US Tech Laminator (Pro 65 C): Ebay Special

[BALLPARK]

Noticed that E-Bay had a nice special on the new US Tech Pro 65 C laminator. Looks like free shipping and this is the new version of the Pro 65 C.

It appears to have done away with the crank wheel used to lower / raise the roller. It is now using automated buttons on top of the laminator to lower/raise the main roller.

Pulled the trigger on it over a Royal Sovereign. I have heard many good things about the Pro C series and the price is a fraction of the cost of similar units. I'm sure it will have some getting used to as any laminator does, but I feel confident that this is a good purchase. I think Royal Sovereign makes a good unit and have a lot of experience with them. But for the price with a 3-year Warranty this was to hard to pass up.

I will update the post next week once we receive the unit and laminate some wraps with it.

Here is a link to the special they have running right now.
Click Here

Has anyone purchased the new version of the laminator? I know there are a few Pro C version owners here on the site.

 

[ironchef]

I have i guess the older version with the wheel at the right under the control panel, to lower and raise. Its been good to me, ive noticed if you use the take up reel, you gotta go real slow or else it wont wind up the material, besides that, it works great, it does make the lamination run off to the left slightly during long runs, only about an inch or so. That might be user error tho.

 

[mnapuran]

Here's the other one - http://www.ebay.com/itm/65-Master-W...854?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item27d79e625e

 

[BALLPARK]

That is a good option as well.

They are charging for shipping on that unit and the total price comes to about $4,200. But it does have the heat assist option.
I looked at that unit but wanted to try the one w/o the crank wheel.

 

[toomeycustoms]

I purchased a 65 PRO C around 2 weeks ago for the same price by calling them. They had a "Special" and it came out to $3899 with shipping. It looks similar to the picture on the ebay auction, only difference is ours have a darker green rollers instead of the grey rollers. Laminator works great. My only complaint is loading the material is difficult with one person especially a fresh 54" roll of laminate. I've used Seal's and Orca's before and like they say, you get what you pay for, but the PRO C should suffice.

 

[BALLPARK]

Got the laminator in on Wednesday. The packaging was nice and secure as the laminator had a thread and nut bolt system on each side of the legs to hold it into place to the create/wooden frame. We unpacked the laminator and moved it into place.

The new automated lower/raise button is nice and easy to use. The unit has a measuring system on the inside edges of both sides. So you can see if the rollers are level on each side and determine the height you want for the laminating process.

I notice that one side was about an 1/8" - 1/16" of an inch off from the other side. I loaded the laminate and ran a 3 foot scrap through the machine. Just as I thought the left side was perfect and the right side of the scrap piece was bubbly and the print would have been wasted.

I looked in the owners manual and read about how sometimes the shipping process can cause the rollers to be misaligned. I don't know if the shipping made it like this or if it left the factory this way. But either way it was easy to fix. I opened each of the side panels and calibrated the right side to match the left side. They had painted blue strips on the nutbolts to help know the starting point. This was a big help right off the bat when trying to figure out how much to lower the right side of the roller.

I then attached the side panels back on and prepped the unit to laminate. I ran (3) 90" panels through and it came out looking great. I kept the speed down as I had only guessed on the tension settings for the laminate roll and backing take-up. I did not want to risk using the lower core bars to hold the new prints as I was afraid the wrong tension could cause an error. So I put the vinyl prints on the floor in a very loose roll and started to print. The tracking was much better than I thought it would be based on the price of the unit. The first panel got off a bit (1/8" - 1/4") as I did not load it properly. The second and third panels barley even moved off of the starting point on the edges. I was impressed that it was performing so well at this point.

All in all... If this unit can just keep performing like it is right now then we will have saved thousands of dollars when compared to the price of similar Seal units.

I am very happy with the purchase at this point and looking forward to working with the machine. I will post any issues that may arise in the near future. I was on the fence on buying this unit or a used Seal or Royal, but as of now there is no way I would not suggest to purchase this laminator.

Bottom line... I would suggest this unit as an affordable option that has a lot of great features!

...

If you have this unit or a similar unit (hand crank) to lower the roller on the Pro series then please post any issues that I may want to look out for in the future.

 

[ironchef]

Picture please

 

[ASM Graphics]

Where did you get the user manual for this machine? Ours didn't come with much of anything and we're having a little bit of an issue that I'm waiting for Dave to respond to me about. but, I'd like to further look in to the roller alignment issue you speak of.

Thank you Denise

The new automated lower/raise button is nice and easy to use. The unit has a measuring system on the inside edges of both sides. So you can see if the rollers are level on each side and determine the height you want for the laminating process.

I notice that one side was about an 1/8" - 1/16" of an inch off from the other side. I loaded the laminate and ran a 3 foot scrap through the machine. Just as I thought the left side was perfect and the right side of the scrap piece was bubbly and the print would have been wasted.

I looked in the owners manual and read about how sometimes the shipping process can cause the rollers to be misaligned. I don't know if the shipping made it like this or if it left the factory this way. But either way it was easy to fix. I opened each of the side panels and calibrated the right side to match the left side. They had painted blue strips on the nutbolts to help know the starting point. This was a big help right off the bat when trying to figure out how much to lower the right side of the roller.

I then attached the side panels back on and prepped the unit to laminate. I ran (3) 90" panels through and it came out looking great. I kept the speed down as I had only guessed on the tension settings for the laminate roll and backing take-up. I did not want to risk using the lower core bars to hold the new prints as I was afraid the wrong tension could cause an error. So I put the vinyl prints on the floor in a very loose roll and started to print. The tracking was much better than I thought it would be based on the price of the unit. The first panel got off a bit (1/8" - 1/4") as I did not load it properly. The second and third panels barley even moved off of the starting point on the edges. I was impressed that it was performing so well at this point.
...

If you have this unit or a similar unit (hand crank) to lower the roller on the Pro series then please post any issues that I may want to look out for in the future.

 

[BALLPARK]

Where did you get the user manual for this machine? Ours didn't come with much of anything and we're having a little bit of an issue that I'm waiting for Dave to respond to me about. but, I'd like to further look in to the roller alignment issue you speak of.

Thank you Denise

Our unit came with a green folder with the info.

I removed the side metal sheeting on each side. Then adjusted the jam nut on the roller attachment arm until I could not see any light on either side. It took about 5-10 minutes and it has worked great ever since.

I have laminated several full rolls of media on this machine. I never thought it would be this good for the price. But I am a fan of this company for sure. I love our laminator and the only regret is not spending a few extra dollars to get the heated version.

 

[BALLPARK]

Picture please

Great machine, great value...

I mainly laminate everything using cores. I will unroll the core and roll it up again to help do long runs. When the prints on the core are nice and level on the edges it will barely even go off after Many Feet.