is this vinyl laminator available in europe yet?

[Rodney Gold]

Hiya
Laminators are a mine field. What you pay for you usually get. The narrower the lams the easier it is to use and the less you have to spend to get good results. The big stuff like 1.6 meter wide etc can cost an arm and a leg (!5k+)
The best way to test laminators is ask them to demo it for you – dont make a choice on ANYTHING else – just this. you will soon see which lam is easiaest to use. Some require incredibly complex setups and webbing and have huge wasteage or require lots of dismantling to use another option. This seems an untried product in the industry , Seal , GBC , GMP etc all been in the game and know what the business wants , I would suggest a tried and tested solution. Avoid those with the same rollers that do hot and cold , rather go for something that does decent cold and has nice mounting depth and facilities and forgo hot or get one with dual rollers.

[Shane Drew]

As usual Rodney, your advice is sound and certainly makes sense. 😉

This one sells for $au4K. I’m arranging a demo this week. My old Fordigraph laminator is really old technology without crown rollers, and long jobs are a nightmare. It is also a 2 person application, 3 ideally 😥

The service company tell me that it is at the end of its life, so I will have to ‘put it down’ soon. This is the right price at least 😕

Thanks again

[Nicola McIntosh]

totally off topic shane!! 😀 what time is it where you are? 😀
laminators not my forte..i’m afraid..but i’ll have too learn at some point!! 😀 😀

Nik

[Shane Drew]

9.30am Sunday Morning Nik, What time is it there?

Shane

[Nicola McIntosh]

ooh…11.30 at night and it’s really frosty…snow is on the way!! 😛

Nik 😛 you lucky sausage you!! hope the wifes got a big brekkie going there shane!! 😉

one of my downfalls is sunday breakfast…but hey it’s only once a week!! 😉

Nik

[Shane Drew]

Nik, the airconditioning has been on since 6 this morning.

One of our summer storms on the way, about 28 deg c already, probably reach 34 by lunch, then we’ll probably have a huge electrical storm later today. Pretty standard stuff around these parts this time of year.

Sunday mornings I usually forgo the breaky for a sleep in.

Just got to convince the kids that dad works hard all week, and needs his rest 😮 Mind you the wife does not believe it so I don’t have much chance convincing the kids 😥

Cheers Nik, tomorrow is going to be a lovelly day I’m sure. Could do with some snow here tho 🙄

[Nicola McIntosh]

oh you lucky folk….sunny weather!! 😛 😛

anyway hope your storms are not damaging:D

take care Nik

[Peter Shaw]

Shane,

I just looked on the laminator site and saw the following:

“EZY-TAPER® is the most innovative product to be introduced to the sign writing industry since the vinyl plotter.”

If any company tried to entice me with bull***t like that I’d be very suspicious of their product.

Peter

[Rodney Gold]

My thoughts exactly re the ad blurb , touting anything as the next best thing since sliced bread would set alarm bells ringing with me.

[Shane Drew]

have arranged a demo for later this week. I’ll let you know

Shane

[Andy Gorman]

On the subject of applying application tape to vinyl with a laminator: we once had a machine made to do this….it didn’t work. All we got were creases running through the roll. Does it require a soft roller to overcome the different layer depths on weeded vinyl? Only reason I ask is that if a cheap laminator could apply app tape successfully we’d all have one! Wouldn’t we?

[Eric North]

Try this link for an alternative laminator
http://www.daige.com/
I bought daige’s own wider laminator from them (in germany) after seeing one in sweden. (not an EZY-TAPER)
It works well providing you dont “push” it by applying to much pressure. my people now use it all the time to apply solvent print and vinyl letters.
regards
eric north

[Shane Drew]

Hi everyone.

Just thought I’d follow up on this post and say that I bought the ezy taper laminator and I am like a dog with 2 tails. Don’t know which one to wag first.

Easiest laminator I have ever used. The first thing I laminated was a digital print onto to foamboard, with no instruction. The print was 1m wide by 2m long, and it was so easy I think my 10 year old would do it. Infact, I told him tonight that he has a job on weekends operating it while I print.

Got the 1500mm wide model.

Was about to buy a daige unit bit was not happy with the sales people as they were learning how to use it whilst they demo’d it to me.

Heard that the ezy taper had been updated so I had a demo with the inventor who happened to be in brisbane for other business.

Seriously good unit. Laminates upto 10mm in depth, fully self adjusting. No need at all for manual adjustments. You can change from clear laminate, pre mask, and laminate to board in a few minutes. The most impressive thing is that it laminates to glass with no breakages.

Premasked a 2400 length of computer cut text with app tape – no drama at all. I have 12 3m x 600 signs that need application tape next week, and I can wait to premask them with this unit. It is a nightmare now having to do them by hand.

Best $au4500 I have spent in a while. (hot)

Sold about 90 units in europe/usa and 70 units here. The local agent sold 4 here yesterday. Anyone that has a demo has purchased one.

Suggest if you are looking for a cheap alternative, give it a look and see. It is a manual operation, so does not have to have all the fancy safety gadgets an electrical one has, saving on the cost.

Cheers
Shane

[Rod Gray]

Hi Shane,

It`s been a few weeks, is the laminator still performing?.

and how much is AU$4500 in real money? 😉

Cheers

Rod

[Shane Drew]

1,854.15 GBP in todays exchange Rod,

The Easy Taper’s going really well,

Laid up 2 x 2440 x 1220 digital prints on corflute today. My dad timed me from the minute I put the print on the table, to laying the print on the corflute thru the laminator, with no bubbles or stress, single handed, was 60 seconds.

I laid black computer cut text over 5m of yellow reflective, and that took me about 3 minutes (after I premasked the black computer cut 1st)

Still have not done a lot of actual clear laminating yet, as most of my work I have done since getting it is promotional signage, but I should start in ernest on monday with the lamination of cast Oracal.

Yesterday, I flood coated a colour tape over 3mm clear perspex in seconds, with no bubbles at all.

I tried doing this with my old fordigraph electric laminator and I needed 3 people. This one I do all by myself.

I love it. I was at our sign show last week, and told anyone that wanted to listen how good it was. The sales guys were very happy, as I think they sold a few based on by excitement.

Not sure who is handling it in the UK, but I know the inventor is getting a few enquiries.

I think most people who have seen a demo, have actually purchased it here. Spandex are an agent here, I wonder if they handle it there? May be worth asking?

Cheers

Shane

[Rod Gray]

Thanks Shane

[Gordon Forbes]

Be interesting to see if the austrailian dollar suddenly reaches the equivalent pound value have to wait and see if Rip Off Britain is still shining brightly

Goop

[Stephen Benson]

You state in an earlier post “Heard that the ezy taper had been updated”, does this mean that you bought a Mark II or something like that? – What are the changes over the original Ezi Taper? – Steve.

[Shane Drew]

quote stephenbenson:

You state in an earlier post “Heard that the ezy taper had been updated”, does this mean that you bought a Mark II or something like that? – What are the changes over the original Ezi Taper? – Steve.

Steve, it was nothing major from what I was told. Just minor adjustments to the design, and I think they changed the makup of the rollers, but don’t quote me on that.

From what I was told, the changes were as a result of feed back, rather than problems that were encountered with the initial design.

Cheers
Shane

[mark walker]

goop, do I detect a little cynicism (however it’s spelt), definitely be correct though, it’s probably gonna cost 2.5k here if it ‘s like everything else.
mark

[mark walker]

Shane, do you know who might be the agents in the uk? I wouldn’t mind a look at one of these.
Mark

[Shane Drew]

Mark, they do have an agent in the UK from what I have been told.

This thread https://www.uksignboards.com/viewtopic.php?t=11439 gives the contact details.

I know some others on these boards have contacted them and have been told that the UK agent will be in contact, but I am not sure if they have been yet, or who they are.. sorry.

I suggest you drop them an email and see what they say.

Cheers
Shane

[autosign]

I think there are others doing similar systems. I know Racoon use their laminator for fitting stuff and masking up.

[Simon Clayton]

Shame is it self powered..in the photos it looks like its got a crank??
or is that how you bring the rollers down?

Simon

[Chris Wool]

THIS LINE I JUST LOVE

quote :

I was told, the changes were as a result of feed back, rather than problems that were encountered with the initial design.

I really must remember that one. sorry Shane

Chris

[L J.]

Well i have tried to get in contact with them, it took a week for poor old Shane to raise him on the phone to get hold of his email address, a week for them to answer my email, i was told someone would be in touch by phone, over a week later still no phone call, so i have given up with them. I don’t think they are too good at customer relationship.

As i am in urgent need of a laminator I have had to source from elsewhere (with the help & advice of everyone on these boards).

It’s a shame because Shane really is in love with his machine.

L J

[Peter Shaw]

Shane,

It’s always good to be pointed towards products through recommendation.

What I don’t understand about this product is why it is any different from a “regular” laminator.

Can you explain?

Peter

[Shane Drew]

Simon: It is a manual system mate. It is a ‘crank’ to run the product thru the rollers. It initially turned me off too, until I had a demo and found how easy it was to turn, and discovered you had a lot more ‘control’ over the flow.

Chris: I thought the same thing too 😛 , and coming from a marketing background, it is a simple statement probably meaning that they had the ‘mother of all faults’ that has now been fixed. But in truth, I think they changed the roller coating and the strength of the springs. They are sales people, they wouldn’t lie to me would they? 😮

LJ: yeah mate, I am really disappointed about that too. I operate on referrals, and can’t understand why any company does not follow thru on them when they get them. I’d suggest tho that they are still setting up a distribution channel in Europe, even tho I was lead to believe they already had one. The distribution company here for easy taper takes ages to reply to emails too, it seems to be a culture among some companies here to treat email as a ‘second class’ communication 😥

Peter: The only experience I have had with laminators is GMC (Fordigraph) and some Daige units. All were electric, all relied in some adjustments to the rollers when you changed substrate thickness, some cheaper units required the ‘baking sheet method’ meaning you could only laminate product put thru the rollers laid on a board, and the dearer units had ‘crown rollers’ which pushed the laminate out from the middle to prevent creases during the process.

The daige unit was a single speed, and the GMC had an accelerator, but once the lamination was started, you basically lost control until it was finished.

My unit, being manual, gives you total control in the sense that if you see a problem with say, dust on the print as it approaches the rollers, you can control the flow or stop it without having to press safety switches which may be on the other side of the unit. Of course, those newer ones with foot pedals resolves this issue too.

The rollers are spring loaded and automatically adjust to any material upto 10mm thick. All the machines I have used in the past have required the operator to manually adjust the height of the rollers with each product thickness, and it took a little bit of guessing to get it right. the newer machines have preset selection of heights, so you just lift a lever to the height you are about to put thru.

Before I even saw this unit, I was looking at several that did everything I have here – Electric with foot pedal for greater control, preselected height adjustment, heated crown rollers, silicon non stick rollers, speed adjustable. I was quoted prices between $17000 and $21000. 😮

I also looked at the latest base model Daige unit that was Electric with a single (slow) speed motor, Computer engineered rollers with silicon coating, manual height selection. It required the ‘Baking method’ to apply laminate. This was quoted at $4400

When the easy taper came along, I found a unit with automatic height selection, Silicon non stick rollers with computer engineered rollers, and manual control reducing the need for safety switches and expense. I do not need heat for the lamination of cast material so this was also a saving.

All this for $4500. You can see why I get so excited. 😛

Hope that explains my situation better mate.

Cheers
Shane

[Peter Shaw]

Shane,

Many thanks for taking the time to give such a detailed reply.

I would certainly be interested in this product. Now we need a reliable and capable distributor and a sensible price over here.

Peter

[Shane Drew]

Good onya Adrian, I am rapt with mine.

Hope it goes well for you.

Cheers
Shane

[John Simpson]

I’m glad you got somewhere with them Adrian, I was sick of waiting for them to reply & i was in a hurry to buy a laminator so i looked elsewhere.
Thanks to Rob & uksg i got it it at a good price & was told 2 weeks delivery, but nearly 3 weeks later still waiting, just can’t win eh.
L J

[Shane Drew]

Just an update:

Got back from the 3 day Sydney sign show last weekend. The ezy taper stand sold over 40 ezy taper units in the 3 day period. Got lots of new stuff in the pipeline too, for the digital printing end of the market, so looking forward to that as well.

They have a website now too, although it is still in the construction stages at http://www.prolificdesigns.net/