Help needed with Easymount cold laminator please!

[Martin Oxenham]

I don’t have an Easy mount but a seal and the right tension is critical. Take out the laminate and test on some scraps and adjust the pressure each side until it runs straight. If its pulling one side then the pressure is obviously not even. Don’t have it too tight, the rollers should only just touch if they are too tight it will run off and crease this is an easy mistake to make. Let the rollers run empty and then put a sheet in so that it slips, then adjust the rollers untill it pulls the paper through… On ours when its running you can see light between the rollers at each end. Also don’t have the laminate roll too tight or it will stretch the vinyl as it goes through and several months later you will get problems with the laminate shrinking back on your prints. Hope this helps.

[Peter Normington]

lorraine I have a jetmount which I believe is similar to your easymount.
the rollers work under their own weight and should be "free floating"
when you lower the top roller with the handles, turn them till they
start to fell tight as the rollers touch, then turn the handled back to a little so they feel free, do both sides the same.
hope this helps.
there is also a bit of a knack to loading the laminate.
I will try and explain how I do it.

with the top roller wound up pull the exposed lam under it and keeping it taught (keep the brake on high) stick it to the edge of the laminator.
place the vinyl square on under the roller, then lower the roller to meet the vinyl this way the laminate should sit nice and square.
release the brake so its just got a bit of tension, then run a few feet through. if all is well carry on, if any wrinkles start to appear, I just release the pressure on the top roller and pull the laminated vinyl tight and let the roller down again.

If i am not making sense to you. gis a call I will try and talk you through it

Peter

[Andrew Blackett]

Theres an online video for the easymount machines on their website;

http://www.vivid-online.com/support

Or give them a ring and ask for Bruce, he knows his stuff

Andy

[Lorraine Clinch]

Hi Martin, Peter and Andy, thanks for your advice, I haven’t been ignoring you all, rather I have been acting on all your suggestions, trying different things, been on the phone to Vivid and watched the video (several times!).

I think that I may have sorted out the problem although I’m not sure what I have done! As long as I don’t try to laminate more than 1 metre it seems to be OK.
Any longer and it ends up with HUGE air bubbles like you wouldn’t believe, I couldn’t do worse if I did it by hand blindfolded with an egg whisk! :lol1:

I’m putting the machine to bed for the weekend, just hope it still is OK on Monday! I have at least managed to get some work out this afternoon, so cheers guys, :uksbrules:

Lorraine

[Martin Oxenham]

My Seal laminator is quit old and it runs off after a few metres. But I could safely do five metres with it if it was not printed to the edge. But I’ve heard of people doing 40 or 50 metres with the laminator you have. I think one was on this forum so something is amiss.

[Lorraine Clinch]

Hello Martin (and thanks for the help you gave on the adhesive sail-stuff before… another satisfied customer-from a minuscule Sign supplier..))
thanks also for this info

Thank you
Lorraine XXXXXX

lots of big kisses to everyone!

[Tim Cockings]

Lorraine. I also use an Easymount and it took a while to master particularly feeding the vinyl through for laminating.

My Easymount only has one adjusting handle so if yours is the same then i would say some part of the mechanism might need lubricating. This defect probably leads to the production of the bubbles as well. Alternatively check the amount of tension applied to the laminate roll holder and the backing paper roller. These of course are the ones you have used to mount the laminate in the first place. Don’t tighten these too much as they will pull unecessarily on the laminate as it is passing through the rollers. Better too slack than too tight. It is possible to tighten them gently with the machine running.

As far as setting the actual rollers for laminating printed vinyl i wind mine right down, they don’t get tight and the handle simply goes round and round for ever and a day.

It is worth using matching laminates to vinyls as they do work better together. I know that from experience.

Don’t lose heart because the EM produces great results. I can’t detect any silvering in the finished product. Just practice with short pieces and see what your machine is doing after making some adjustments each time.

[Warren Beard]

Hi Lorraine

I recently got an Easymount laminator and have found it quiet easy to use if you use a piece of 3mm foamex wrapped in release liner paper (so that the laminate can be easily peeled off after)

What I do is pull the laminate down past the bottom roller and then lower the tray down against it, push the 3mm foamex against the laminate and keep an even tension across it so you can see the laminate is not pulling to the side or wrinkling, while holding the foamex firm and still wind the top roller down until it touches softly, press the pedal and run it to the end of the foamex (foamex is about 200mm deep (make wider than widest laminate you use)) when the foamex runs out the back of the rollers you will hear it "drop" and then stop feeding, slide the graphic into the 3mm gap the foamex left and then wind the rollers down on to the graphic, then feed away and should run fine as long as you fed the graphic in straight. I put some straight lines along the tray to use as a guide.

I hope that makes sense and helps.

I could maybe make up a small video sometime.

Oh and mine is also one that only has a one adjusting handle so tension is automatically the same across the rolls.

cheers

Warren

[Neil Davey]

Excellent lesson on ‘How to Laminate’ Warren.
I’m new to this printing lark and I’ve been having problems this week, it’s been a bit hit and miss.
I’ve stuffed up quite a bit of material 😕
I’ve done what you said and just laminated a metre to check it out and it worked a treat. 😀
Well done my man, I’ll have to buy you a pint next time I see you. Cheers mate.

Fingers crossed for a happy laminating future……….was easier tho when it was just a brush and a drop of paint 😉

[Neil Speirs]

I was also going to suggest checking the collar tension on the laminate holders, it seems like it doesn’t take to much to have it over tightened.

The vinyl guidelines Warren mentioned are well worth making up, robs got a guide here for them https://www.uksignboards.com/viewtopic.p … uide+lines

[John Harding]

all good Neil S but FYI it seems Neil D has reactivated an old thread 😕

John

[Martin Oxenham]

Whilst this thread was started in 2009 it would be interesting to know how Lorraine is getting on with this machine after two years as we are looking to get a new one.

[John Parfit]

I too am happy that this thread has been revived for we have a 1400 heated top roller Easymount and the lamination of prints is always the part with greatest concern.

Once set up the Easymount runs very well considering that I was unsure on exactly how to set it up; when the laminate runs out well we can confidently laminate 20 meters or more at a single pass (we have devised our own way of feeding the print in which ensures it is straight and I reckon over 20 meters it might run off 20mm max).

It is in the initial setting up of laminate that we tend to have problems and this thread has encouraged me to try and rectify our approach, Warrens idea for starters seems a logical one (except how do you stop the bare laminate sticking to the rear platten once the board drops off?).

Pressure on the rollers – we need to get this right, always thought to wind roller down then give it a little more, seems I was wrong.

As to rear tension adjusters on the laminate roll, always wound these tight to try and prevent drapes/creases occuring, will now try and ‘lighten’ these up now.

John

[Warren Beard]

quote John Parfit:

It is in the initial setting up of laminate that we tend to have problems and this thread has encouraged me to try and rectify our approach, Warrens idea for starters seems a logical one (except how do you stop the bare laminate sticking to the rear platten once the board drops off?).John

The laminate is on the top of the board which is in line with the top roller which is 3mm above the bottom roller, it doesn’t actually "drop" but you can hear when the board has passed the roller and it releases the pressure with a slight "dropping" sound.

The way the Easymount people tell you to do it does not work too well for me as it relies on static to hold the laminate on the top roller which it does not always do and drops down on to the bottom roller maybe only on one side sometimes but none the less it causes the laminate to go down skew which causes problems, it it stays up then it works fine except the fact that sometimes if the laminate is sticking further passed the rollers than the media it tends to get stuck to the rear bed of the rollers causing it to bunch up.

Since this post I have bought another Easymount laminator (a bigger one) as it is a great machine and once mastered the loading is a breeze.

cheers
Warren

[Jon Miller]

I know this is an old topic but I was thinking about getting one of these and am also wondering how they work/how to install the laminate correctly etc.

If anyone has links to those videos or and manuals/instructions that would be great.

Many Thanks,

Jon

[Martin Pearson]

Andy posted a link to the easymount on the first page of this thread, have a look at that.

[Russell Huffer]

I have the easymount 1.6 wide and hav efound the easiest way to load the laminate is to use the backing from the previous roll that gets loaded on to the rewinder, I put this on the spare mandrel they supply on the storage space at the top front position, it is wound so that the silicon side gos face down on the table.
To load i simply pull the backing out slide it under the roller then put the laminate round the top roller and wind down till rollers just/barely touch you can run it for 100-200 mm to take up tension in the laminate, I then cut the backing leaving 400mm approx offer up the vinyl and aline the printer cut edge of vinyl with the top roller, keep a tension on the vinyl by pushing slightly outwards and backwards down onto the silicon paper, press the pedel and perfect every time, well most times.

Hope this helps

Regards

Russell.

[David Hammond]

I’ve got an easymount.

unscrew the end caps and loosen them off fully, push them back into the tube end, and tighten up the screws, then tighten the collars up again.

Make sure the screws are as tight as possible.

I always think I over tighten the tension and the screws but no problems. Maybe try and loose off the tension on baking paper take up,

[Russell Huffer]

I always laminate with zero tension on both our 1600 and our 650 laminators, this stops the media trying to curl.

Kind regards

Russell.

[David Hammond]

I’ve never had a problem with the media curling.

I soon learnt that everyone has their own way of laminating. The longest I’ve run in one go was about 10m.

Hopefully I’ll be doing some longer runs soon.

[Jon Miller]

Thanks Martin, completely overlooked that 🙄
Cheers for the input Russel & David

We shall see how it goes 😀

Thanks,

Jon

[Jon Miller]

Not that I will do to start with anyway but are there some form of guides on it to align/keep the media straight then when doing longer runs?

[Neil Speirs]

quote jonmiller:

Not that I will do to start with anyway but are there some form of guides on it to align/keep the media straight then when doing longer runs?

This is worth doing: https://www.uksignboards.com/viewtopic.p … uide+lines

[Jon Miller]

Not able to access that thread, not enough posts perhaps or??

[Neil Speirs]

quote jonmiller:

Not able to access that thread, not enough posts perhaps or??

Sorry, it must be under the members section.

[Jon Miller]

😥 thanks anyway bud

[David Hammond]

I’ve binned 25m of vinyl thought we’d try Vion from William smith. Prints lovely and nice glossy laminate.

Just cannot get it through out easy mount straight and it’s rather close to the edges.

Loosing my temper really didn’t help matters! :banghead:

Just re-read this thread seems that no or little tension of the media is the better option…