Any way to laminate without a laminator??

[George Elsmore]

liquid laminate and a gloss paint roller could be one option

[Phill Fenton]

There’s no reason why you can’t – a laminator just makes it much easier

[Nicholas Gormley]

Ive been using frog juice as well for a while.

[Richard Urquhart]

I have a roland printer and all my lamination was done by hand before I got the lamintor.
I did do it all wet, as it was much easier on 3 meter runs.Pick a good laminate and you wont have any problems Rich

[David Rogers]

…or you could pick up a cheapo Chinese ‘cold laminator’ (a set of rollers really) for about £600.

Does me fine for laminating, flood coating, applying application tape to HUGE sections.

Dave

[Nicholas Gormley]

Rich: Could you explain what way you done it?? Sorry if you think am simple.

David: Where could i start to look for one of those?? Am just scared of buying something pure crap.

[Richard Urquhart]

lay print on the bench, place laminate on top, tape one end to the bench and roll up, spray the print with water and unroll laminate and as your pulling liner off gather backing paper and just let the lam touch the print, remove all the backing paper and starting from one end squeegee all the water out,
job done

[Malcolm Elliott]

quote David Rogers:

…or you could pick up a cheapo Chinese ‘cold laminator’ (a set of rollers really) for about £600.

Does me fine for laminating, flood coating, applying application tape to HUGE sections.

Dave

I got one of those from a local company in the North East, worst £600 I’ve ever spent! I probably waste more prints due to the laminate crinkling or moving than I bought it for!! Save up and get a decent one, I’m looking for one now if anyone has anything for sale?

[Andrew Blackett]

Malcolm,

I’ve got one from the guy in China, the same as radecal sell and its always done me fine mate. It did take a lot of getting used to though. Would it help if I did a demo of some sort?

Andy

[Malcolm Elliott]

yeah that’ll be cool, been trying all ways to sort it. Sometimes it’s fine but more often than not it’s rubbish!

cheers

[Warren Beard]

After about a year of hand laminating (dry because it’s pigment ink on paper so can’t be done wet) I bought a second hand laminator, it was the best thing I could have done and can’t be without it now. The amount of work I can get done in the same amount of time with such less effort is so worth it. I was hesitant to spend money on a machine that did not generate revenue but the time it saves is worth it. Laminating, flood coating, application tape and my laminator can apply laminate as well as double sided mount tape in one pass and so easy and quick to set up.

In fact these last 2 months alone I would have either lost a fair amount of work due to time restraints or missed my deadlines if I didn’t have my laminator.

If you use it a lot then dig deep and go for it.

Cheers

Warren

[Andrew Blackett]

Right Malcolm I’ll go through some of the things that we find work well and a bit about our setup;

The laminator is mounted at the end of a large 10′ x 5′ table, the table is the same height as the "pinch" on the laminator so any media will come flat off the table straight through the machine.

Setting up a sheet;

Lay the print flat on the table (ensure there is about 200mm of scrap at the end for setting up) Unwind the left and right cogs so the top roller lifts. Feed the print through, square the cut edge with the back edge of the laminator (also check the left or right side of the print runs relatively parallel to the edge of the workbench – this will ensure that the print is running nice and square to the rollers)

Unroll the laminate over the top allowing the same 200mm extra at the beginning and ensure that it passes by the end of the print by about 50mm. The laminate must be smaller than the total print area if its bigger it will stick to the roller and cause uneven tension. Check that the laminate is nice and square to the print and the laminator – this will really help keeping wrinkles away.

Wind the left and right cogs down until they go slack, dont tighten any more – as soon as you feel the tension go – Stop. Engage the foot control by pressing the button and choose to feed the print towards you (you want to working from the opposite side to the feed of the print) Feed the laminate and print though until the edge of the laminate is TDC with the top roller. Carefully pull the backing away from the laminate leaving the laminate folded over the top roller. Tuck the edge of the backing paper back into the rollers so you get a loop.

Engage the machine into the opposite direction (feeding back where it came from) tap the pedal until the crease in the paper has just come through the rollers then stop.

Get an old cardboard tube thats just wider than the laminate you are using. Roll it up against the rollers on the print side – now carefully roll it back the other way (so you’re working away from the machine) when you get to the end start rolling the laminate around the tube and go back towards the rollers. When you get you need to jiggle the core so it sits nice and square against the roller.

Now go back around to the back of the machine and lift the cardboard roll up and over the top roller and sit it on the back of the machine. (also make sure that the leading edge of the print hasnt tucked itself back into the machine casing.

Get something like an ostrich feather duster or aqua tack cloth to dust the print off. Basically something that will lift the dust without scratching and making a hash of the print. If its something important that I’m laminating I’ll wear a cap and jacket just to keep arm and head hairs at bay – but I dont think you need to worry too much on that score Malcolm 😉

Go back around the rear of the machine and get hold of the flap of backing paper and you should be able to peel it away from the laminate (aim to have the adhesive only showing from TDC on the top roller at all times. this will stop you letting the machine get hold of the backing paper and taking it through – or having too much out and you risk having dust and rubbish landing on the adhesive before it goes through)

The trick now is to make sure you can stand on the foot pedal and pull the backing paper back whilst remaining nice and steady – if you’re wobbling about like a weeble you’re asking for trouble. Get the machine set to feed the print towards you and press the pedal, pull the backing paper away nice and steady, dont worry about doing anything with it just let the paper hit the floor. As you get to the end let the cardboard tube fall off the back of the machine onto the deck – once the last of the backing paper is off the laminate let the paper drop and get ready to catch the print as it comes out.

When you’ve caught it, take your foot off the pedal and keeping hold of both sides of the print carefully pull it back over the top roller and lay it flat on the bench. da da!

We’ve also mounted a convection heater under the machine – on a cold morning we switch it on full belt and let the laminator just turn around. It takes the chill of the rollers and helps with silvering etc. It by no means makes it into a full blown heat assist laminator but it certainly improves it.

I’ll try and take some pictures of our setup tomorrow – it might make it easier to understand – I may even dust off the camcorder and do a little vid.

Any other questions just shout

Andy

[David Rogers]

quote Malcolm Elliott:

quote David Rogers:

…or you could pick up a cheapo Chinese ‘cold laminator’ (a set of rollers really) for about £600.

Does me fine for laminating, flood coating, applying application tape to HUGE sections.

Dave

I got one of those from a local company in the North East, worst £600 I’ve ever spent! I probably waste more prints due to the laminate crinkling or moving than I bought it for!! Save up and get a decent one, I’m looking for one now if anyone has anything for sale?

Well I’ve managed to laminate many, many hundreds (probably thousands) of metres on sometimes very expensive prints and lost maybe only 10 or 20m total because I stuffed up the initial placement of the leading edge, not he fault of the rollers. So for me – the best £600 I spent on a certain auction site with a co. durham company.

The build quality isn’t slick or in any way ergonomic, but the actual rollers are perfect. Just use the weight of the 1600mm rollers and ZERO extra pressure & it’s sweet.

Dave

[Andrew Bennett]

quote Andy Blackett:

Malcolm,

I’ve got one from the guy in China, the same as radecal sell and its always done me fine mate. It did take a lot of getting used to though. Would it help if I did a demo of some sort?

Andy

Andy, get the video out mate….Please.