Do I really need to laminate?

[Stephen Morriss]

If your doing vehicle graphics you’ll definitely need to laminate anything other than temporary prints.
Signs I’d laminate as you don’t know how long they’ll be up.
Indoor prints is up to you really, it’s more of a visual thing with satin or matt laminates etc.

Steve

[Gary Birch]

We laminate almost everything printed on vinyl, paper we rarely laminate unless requested. It depends on what you are printing and how long you want it to last.

Laminated vinyl is easier to handle and apply too.

[Martin Pearson]

Not quite sure I follow you here Frank, how would it already have a gloss/matt/satin coating unless you had already used something like a liquid laminate??

As others have said it will depend on the application. Vehicle livery I would always have laminated regardless of any suppliers claims. Just to much general road grime & chemicals about in my opinion.

Try telling a customer that his graphics are fading because he washed his van wrongly & see what it does for your business.
I just don’t think it is worth taking the risk personally. Just about all my work came from referrals so ensuring my work was up to the job was very important to me.

[Owen Lees]

We have tried both ways, and its almost a given that the jobs we don’t laminate have to be extremely ‘special’.

We found a cost effective matt and gloss laminate that (given the price) simply made it easier to have the prints laminated than not – both from a client perspective and from a handling perspective.

I must admit that absorbing the cost (about 1 or 2 pounds per linear metre max) is well worth it.

[Frank Conway]

Cheers for the replies & tips, guys! Really helpful.

So basically it’s a case of better safe than sorry, yeah?

quote :

it’s more of a visual thing with satin or matt laminates etc.

That’s handy to know. Thanks for that.

What laminator do you all recommend? I hear good things from Seal but to be honest they are the only ones I have really looked at. Any other good ones? Are there any brands out there that I should stay away from?

[Ken Tran]

Hi everyone, I’m also interested in purchasing a laminating machine for various uses and need some advice.

If I laminate a vinyl printed vehicle graphic, how do I seal the edges? I’ve seen some people apply a small top coat along the edges with a nail polish brush but not sure if it’s done before or after application to the vehicle.
Does anyone have experience with this and would they recommend it?

Furthermore, I would also like to encapsulate posters, is this possible in anyway using a COLD Laminator?

Appreciate the replies. Thanks

[Martin Pearson]

You don’t need to seal the edges of vehicle graphics. Some would say you don’t even need to laminate as solvent inks are suitable for use outside. Main reason for lamination of vehicle graphics is to provide an abrasion resistant coating because of road grit & chemicals used for washing.

As for your other question you could laminate both sides of the posters but it wouldn’t really be encapsulated. You can only encapsulate with a hot machine & the edges are bonded together with the heat.

[Chris Hansen]

laminate everything unless your absolutely positive its coming down within a couple of months(it’s only gonna be up for a week blah blah lol)

had a GBC titan laminator that went ok, apart from the take up roll having no power at all…

[Ken Tran]

Thanks for the reply Martin, I just remember a while ago my brother having some decals for his car where the laminate started to peel over time.
Looking at the price difference for hot / cold 44"+ laminators is shocking. I may have to scrap the encapsulation service and invest in a cold one and new printer instead 🙂

[David Rowland]

let me add, we found vinyl and uv prints not a very good combination, we now print all vinyl on latex and then laminate.

The UV print is difficult to laminate, needs a really good adhesive for it to work well..

All vehicles graphics/wraps should be laminate to protect from the elements/car washes etc.

We use AGFA UV and HP Latex.

[Martin Pearson]

Two machines serve two different industries really although the gap is growing smaller & smaller.
Why the need for a new printer?? As David has said you can laminate both sides. Maybe not 100% accurately but if you used a laminate which was slightly wider than the print then you could trim off any run over on the bench.

[Ken Tran]

Thanks for the advice guys – I will get a cold laminator to begin with as I’m in the process of a start up workshop and could do with some more experience.

I currently print indoor media using my Epson 9880 and looking to get a solvent printer/plotter in the near future – so I thought my savings will be better spend on that rather than a hot laminator at the moment

Just trying to figure out an ideal set up – but not too sure on what market to focus on right now.

[Martin Pearson]

without a bottomless pit of money I doubt there is such a thing as an ideal setup for a small company or oneman band.
Firth thing you need to do is take a bit of time & decide what you want to be doing. Once you know what direction you are going in then look at the best equipment for that.

For a start I would never put graphics from your printer on to vehicles, I know people will say I am wrong & you can do it but name me one supplier that will give you more than an 18 month life span on the prints even with the best UV lamination you can get. Most suppliers won’t go past a year with the laminate they supply.

If you are serious about wanting to do outdoor signs & graphics then invest in the right type of printer to start with.