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Banner Heat Welding

Posted by Brad Mulock on 6 May 2009 at 06:07

Hi All,

We print our own banners and up to now have manually hemmed the sides using a sewing machine before eyeleting.

Anything too large for our machine is outsourced. The banner that comes back is much better finished than ours 🙁 The heat welded seams look neater and probably last longer than our sewn edges,.

Can anyone tell me more about heat welding the edges, does anyone do it in house and if so what do you use and where did you buy it from?

Many thanks

Brad

Martin Oxenham replied 16 years, 7 months ago 8 Members · 17 Replies
17 Replies

Kevin Flowers

Member
6 May 2009 at 08:11

Brad
do you know if they are Thermal or Ultrasonically welded. The ultrasonic is mega expensive but gives a very nice finish. Thermal you can get manual, semi automatic & fully automatic look up Leister should get you going.

http://www.leister.co.uk/leister_heat_g … -5732.html

Kev
Brad Mulock

Member
6 May 2009 at 11:20

Not sure about the way in which our suppliers do theirs. It’s very neat thought and lasts forever.

I actually found the site your linked too a little after posting on here.

thanks

Brad
Unknown Member

Member
6 May 2009 at 14:02

I saw this banner welder at the sign uk show this year on the signmaster systems stand…. The system works a treat but Im not to sure how much better it is then the 300 quid version you can get from china.

Now im the first to say dont bother with chinese equipment but how much technical knowledge do actually to manufacturer a extra hot heat gun on rollers.

£1844 seems way pricey to me so Im not bothering with it.

Whats everyone else think?
Robert Lambie

Member
6 May 2009 at 15:12

I have had the leister hot air banner one now for about 4 years.
great machines and do the job very well… but i do agree that i think they are over priced. i also think the H&S should be having a closer look at them because they arent the best machine to handle/work with without burning yourself. not saying they are a danger or anything like that, just if not careful when operating you could give yourself "or the staff" a nasty burn. and its you they will come back to.
Brad Mulock

Member
6 May 2009 at 20:12

I actually just found one of the Chinese options on ebay. Must admit, didn’t seem any different from the leister one.

I don’t fancy paying nearly 2k for one so i think for the time being it will be the chinese model on a suck it and see basis.

I guess my other option is to but the double sided banner hem tape but i can’t help thinking that this will fail when left out in the open for any extended periods.

Thanks for your feedback.
Andrew Blackett

Member
6 May 2009 at 20:40

We use the banner tape and its cracking. I’ve tried a few but my preferred one is Orabond 1395 from Oracal – its about £3.75 for a 25m roll but it sticks really well.

I’ve not had any reports of a banner failing yet, and I’d like to think that my clients would tell me if one had failed. Worth getting a roll in to give it a whirl, its rated as a general outdoor double sided tape so its handy to have in the toolbox.

We were thinking of sewing ours but I much prefer using the tape as you dont get any stitching through the artwork, I’d be interested in seeing how you get on with the chinese one. I’ve dealt with the guy on ebay (wang – strong signs) and he’s a good lad, we got our laminator from him. English isnt his strong point but you’ll get there 😉

Andy
Martin Oxenham

Member
7 May 2009 at 08:46

I posted a question about these Chinese welders twice before and it was deleted.
There’s a link on another British forum for sewing machines and one is highly recommended and it only costs about £125. Will try and find it.
The only thing against tape is that the edge seems to tunel when rolled.
At the moment we use Power Tape from Jag, its like a strip of thick pvc thats adhesive and to just stick it to the back, Works really well with no tunneling or creasing. But it does tend to make the banner more rigid.
Robert Lambie

Member
7 May 2009 at 09:04

hi martin
just did a check for you based on your comment on your posts being deleted mate.

one of your post replies is still here:
http://www.uksignboards.com/viewtopic.p … ht=welders

the second one "was" deleted as it was a "new topic started" relating to specific ebay sale. so i guess a mod has picked up on this and binned it due to ebay posts as such not being allowed.

just thought ide explain… hope this helps mate 😀
Kevin Flowers

Member
7 May 2009 at 09:23

Hi
the main difference that i can see between the Leister design & the Chinese design is that you can not adjust the air flow on the Chinese models. This doesn’t mean that they are not capable of the same job just that they are not as adjustable if you have problems welding a particular material.

Kev
Gavin MacMillan

Member
7 May 2009 at 09:38

I would be interested in a wee look at the chinese versions, any feedback on anyone using one would be much appreciated.

G
Dan Osterbery

Member
7 May 2009 at 12:00

i’m in for a group buy, if anyone wants to club together to get a chinese machine! I will sort transport from uk to spain!!

I too use Jag’s banner tape and fell in love with its ease and looks and no tunnelling but someone has just bought back a banner we did 5 months ago and the edges have tunnelled and have loads of ridges!

regards

Dan

Andy where do you get the orobond from?? It is a double sided tape that allows you to fold the banner onto it??
Andrew Blackett

Member
8 May 2009 at 13:59

Orabond 1395 is from Europoint mate, but I’d imagine most oracal suppliers should be able to get it.

It’s great as far as durability goes but it does make the banner "pucker" a little when rolled up.

Andy
Andrew Blackett

Member
8 May 2009 at 21:17

quote Martin Oxenham:

There’s a link on another British forum for sewing machines and one is highly recommended and it only costs about £125. Will try and find it

Good Evening Martin,

Did you have any joy finding the sewing machine option?

Andy
Robert Lambie

Member
8 May 2009 at 21:35

9/10 banner hems we do using a good tape like the one andrew has suggested. we have just switched some months ago from the oracal one to a new one. more on that soon on UKSB along with other quality bonding tapes.
if you use a reputable tape on a hem properly it will last for ages… i mean that. like all things similar you must roll the banner round a core and face facing out.
we also have the banner welder but i only use that for banner welding as in big banners needing joins or something.

if the Chinese makes dont have air flow and other options i dont think ide go for it. i mean that… all banners dont just weld the same. different makes need heaver blow pressure, travel speed of the machine and the like. little tweaks really improve the weld and having a machine on the one setting could mean wasting a full roll of banner if the settings aren’t strong enough or weak enough because you cant weld cheap plastic banners they just buckle and warp with the heat even at the fastest travel speed. slow down the air too much and it doesnt weld….

hope that made sense as im typing fast coz i have a drink just arrived and been working late. :lol1:
Andrew Blackett

Member
8 May 2009 at 21:43

quote Robert Lambie:

9/10 banner hems we do using a good tape like the one andrew has suggested. we have just switched some months ago from the oracal one to a new one. more on that soon on UKSB along with other quality bonding tapes.

Hang on a minute, I’ve got a third person to add to my list of people that call me Andrew…. so thats Rob, my other half (and she only does that cos she reckons Andy and Mandy sounds daft :wink:), and my mam!

You cant just tempt us by saying you’ve switched to a new tape and leave it at that buddy, it’s just not fair!! I’m guessing its pretty keen on price compared to the orabond?

Done a bit of browsing on the chinese ones, they dont have a hemming foot (for want of a better description) and look better for joining two banners to make one huge one. The other option I was looking at is called the banner cyclone, an american machine that tapes automatically, a snip at $4000 😮

Sewing option – theres a few machines out there for keen prices but I still hate the thought of designing a cool banner then ramming a line of thread through it, or worse ramming a wonky line of thread through it!

Andy
Robert Lambie

Member
8 May 2009 at 21:50

quote Andy Blackett:

Hang on a minute, I’ve got a third person to add to my list of people that call me Andrew…. so thats Rob, my other half (and she only does that cos she reckons Andy and Mandy sounds daft :wink:), and my mam!

:lol1: :lol1: :lol1: :lol1:

yeh the cyclone ive seen and looks a real nifty bit of kit for tapping if your doing a ton of them week in week out but agree with you on the price tag.
as i said, the liester is expensive as it is but at least you dont have to buy the tape as it uses only hot air so no glue, adhesives which do add up quick if you do allot of banners.

see this previous thread for video, you will need quicktime
http://www.uksignboards.com/viewtopic.p … ht=cyclone

the switch was based on a supplier of all these types of tapes that have just confirmed a deal with UKSG and will be announced soon. the oracal is very good and well priced i must admit. but these guys offer the full range on d/sided tapes…
Martin Oxenham

Member
9 May 2009 at 07:53

Andy…The model is A JSM PF500-1