Why is my laminate buckling?

[signmeup]

I'm having problems with laminates buckling. I'm pretty sure it's caused by humidity. As soon as I roll out the laminate to cut it to size it begins to buckle. Then it becomes impossible to apply it to the non buckled print.

I'm posting to make sure there is nothing I am missing here. Is my problem truly caused by humidity? Why do I never see the print media buckle? This does not happen with an isolated laminate... it happens with all the laminates I have except those with plastic liners. I hate plastic liners. I've never seem a print media do it.

I have cranked up my dehumidifier and will wait until the level drops. The gauge reads 40% at the moment but I doubt that is accurate.

Any sage advice, words of comfort, new info I haven't considered, cash donations... will be gratefully accepted.

Adrian

 

[Gino]

Is this on an actual laminator or are you doing this with a Big Squeegee or some other method ??

 

[signmeup]

Gino! How are ya buddy!? I am using a cheap Chinese laminator. Cold. It's just 2 big rubber rollers and a motor. The laminate doesn't need to be near it for the buckling problem I'm describing. The laminate gets wavy as soon as I unroll it.

Adrian

 

[gabagoo]

when you say buckling are you talking about tunneling?

 

[signmeup]

It goes wavy. I just went out to the shop to take a picture and the darned stuff is laying flat as a pancake. The dehumidifier has dropped the humidity down to 32% and all is well. I found a picture of something wavy online. It gets worse than this. Problem solved I guess.

I still don't get why the print media is immune to this. It would appear that the paper backing gets bigger from humidity and palstic laminate does not so something's gotta give and it goes wavy... but in all directions. I called it "buckled" for lack of a better name.

Adrian

 

[Johnny Best]

My 5mm polycarbonite laminate will buckle but after running it through the laminator it's fine. Why do you worry about the buckling. If it separates from the material you are laminating to I would understand the worry. Why is it so humid in Canada. I could understand if you were in Florida or Barbados.

 

[signmeup]

The laminate was getting all wavy and when I tried to apply it to print the waves would fold and wrinkle making a mess of the print. The laminate was going into a compound curve so the middle was bigger than the edges. This is Arlon 2mil laminating film, not 5mm polycarbonite countertop laminate.

I do not know why there is humidity in Canada. I am willing the bet that where ever they make Arlon films has a lower humidity than Nova Scotia.(We stick out into the Atlantic ocean)

Adrian

 

[Garama]

Are you laminating your prints by hand or something? Are you using a cold roll laminator? Laminate your print with the laminate roll loaded onto the machine...

 

[signmeup]

Chinese cold roll laminator. I cut a sheet of laminate the size of the graphic and then laminate the 2 using the power feed. I don't have anywhere to put the roll on the machine... or else I don't understand the procedure. I'll look for a picture of my machine.

Adrian

 

[GaSouthpaw]

I'm guessing it's the paper that's buckling. Maybe tack one end to a table nice and flat and hold taught.
Of course, running through the laminator is a different story. I always tried to get it nice and flat on my media, then making sure the feed roll was squared and the "nuts" that held the laminate tight to keep plenty of tension in it. That usually made things work fine even when there were questionable areas on the roll.

 

[ddarlak]

I have had this happen to me quite a bit, it is humidity, it only happens to me when its hot and sticky out...good ole' 100% humidity daze...gotta lov em....it's only 92% today!

 

[equippaint]

Try feeding the buckled part past the roller before you peel the backing off.. We lam individual with a crank which is the same way. Our lam sits in the shop with the first foot or so being all wavy from humidity too. It helps when you're done with the roll to put some rubber bands around it and store it upright. When the cut ends just flops around it picks up a lot more moisture. The buckling is just the paper and shouldn't cause any issues.

 

[signmeup]

Try feeding the buckled part past the roller before you peel the backing off.. We lam individual with a crank which is the same way. Our lam sits in the shop with the first foot or so being all wavy from humidity too. It helps when you're done with the roll to put some rubber bands around it and store it upright. When the cut ends just flops around it picks up a lot more moisture. The buckling is just the paper and shouldn't cause any issues.

The entire sheet buckles when I roll a piece of lam out. It appears the cure is to run the dehumidifier. I could also turn up the heat as warmer air holds more moisture and lowers the effective humidity.

Adrian

 

[Christian @ 2CT Media]

Its the uncoated paper liner arlon uses, we have almost no humidity most of the year in the desert but when the monsoons come that happens a lot. We have a normal laminator so it doesn't effect us much though.

 

[signmeup]

Its the uncoated paper liner arlon uses, we have almost no humidity most of the year in the desert but when the monsoons come that happens a lot. We have a normal laminator so it doesn't effect us much though.

Great. I tried the Arlon lam to replace General Formulation lam. It buckles like crazy. Now I find out Arlon has an uncoated liner too. At least I have a reason now for the print media not buckling. Maybe I should stick to plastic liner.

Adrian

 

[WB]

Why is the laminate not useable when it buckles? Its the release liner causing the buckle once you separately the lam from the liner the lam will lay flat. If you laminating smaller pieces using cut piece of laminate and not webbing the machine this is the way I would do it.
Leave a few extra inches on the front of your print cut the laminate slightly larger then you print leaving an inch or 2 at the beginning. Use masking tape to create a hinge on the front edge. Start you material through the laminator making sure its nice and flat. stop just before the point when the lam is tape to the he print. fold the hehe laminate up over you take up roll peel the hehe laminate he liner off about 6" with 1 hand keep even pressure on the laminate hanging over the roll and the other hand to pill up the hehe laminate hehe liner as it goes in. keep the liner about 5" from the print.

I use the same process for mounting prints to boards.

 

[nickgreyink]

We used to have a laminator like that and recently sold it.

What we did was wipe the print off (for dust), lay the laminate over the print. Laminate side up.
Then we took a long piece of something flat and heavy enough to make the laminate go flat (for us it was a long ruler) and laid it down about 2-3 inches from the edge of the laminate, where the laminate meets the print tag end.
Then take some tape and put half the tape on the laminate half on the print (make sure the laminate does not buckle under the tape with your thumb).
If the metal piece doesn't go all the way across the print you may have to move it as you go. Just make sure the laminate is flat when you lay it back down.

Make sure the roller is level. Unfortunately, I can't say how to do this as there was already marks on the laminator to show where it was level when I got to the company. Maybe someone can help with this as it is very crucial?

Run the print tag end lined up and straight under the laminator. Stop right before the tape line goes under.
Flip the laminate over the top roller so you can reach the edge of the laminate backer that is under the tape.
Start to peal the backer off until you have a good grip to hold when you send the laminate through. Make sure you leave about 4-5 inches max where the laminate leaves the backer before the laminate touches the print. Maybe closer depending on conditions.
Run the print and laminate through the laminator. Keep pulling the backer off to the point where the laminate only leaves the backer about 4-5 inches (or closer) before the laminate touches the print and DO NOT STOP (you WILL get bubbles).
You may want to run it through slowly.

Hope this isn't too long winded and helps.

 

[equippaint]

Here is a good video of the process. I was thinking you may have uneven pressure or too much pressure. If we crank it way down it screws us up. We dont use it that much so I grab someone to pull off the backing while I crank it and keep the print from hitting the floor.
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