Cold laminating wrap vinyl?

[Peter Normington]

3m not only recommend but stipulate cold laminating for their 380 series.
Heating the laminate makes it to soft as it is very thin to start with.
I cold laminated grafiwrap 3 year ago, so no, it has not really changed.

By cold it still needs to be done with an ambient temp < 15c
but no need for a heated laminator.

Peter

[Martin Pearson]

Tim, I did a course years ago and they were talking about cold laminating then so like Peter says I don’t think it has really changed. I know with some types of printing a hot laminate was a much better option and probably still is but I don’t think this has ever really applied to the vinyl used extensively for vehicle wraps.

[Tim Cockings]

Thank you Peter and Martin.

I have always thought heat was so important.

My cold laminator isn’t going quite yet then?

What a relief.

[Martin Pearson]

Tim, I’ve only ever used a cold laminator. From what I have been led to believe pressure sensitive laminates and hot laminates use different adhesives. While a hot laminator is a more versatile piece of kit I believe they are more suited to the print finishing industry and a cold laminator has always done the sort of jobs I need to do as a signmaker.

[Tim Cockings]

Your advice had saved me the difference between a hot and cold laminator as i am looking to upgrade to a wider one.

Thank you.

[Stephen Morriss]

I do all my lamination cold, never used vehicle wrap though but I know that’s done cold.
Adding heat to most of the laminates makes them stretch quite badly so you end up with a very curled print when it cools down.

Steve

[Martin Pearson]

Stephen, I am guessing you are using pressure sensitive laminates. I don’t think you would have the same problem with the stretching and curling if you were using a hot laminate as they work differently.

[Stephen Morriss]

Probably right Martin, my laminator can do both and it came with a load of encapsulation material with the heat activated adhesive but it does still tend to curl prints if on one side only, I usually do both sides of paper prints with the edge sealed.

Steve

[Dave Mason]

Hi.
We have just bought a printer plotter with the intention of being able to offer Prints on Canvas, Wallpaper & vehicle prints, including wraps. My son has just given up his job as a "sign fitter" He’s been involved in the industry since leaving school, about 5 years now. He’s done some wrapping, but never actually made them. He’s always said that we will need a Hot Laminator, but from reading this thread, it seems Cold is the way to make Wraps. I’ve seen some at about £600 for a 1600cm. Will this be sufficient?
Thanks Dave

[Martin Pearson]

If you are looking for a laminate for vehicle wraps then speak to your vinyl supplier. Most systems for wraps are matched to ensure the laminate has the same properties as the vinyl.
Which wrap vinyl are you using as most people will be able to tell you which laminate matches by that.

[David Hammond]

I do a regular big laminating job.

I have a cold laminator which serves me well, but the customer rejected the second batch because of silvering.

The first batch I laminated and then my customer ran through a hot laminator before finishing.

A decent Pressure sensitive film shouldn’t need heat be applied.

[Neil Speirs]

Listen to your son, he’s actually right this time 😉

[Dave Mason]

OK, I understand…. My son did say it might be a good idea to talk to the manufacture !!!

We are using Metamark for vinyl at the moment. Most of the work I do is for display, so i opted for a low tack Matt vinyl & ,Metamarks M4 range is good enough & easy to remove…

My son has just mention that at the last place he worked they used 3M for wraps & laminated it on a low heat…. I’ll contact them tomorrow to see what they recommend .
So, as there’s quite a few manufactures of wrap vinyl,is there not a preferred choice of vinyl / manufacture that people use as industry standard for wrapping ??

Me being ignorant, thought that all wrap vinyl, would basically be the same!!

Dave

[Robert Lambie]

quote Dave Mason:

Me being ignorant, thought that all wrap vinyl, would basically be the same!

Definitely NOT mate. there’s lots of wrapping films out there. a great many are crap, to put it bluntly. Prices vary greatly too…

[Gill Harrison]

quote :

My son has just mention that at the last place he worked they used 3M for wraps & laminated it on a low heat…. I’ll contact them tomorrow to see what they recommend

Hi Dave

The 3M overlaminate that is most widely used for wrapping is 3M’s 8580.
8580 is very thin, only 25 micron’s so it is to be laminated cold to avoid stretching.
The fact that it is laminated cold means that it is strongly recommended that after lamination the graphics are left for a number of hours to allow the adhesive to bond with the print before fitting, 3M say 24hrs. We all know that if we try to remove vinyl after only a few minutes of adhesion it removes with ease but if left a few hours then it takes more persuasion, if left days then heat must be used. This is on account of the glue flowing over time (hence reduction of silvering over time). So yes with 3M’s 8580 wrapping overlaminate it’s cold but check with the manufactures for the others on the market.

Hope that’s saved you a phone call 🙂

Gill

[Mark van Dam]

quote Gill Harrison:

quote :

My son has just mention that at the last place he worked they used 3M for wraps & laminated it on a low heat…. I’ll contact them tomorrow to see what they recommend

Hi Dave

The 3M overlaminate that is most widely used for wrapping is 3M’s 8580.
8580 is very thin, only 25 micron’s so it is to be laminated cold to avoid stretching.
The fact that it is laminated cold means that it is strongly recommended that after lamination the graphics are left for a number of hours to allow the adhesive to bond with the print before fitting, 3M say 24hrs. We all know that if we try to remove vinyl after only a few minutes of adhesion it removes with ease but if left a few hours then it takes more persuasion, if left days then heat must be used. This is on account of the glue flowing over time (hence reduction of silvering over time). So yes with 3M’s 8580 wrapping overlaminate it’s cold but check with the manufactures for the others on the market.

Hope that’s saved you a phone call 🙂

Gill

The hitch is the Impatient Client, Alas. But nothing is as important than time to prepare, glue to set, solvents to de gas, installer to chill, and Following manufacturers recommendations. I have seen many HOT laminated products fail at the beginning of Vehicle wraps, BVW . Also if the laminator stretches the laminate it can fail. Using unmatched products = fail. I just think if your rep cant do a vehicle wrap or explain the whole process, find someone who knows.