-
HELP – Creasing occours when laminating white vinyl
Hello All
Im new to the forum so please be gentle.
It says it all in the subject really and that is from yesterday me and my colleagues have experienced creasing in the vinyl we use when laminating in gloss with the roll laminator.
Matt gloss seems to be fine so what’s going wrong? as the settings have not been changed and our company has had the laminator for a few years now with no problems.
We have been using:
Avery mpi200 white calendered polymeric PVC vinyl.
Avery gloss laminate
GMP Ecelam 1400 cold laminatorThe only variable I can think of which has changed is the sudden heatwave us in the UK are experiencing has occurred at the same time of this problem. But that surely cant be it as you guys who have a better climate than us here in the uk seem to manage ok.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Regards
Matt
-
4 Replies
-
Higher humdity will change the characteristics of the glue, so I wouldn’t totally discount it.
Is the gloss and matt both calendared, or is one cast and the other not? I’m assuming that both are laminates? and not just clear vinyl?
I’ll give it more thought, but others here may have a better idea.
Welcome to the uksb’s community too…..
Cheers
-
Cheers Shane
We actually use the clear vinyl for laminating our vinyl prints which is:
MPI2040 Avery Transparent Permanent Vinyl (reverse wound) Found at: http://www.spandex.co.uk/en/Avery_MPI20 … anent.html
and then the vinyl we are laminating onto is as mentioned before
MPI2000 White Vinyl Found at:
http://www.spandex.co.uk/en/Avery_MPI20 … anent.htmlThanks Again
-
Hiya Matthew,
Shane’s on the right track, but several things can cause the problems you’re having. Heat and humidity rank high on the list. The other issues could be the media/laminate, the laminator, or operator error.
Temperature and humidity changes can not only affect the adhesive, it can also affect the way the media and liner interact, plus it can affect your color consistency too. A carefully regulated, climate controlled environment normally eliminates these problems. A tightly wound roll of media can adsorb heat and moisture on the edge of the roll causing it to expand or contract at a different rate than the middle. This can create a “wave” or “belly” in the material that will cause it to not lie flat, and wrinkle when you’re laminating. If the media is not perfectly aligned when laminating, the slightest imperfections become visible and amplified. Also, if you’re printing graphics with a lot of ink coverage or the graphic is over saturated the same can happen too. Be sure to check your printer settings, but, normally, letting the graphic cure for 24 hours eliminates this issue.
Another issue I’ve run into is a bad roll of media. I’m not quite sure what causes it, but during the manufacturing process, something goes awry and no matter how hard you try the laminate would not work correctly. One time my supplier blamed it on the way that the media was wound and slit. So, I would assume that if the core upon which the media is wound is not within tolerance, it could cause issues too.
Check your laminator. Most laminators need to be adjusted or “tuned up” every few to several years depending on how often and how hard they’re used. Check to see if there are any unusual gaps in the rollers when they are making contact. You can use several strips of paper could be positioned across the rollers, then apply pressure. If you can pull the paper out in one area but not another, you may have flat spots on the rollers. Be sure to test this with the rollers in several different positions. Under normal circumstances, you should be able to lower the rollers until they barely make contact but you should notice a slight gap in the middle as long as there’s no pressure being applied.
Finally, operator error can be caused by slight formulation changes or differences in material lot numbers in the materials you’re using. Although the material may be within the manufacturers specs, the settings that worked on your last roll of material may not work on the new roll.Good luck,
Checkers
a.k.a. Brian Born
Harrisburg, PA USA -
Thanks Brian, excellent explanation….
…. only thing I’ll add is that clear vinyl, as opposed to laminate, has less tolerances when it comes to laying over another vinyl.
The ink coverage is the first criteria. It must be totally cured, and higher humidity will extend the curing time. This is not as critical with laminate glue, because of its specs in manufacture.
The other is that the glues on laminates are less aggressive, and get more aggressive over time. Clear vinyl however, is more aggressive quicker. This effectively gives you a smaller window without it screwing up.
Hope that helps anyway.
Log in to reply.