premask cut vinyl problem with Kala Mistral 1650

[bigben]

I'm used to premask by hand. We just got a kala mistral 1650 laminator and I was under the impression I could premask cut vinyl with it. If I do small part, there is no problem. But anything longer than 60in, the vinyl wrinkle under the premask. I've called my rep and he told me I should use a ''sled''. I've tried a 20mil styrene because it's the only thing I have on hand right now. It has improve a bit, but the problem is still there. I was planning to do full 50yards roll in about a month. I don't want to premask all this by hand. Does anyone have recommendation? Thanks.

 

[bigben]

No one have any advise?

 

[balstestrat]

Sounds like wrong tension on the rolls or wrong down pressure.

 

[bigben]

Sounds like wrong tension on the rolls or wrong down pressure.

I've tried a small part with less pressure and it seems to be better. I will try a longer run today.

 

[Mr. Signboy]

Are you using vinyl with a paper liner or synthetic?

 

[bigben]

Are you using vinyl with a paper liner or synthetic?

paper liner. I've made some test this morning. If I reduce the pressure at 3 and keep a small tension on the vinyl entering the machine, it work well. I did not do a piece over 7ft tho.

 

[White Haus]

We use a coroplast sled to web up our laminator, whether it's with laminate or premask. You can re-use it for a while until it gets too thick/heavy then just throw it out and use a new one.

You definitely don't want too much pressure OR tension on the premask when running it through.

If you're doing longer runs and have your vinyl on the feed roll holder, a bit of tension on there will help with smooth results.

 

[Mr. Signboy]

paper liner. I've made some test this morning. If I reduce the pressure at 3 and keep a small tension on the vinyl entering the machine, it work well. I did not do a piece over 7ft tho.

You might try using vinyl with a synthetic liner, paper tends to wrinkle more from humidity and temp changes. When I cut vinyl on our flatbed cutter the paper liner always wrinkles, ands its just laying flat, I'd imagine if I tried to run it through the laminator it would be even worse.