Trouble with laminator HELP

[stickermonkey]

hey ya'll...I'm havign a great deal of trouble laminating this week. I have several lengths of IJ35-10 to laminate with 8509 lam. I'm using a GBC Artic Titan 64" laminator. I use a sled to start the lamination (coroplast 4 mil)..it start off great, but once I lower the rollers to the appropriate pressure for this film it all goes wrong. I am getting wrinckles. I always tape the print to the sled so that it has enough space to lower the rollers before it is laminating the printed area. What can I do ?? Any seasoned lamination experts that can suggest ??

 

[petepaz]

have you done it that way before
i have a thin piece of polycarb i use to start the laminate (.030-.040 thick)
and i can put that through to start and then i don't have to make any adjustments
i can just follow it up with the prints so i am not interupting the flow
i don't have the most experience but it sounds like your problem might be when you are adjusting the pressure from the cor to meet the print

 

[Tony McD]

I'm no expert, but here's what I've noticed when having those problems.

Uneven rollers - make sure you have the same amount of gap on left and right side.

Not enough tension on laminate roll - add tension till wrinkles come out.
Too much tension can also cause problems.

Laminate feeding crooked - laminate roll not square with nip rollers, run a couple
feet of laminate through till all waves or wrinkles go away.

 

[stickermonkey]

I never even thought of that....I'll try that thx. I have some offcuts of really thin styrene that would work well for it. thx so much. It's funny how when you are on the inside looking at the situation you just can't see a solution...and when you are on the inside looking in...you can figure it out.
I have been laminating this way for 2 years and have had mostly success...these prints are highly saturated with ink...and I've been outgassing for most of the week so it can't be that they are still not cured...I'm sure your solution will work.

thx again!!

Kyla

 

[petepaz]

good luck
another thing i have found is when you feed the sheets through you leave a little of the first sheet so you can start the next sheet from that
i have noticed going under the tail of the first sheet has worked better then going above because sometimes the next print will stick to the lam and you don't go through flush or flat which could cause some wrinkling issues also
(if that makes any sense the way i explained it..haha)

 

[marcsitkin]

Use a piece of the same material as the sled about 18" long by the width of a sled and start your laminate on that. Stop before the leader runs all the way through the roller.

When you tape the print to the sled, make sure that there are no ripples from the edge drying or absorbing moisture. It should also be a clean, square cut.
Use a straight edge over the print to flatten it as you tape it down. Tape past the edges of the print.

Butt the sled up to the leader and push it through as the leader goes through the rollers. Do NOT leave any gap.

If you have a bottom feed roller, set up and learn how to use brown paper (wider that the laminate) as a continuous sled. Once you get the hang of it, it's a real timesaver.

 

[stickermonkey]

well...my battle with the laminator is ongoing. I managed to get a couple lams done...but they are only a drop in the puddle of the work that should have been done today. What ticks me off about this is that last week and the week before etc...NO PROBLEMS ...perfect laminations for dozens of feet at a time! Anyhow...for the 2 large prints that I don't want to have to reprint, I'm going to mount them to the substrate then laminate it after it's mounted. Should save me some grief until I can make some adjustments to the machine. Thanks for all your help people!! Kyla

 

[CheapVehicleWrap]

I feel for ya, been there. While still not a lam guru, i do think that the machines should ship with a years worth of good anti-depressants

 

[stickermonkey]

I feel for ya, been there. While still not a lam guru, i do think that the machines should ship with a years worth of good anti-depressants

that would be PErFECT!!

 

[Jeff South Florida]

Let me first suggest that if you can leave it on a continous roll, do so. Put it on the bottom unwind roller and attach the lam the same way you have been. Make sure to leave a good 2 feet extra the first time for web up. I use 3mm PVC to web up, the lam comes off easier. When the board is through the machine, stop the machine. Lift the rollers and go around the back. Pull the board with the lam and the kraft or vinyl evenly through a little bit. This will get everything lined up. Now drop the rollers down. This is called :burping the machine".

I also teach another method that does not use a board. This usually when you are laminating without kraft, and you do not have a long enough leader to web up. Put the printed job on the lower roll and pass through the machine until it just to the back of the machine. Now pass the lam with the liner on it to 1" from the end of the vinyl. pull both pieces until they are taught.Now drop the rollers down to hold it in place. Fold the laminate release liner back to expose about 1" of adhesive. Make sure the fold is hard and crisp. Now reverse the lamnator slowly until the release liner can be reached from the front. Do not go too far, you don't want to have to start over. Tape the release liner up and take up all of the slack created. Now you can start the laminating process. This method usually stays really straight but it takes a little longer to do.

Good luck to all. Remember "A cheap laminator is like a water based printer. Cheaper to buy and a lot more to run."

 

[chopper]

I don't know why all of you use a sled, craft paper etc...
I web the machine pull the lam around the top roll set the rollers to zero,
then depress the feed pedal, check to see if it is feeding straight, ( look for wrinkles) adjust feed presure accordingly I run the laminator with as little pull pressure as possible then I feed the print into the machine and wa-la laminated prints, no sled no craft paper no fuss no muss, and I have not had a damaged print this way for years, can you tell me what the purpose is of using craft paper? the sled I can see to feed the print through the machine, but I find it more of a pain to use it then it is worth...
//chopper

 

[CheapVehicleWrap]

I don't know why all of you use a sled, craft paper etc...
I web the machine pull the lam around the top roll set the rollers to zero,
then depress the feed pedal, check to see if it is feeding straight, ( look for wrinkles) adjust feed presure accordingly I run the laminator with as little pull pressure as possible then I feed the print into the machine and wa-la laminated prints, no sled no craft paper no fuss no muss, and I have not had a damaged print this way for years, can you tell me what the purpose is of using craft paper? the sled I can see to feed the print through the machine, but I find it more of a pain to use it then it is worth...
//chopper

At the take-up reel, does your lam match your vinyl 100% and not "screw-up" the roll by adhering to itself?

 

[chopper]

I do not always get 100% match up but it is not off enough to cause any problems maybe a 1/32 to 1/16 inch, but that is not going roll to roll I manly do smaller work say 8-10-20-40 ft long stuff.
//chopper