us tech laminator

[ironchef]

I am thinking about the end. How its attached to the unlaminated roll with tape. I don't want to have to pause at the end while still on the print. I'm thinking have an employee there to quickly rip off the tape carefully lol

 

[Salmoneye]

I pause mine and it never leaves a mark or shows.

 

[Scott Reynolds]

I pause mine and it never leaves a mark or shows.

Mine always left marks..

I am thinking about the end. How its attached to the unlaminated roll with tape. I don't want to have to pause at the end while still on the print. I'm thinking have an employee there to quickly rip off the tape carefully lol

Can I ask why your wanting to do the roll to roll thing with two panels? I just run them through. Dont have to make it harder than it need to be.

Have you used it for any long prints yet?

 

[ironchef]

This is my longest job yet. I just got the printer a month ago and the laminator a week ago. So i want to try the roll to roll feature. Plus the jobs are on rolls from when i printed them and they got rolled up on my printers take up reel. I left them out gassing like that over night. Hope all is well in the morning. Ive seen other people do this so i don't think ill have a problem.

 

[Scott Reynolds]

Im going to keep my fingers crossed for ya, good luck.

OH ya, did you loosen the print on the roll and sand it up so air can pass through tonight?

 

[ironchef]

Lol i did but only the beginning. I didn't want to loosen it up too much as it might get crooked and move on me during lam...ill find out soon tho. Oh and on top of that the client waived the 24 hr out gas period. I advised him to wait another day. But no. So I'm going to make him sign a waiver so I'm not responsible.

 

[ironchef]

I finished printing at 5pm yesterday. And he wants it by 1pm.... oh and i did stand it up i am afraid tho now that you mention it. That take up reel rolled the media up nice and tight. How do you guys out gas when its rolled up? So the media wont get dirty at the same time. Im thinking of building a rack to hold rolls of media. Any ideas?

 

[Scott Reynolds]

Set up a video camera so you can post it on you tube. Good luck.

 

[ironchef]

Doh! Sorry guys. I was swamped today. Printing two banners plus laminating 2 20 ft rolls. I gotta say the us tech worked awesome... the first roll came out awesome. I didnt waste media. I just used the sled method to start it. Cut the sled out from the back. Kept feeding in scraps and laminating until it got to the take up reel. Only like 2 ft of stuff... then i put the roll on and did it with the foot control. Also i went to bjs yesterday and bought a swiffer. The dust thingie. So first roll came out awesome. Nothing moved on me...second roll tho. Like halfway it started moving. I noticed the roll was wound up kinda weird. I think it was the take up reel from my mimaki... anywho. I quickly loosed that reel. Gave it slack and kept giving it slack as laminating. The second roll i did auto. No foot control. But very slow. And i had an employee do the dust thing. While i kept an eye on it from both sides. Thank God it worked. My lam is exactly 54in. And at the end. It was close. But still had a quarter inch of lam and unprinted media so all of the printed area was laminated.

 

[ironchef]

I thought i was going to reprint a panel but i guess the installer fixed the problem... next time ill be sure to make a video

 

[ironchef]

Hello everyone... here is a link to my you tube videos. Check them out.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UaWe9uyLh4M&feature=youtube_gdata_player

 

[ironchef]

good afternoon everyone. Ill be reprinting the same job again. The installer messed it up in the end. So ill be making more youtube videos. Anyone seen my link so far?

 

[Scott Reynolds]

good afternoon everyone. Ill be reprinting the same job again. The installer messed it up in the end. So ill be making more youtube videos. Anyone seen my link so far?

Yep, 4 videos of you loading your lam wasn't exactly what I was thinking your going to post. Maybe a time lapse video of panels going though would be cool. Maybe some Benny Hill music in the video? Just kidding...

The first run you barely finished the run before the lam ran over onto your print. What changes are you going to do this time to help prevent that from happening?

 

[ironchef]

That's a good question scott. I haven't started printing yet.so hopefully you give me some pointers lol.... ill be sure to record the videos of the panels being laminated while i use my swiffer lol. And about the lam barely covering the print at the end... i think that was from my mimaki printers take up reel. Ill just try and be more precise when i attach it. Also, my tension knob is at its lowest strength. And i still find myself manually giving it slack. Any suggestions?

 

[ironchef]

Here is a pik ....

 

[Scott Reynolds]

Also, my tension knob is at its lowest strength. And i still find myself manually giving it slack. Any suggestions?

What? Giving slack on what?

 

[ironchef]

The reel that i put the unlaminated roll on... maybe i need to grease it. Even at the loose setting. It still kinda pulls the vinyl. And its causing it to go off center. Or maybe its not that. Maybe its just that my printers take up reel didn't roll it up straight. And maybe that's causing it to move while laminating? I started printing at four. And i paid more attention to the take up reel. And i noticed its not rolling up totally on point its like 1/16 " off

 

[ironchef]

Coming out nice. On the printers take up reel

 

[jkdbjj]

Here is my only question for the OP. Is there any silvering on prints?
My concern is not having a laminator without at least heat assist. However the heat assist is a couple grand more. I am about to pull the trigger on one myself, and am having this internal debate.

Anyone have any feedback on this concern?

 

[Scott Reynolds]

With a cold laminator, your going to get a little silvering sometimes depending how fast you run the laminator. But it goes away on its own, so a laminator with heat assist isn't really worth the extra money. IMO