Alternative lamination methods witout machine

[Elena kalispera]

Without being rude you have no chance it doing what you want the route your taking. I know a few people who have tried it to no avail.
Against you are;
Pigment ink
Hand laminating larger vinyl damn hard!!!!!
Media costs will be more expensive in long run

You could try it with a cheap £500 cold laminator sure they would work. Good luck mate

[Warren Beard]

I hand laminated for a long time with good results but you will have more waste, it will take more time to do (time is money) and you won’t be able to do anything larger than about 3′ wide if you are lucky and very careful.

When I finally decided to take the plunge to get a laminator it was the best more ever and will never be without one again, in fact at the moment I have 2 as my new 1400mm wide one arrived this week :dance2: so have a 1200 and a 1400 wide, both easymounts (cold)

I have decided to keep both so I have a dedicated application taper (I know probably the most expensive application tape dispenser ever :lol1: ) but it’s worth it.

It WILL save you time and money very quickly.

Cheers

Warren

[George Pucurull]

Thanks for advice Elena, I see what you’re saying but I need to earn some cash so I can buy a laminating machine.

Warren, you’re an inspiration! :thanks2: I have more time than money at the moment so I don’t mind working 12 – 14 hours a day to earn the necessary funds to reinvest in the more costly equipment.

[Peter Normington]

george,
we’ve all been there, but to make a decent profit you need proper kit, why spend lots of time to do something that others can do in minutes? thats what you are up against, utilise what you have to maximise the profit. dont attempt to compete with the companies that have the proper kit.
How it works is this,
the guy with the proper kit is already two steps ahead of you, and looking at investing in the next better machine, by the time you have invested all your time to catch up, you will still be two steps behind.

You can laminate wet, not sure if it works with coated media, but it is an option.

What is a substantial ammount on a pigment printer?
maybe you could have gone for a solvent printer for a similar price?

which would have been a better tool for the job.

good luck

Peter

[Elena kalispera]

your welcome. i would go for a cheap £300-800 cold laminATOR CHINESE ONE TO START WITH THEN

[Warren Beard]

quote Peter Normington:

george,
we’ve all been there, but to make a decent profit you need proper kit, why spend lots of time to do something that others can do in minutes? that’s what you are up against, utilise what you have to maximise the profit. don’t attempt to compete with the companies that have the proper kit.
How it works is this,
the guy with the proper kit is already two steps ahead of you, and looking at investing in the next better machine, by the time you have invested all your time to catch up, you will still be two steps behind.

You can laminate wet, not sure if it works with coated media, but it is an option.

What is a substantial amount on a pigment printer?
maybe you could have gone for a solvent printer for a similar price?

which would have been a better tool for the job.

good luck

Peter

I only half agree with you Peter, all points valid but when starting out (well for me anyway) I did have free time on my hands where I would rather be making some money than none. You can’t laminate pigment wet as it is not waterproof but even dry is not difficult to do by hand, it’s the same as flood coating vinyl, what’s difficult is when it’s too big to handle on your own or if you accidentally touch the print without squeegeeing it down the print is ruined and it’s not cheap printing with Pigment as the inks are expensive and so is the media (the printers themselves are "cheap" which makes it more affordable to start on)

I laminated by hand for about a year, hated every single time I did it but had to do what I could to supply and make money. Like I said I now have the equipment and would be able to live without it but we have to start somewhere and all we can do is advise from our experience and that is mine.

Wastes money
wastes time
very frustrating
very difficult
size limited

I don’t recommend it for a business decision but it can be done until funds allow and if anything like me the list above drove me to get it ASAP.

besides that I agree with you 100% 😉 :lol1:

[Warren Beard]

quote Elena kalispera:

your welcome. i would go for a cheap £300-800 cold laminATOR CHINESE ONE TO START WITH THEN

I agree if financially possible, you must be able to squeeze £300 out the credit card or something, laminating pigment prints is an absolute must, check the auction sites, other forums, call distributors as they might have old trade ins etc

Get one as soon as possible, you won’t look back.

I’m exhausted now :lol1: (I must sound like a laminator salesman)

cheers

Warren

[Bill McMurtry]

Before I bought my Ezy Taper I used to liquid laminate. Worked fine, although not as quick and easy. Can be applied with roller or sprayed.

[David McDonald]

Hi Mate

Why not buy one on finance / lease

Yes it costs more than if you have the straight cash to buy but if you haven’t got the cash then that’s a moot point anyway.

Will it pay for itself by (a) making you more productive to sell/make more signs (b) allow you to expand your product range and sell new items (c) save material waste etc. etc.etc.

If what is saves you plus what it earns you is greater than the monthly cost then its paying for itself??

Cheers
Macky

[Ezekiel Ikhinmiwn]

I’ve been laminating by hand for a good few months now and can vouch that it is a real hassle. It’s where I’m at for the mean time so I do what I can. I messed up a few A1 or A0 posters a few weeks back. 😮

It was a real issue because the posters used a lot of ink but hey…you live and you learn

Eze

[Philip Jeneway]

Hi we use liquid laminate for small jobs, works well & looks good, for bigger jobs we put the work out to another sign company, they do a great job for £10/m. Have a ring round get some quotes there’s a lot of helpful people out there.

[RayRosher]

How About some details on your printer setup IE inks printer substrate etc
This will give us a better Idea on were you are equipment wise,

Problems with pigment inks and outside usage are numerous,
OK Pigment Inks will regardless of what the manufacturer says,
Fade like hell in Bright sunlight,
If you use a good quality UV laminate And I mean! A Good quality laminate
Then you may get a year or so out of the print
This is provided your using a good quality Ink,
I know I spent a week or more researching this,
What I came up with is that Pigment inks are superb for indoor use, Although i would still laminate, Even for Indoors,
Substrate is another problem, I know Hexis do a vinyl for pigment ink and outdoor use but they insist that it must be UV laminated and it is for short term usage, best to talk to their technical dept,

Here’s what I would do in your boots, stick with the indoor jobs for your self, Then if you get any outdoor work, Do the art work and as much of the work IE finished fileas you can, Then find someone in your area who can do the outdoor printing and laminating for you,
I know this isn’t Ideal, and their wont be as much profit in it for you But at least this way it will take the burden off of you in the short term.

[Thomas Peachey]

I am in EXACTLY the same boat. i’ve been doing it by hand for years (sounds dirty i know). Its so much agro and i bet the amount of jobs i have messed up would come to the price of a laminator but its a bugger to find the money in one shot. I need one and don’t want to spend too much if anyones got one cheap i’ll take it off their hands! 🙄

[Martin Pearson]

Thomas what about saving for one, I know what you mean about finding the money in one shot and if you do start to save then something comes along and before you know it your back to square one but if you took out something like a savings bond say over 3 or 5 years you wouldn’t be able to touch the money and monthly payments could be quite low.
Not sure what sort of financial product would be best as no expert but it’s just a thought.

[Thomas Peachey]

Yeah id like to save for it, small matter of 3 kids and a wife!lol.
I’ve only done one job this week so money is massivly tight, i even went around 5 towns and villages to take photos of some broken signs, so hopefully at least one owner will want a new one! :lol1:

[Peter Normington]

quote Thomas Peachey:

Yeah id like to save for it, small matter of 3 kids and a wife!lol.
I’ve only done one job this week so money is massivly tight, i even went around 5 towns and villages to take photos of some broken signs, so hopefully at least one owner will want a new one! :lol1:

if you dont have the kit, you cant do the job, its a fact of life, very best you can do is improvise but then, you will struggle to compete.
sell one of the kids, and pawn the wife 😀

Peter

[Martin Pearson]

No good taking pictures Thomas, what you should do is go in and introduce yourself. Tell them you were passing and noticed that their sign was broken and if they were thinking about replacing it could you have the opportunity to quote for it.

No high pressure sales tactics, just be polite and leave a business card.

As for saving if you take out a bond or something that you can’t touch it will at least give you a chance, pay in a small amount each week or month. Might take a while but at least you will get there.

I know all about the family bit, had a wife for 20 years and have 4 kids of my own so I know just how expensive it can be.

[Thomas Peachey]

What I do is take photos for the signs, take them to work and photoshop them to give the customer an idea of what it could look like and I enclose a quote, I got 2 out of the 5 jobs agreed. Sort of worked just there arnt that many knackered signs around my region! Someone else must be doing it! Lol

Thanks martin, I may well put some away per month, we’ll c what happens!