dirt cheap decal/sticker. On a bus you can use inexpensive calendared vinyl and calendared lam and be perfectly fine as long as there are not rivets etc.
 
johnnysigns

johnnysigns

New Member
Theflex said:
Na what ive heard is that you should not lay an overcoat if you will put laminate on it
Click to expand...
I think that's a mixed bag. I print loads of paper and we still run some overcoat even when we're film laminating. If I'm stacking up sheets of printed 18/24pt SBS off the printer it's getting scratched with zero overcoat, it's still getting scratches with 0.5-0.8 levels of overcoat. The film lam seems to hide that after laminating, but it still needs something on there for production handling, especially if you're not laminating. I could see running a wrap vinyl with no overcoat for lamination, but that's not seeing the handling a sheet will get on and off a cutter and getting packed out. With a rolled up print on a take up roll it's different. You're just webbing up the roll for laminating and it's pretty much still virgin being wound up and coming out protected.
 
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