What do you use to dust off prints?

[Tony Rome]

What do you guys have the best luck with getting dust, hair, etc off prints before you laminate.
Sometimes mine are great and then often enough I find a hair or dust caught under laminate.

OK so I have tried a few things...
Fabric Softener Sheet (feel that leaves something gritty on media, is there a particular kind)
Swifter Duster (I like this but once it gets hair or dust on it I feel it drops it later)
Microfiber towel (Don't use this a lot but leaning this way)

What do you use, and do you have a particular method?

Thanks!

 

[Nickprints]

microfiber cloth on a swifter

 

[rjssigns]

I've been using a Swiffer duster with no issues. Before that it was Crystal tack cloths from the local auto body supply. No matter what you do there will still be that single tiny bit of something that shows up from time to time.
Last print I lam'ed had an eyelash in it. You'd need a magnifying glass to see it, but it's still irritating.

 

[Tatonka]

Gerson tack cloths from the body shop. We use them in our paint shop, so there's always a plentiful supply of them. They seem to do a pretty good job of getting almost everything out. I wipe them across right in front of the rollers as I'm running material through.

 

[eahicks]

https://www.fellers.com/fellers-sho...nd-supplies/set/one-pass-dust-removal-rollers

We have two of these, one is the smaller version. Indispensable.

 

[White Haus]

Paper towel lightly misted with Rapid Tac. NOT wet or even damp - just a quick spritz so that it's not "dusty", but inevitably a little fiber or dust will make it's way in there....

I also keep the humidity high and turn fans off when laminating.

 

[equippaint]

Gerson tack cloths from the body shop. We use them in our paint shop, so there's always a plentiful supply of them. They seem to do a pretty good job of getting almost everything out. I wipe them across right in front of the rollers as I'm running material through.

Same here, they work well.

 

[gabagoo]

The swiffers work well, you just have to change them out as they static charge seems to diminish over time

 

[Asuma01]

We also use swiffers. Nothing else works better.

 

[IV]

We also use what eahicks is using to clean off dust. We have used swifters but if the swifter catches an edge of something sharp, bits of the swifter will fall off onto what you are laminating (defeats the purpose). After using the silicone roller, we then use a high powered LED flashlight on the horizontal to identify any small particles, etc. that were not removed. The horizontal angle casts a large shadow onto the substrate so you can identify and remove. After that....laminate away!

By the way....be careful of static on the table/substrate. We have found though your cleaned substrate is ready to laminate, particles can hop off the table that are next to the substrate onto what you just so carefully cleaned. We often times run the lint roller over the table/mat to pick up dust/fragments that may come into play via static electricity as the material moves while laminating....​

 

[bannertime]

https://www.fellers.com/fellers-sho...nd-supplies/set/one-pass-dust-removal-rollers

$185? WTF? Is it not just a static roller with sticky pads?

 

[2B]

we have several of these.
https://www.griotsgarage.com/product/microfiber+car+duster.do?sortby=ourPicks&from=fn

they have case to keep them cleaner between using

 

[Cory Marcin]

Micro fiber rags.
IV brings up a great point about static.
No matter how much you clean and dust the surface, static can still pull up debri from the most unlikely spots.
Good luck!

 

[Tony Rome]

Thanks for all the replies.
So for the Swiffers, approximately how often do you change them out?
Lets say I was doing a box truck 6 full panels on each side (50"x90") would one Swiffer do the whole job, much more, less?

Tack cloth, seriously, maybe I don't know what that is but the last one I bought there is not a chance in the world I would touch it to an unlaminated surface, what am I missing?

The Fellers thing, interesting (and expensive) but if it does the job it may be worth it, does that have a tacky surface?

Thanks look forward to responses, have a great weekend!

 

[Tatonka]

Thanks for all the replies.
So for the Swiffers, approximately how often do you change them out?
Lets say I was doing a box truck 6 full panels on each side (50"x90") would one Swiffer do the whole job, much more, less?

Tack cloth, seriously, maybe I don't know what that is but the last one I bought there is not a chance in the world I would touch it to an unlaminated surface, what am I missing?

The Fellers thing, interesting (and expensive) but if it does the job it may be worth it, does that have a tacky surface?

Thanks look forward to responses, have a great weekend!

If the ink is dry enough to laminate, it's dry enough to wipe a tack cloth over. They're not abrasive at all.

 

[Big Rice Field]

It is a shame Class 1 cleanrooms are not affordable in the sign industry for lamination. That would solve the problem neatly.

 

[rjssigns]

Thanks for all the replies.
So for the Swiffers, approximately how often do you change them out?
Lets say I was doing a box truck 6 full panels on each side (50"x90") would one Swiffer do the whole job, much more, less?

Tack cloth, seriously, maybe I don't know what that is but the last one I bought there is not a chance in the world I would touch it to an unlaminated surface, what am I missing?

The Fellers thing, interesting (and expensive) but if it does the job it may be worth it, does that have a tacky surface?

Thanks look forward to responses, have a great weekend!

One Swiffer would be fine for the box truck panels. I use mine until I see flecks of dirt or they start to flatten out a tiny bit. For mission critical work I grab a new one.

 

[ColorCrest]

Decades ago these tools for professionals used to be supplied with the purchase of a good lamination machine. There were not “pads” to purchase at the time. The “pad” was simply a swatch of adhesive taped to a flat surface. This blue roller is about 15 years old now.

 

[SIGNTIME]

Swifers ftw we use one a week unless it gets dropped on the floor

 

[TimToad]

Swiffers, regularly replaced and most importantly wiping the laminator bed and uprights right before starting. We buy them for about $10 per 18 in a box and barely go through a couple per week.