DIY Vinyl mounting and application table. Video of progress, so far.

[Kevin Mahoney]

Well done mate, be interesting to see the finished article

[Jeff]

love this dan, and it has got me thinking now too! 😃

[RobertLambie]

Well done Dan, you seem to have got the primary structural concept mate.
As you say, once you can stabilise the gantry section, which could be simple enough if you have a clearance of some sort on the underside and even add one to the top letting you remove the crossbars from the laminator.
I like the idea of application tables having no top gantry section for easier flipping the vinyl over and back, but it really isn’t a big deal. I have a rolls roller and that has one and you really don’t notice it’s there. I can only imagine it adds rigidity to the build.

well done though, I love seeing how innovative signmakers are. be great to see you getting it in use.

I have a small mounting table built for mounting vinyl graphics. I made a tutorial for building this that I hope to get posted on UKSB soon. It’s nothing of this size or structure you are tackling but serves a good everyday purpose on a smaller scale.

[Dan]

Thank guys

It’s certainly a work in progress.

I tested it on Saturday on a small piece of composite but where I raised the laminator up to clear a sheet of 18mm mdf and a 5mm plastic cutting matt, I had too much clearance meaning the roll wasn’t hitting the board.

I had a couple of lengths of wood which I put on the table so the edges on the composite met, I then tried applying some vinyl but unfortunately got wrinkles. I believe this was due to not having anything rigid between the wood.

I’ll add some 18mm mdf to the table top today and see how that goes.

Rob I completely agree with the gantry, first thing I noticed and first thing I wanted to change.

It took me about half a day to make and that included stripping the old laminator down so not bad for a mornings work, I’m sure it’ll take longer tweaking it though.

One thing that has me questioning myself, on the laminator you have the wheels on each side to adjust the pressure which I hate, my main laminator has one wheel and it adjusts both sides and even that annoys me. I’m wondering whether I need this as I have heard of people just using the weight of the roller (which has got a little weight to it)?

[Karen White]

I cant add to this but very impressive. I wouldnt know where to start!

[Dan]

OK

So I have added an 18mm worktop to the top to give me a solid bench.

After few tests, the table works great. I can now apply vinyl to a board with very little hassle.

I moved the bars to give me a bit more stability but it’s not really helped. To be honest, once the roller is down there is very little play. I have thought about mounting it underneath but I have a support bar in the middle of the table and I don’t want to risk cutting that off as the table is really heavy, if it then bows in the middle I’ll be disappointed.

So far, it’s a 80% complete (unless I change the design) It works but need to add a rubber matt and maybe paint the mdf so it give it a cleaner look.

I’ll add some more images later

[Richard Wills]

If you could swap the lift wheels for a pair of matched stepper motors, with limit switches for top and bottom of travel, then you could have automated lift and drop…