Question Roller Table - Roller Material

[dst270]

Hi All, first post here. I'm from Australia and new to the world of signwriting and printing, however it interests me a lot and I'm learning at every opportunity.

I am looking at building a flatbed laminator (often called a roller table) similar to the CWT / rolls roller / vroller type. I can't afford to buy one at this stage so I'm designing a low cost version of my own. The design is nearly finished but the one thing that is holding me up at this stage is working out what material to use for the coating on the roller and how hard it needs to be. I have looked at a CWT table and the roller material seemed fairly soft compared to a normal laminator. Do other brands also use a similar soft material? I think it may be polyurethane but not sure. It almost feels like a hard foam.

If anyone can provide any further details that would be great.

Thanks, Dave

 

[Brian Guthrie]

I am doing the exact same thing and for the roller I purchased one of the cheap Chinese manual rollers off e-bay and disassembled. If you look closely, they are similar if not a complete match to some of the cold laminating machines out there.

 

[dst270]

Hi Brian,
That's not a bad idea, although the longest rollers I've seen are 51" and I was looking for something longer.
What is the coating like on it, is it a hard rubber? How does it perform with your table?

 

[Brian Guthrie]

You get much longer than 51 and the diameter and strength must go way up so that the pressure is as constant as possible across the entire roll. The material is a rubber probably close to 80A durometer. The big expense machines actually shape the roller to be larger in diameter at the center and taper off to equalize pressure. I find if I just do not tighten or press too hard the system works great. I could not imagine doing anything over 48" but my printer is only 48".

 

[dst270]

Thanks for that, cheers