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Rollover – Flatbed Vinyl Mounting Applicator, what are my options please?
Looking at buying a Rollover vinyl mounting table.
I am looking for advice on what the best table available is?Also, has anybody seen any with a cutter up the long side?? Or how are people cutting long signs like a 8x2s??
Rollover – Flatbed Vinyl Mounting Applicator.
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27 Replies
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Made my own roll over table.
I use an 8 foot ruler and a 18mm blade for corflute and ACM.
CNC Router for anything else. -
Any pics??
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The roller (down the left hand end) is a 150mm diameter solid cylinder of steel coated in rubber, which gives it the weight for laminating. No need for complicated pneumatics. Tables are 2x3meters by 1550mm, 10mm glass top
Its absolutely vital that the glass is flat or you wont have contact all the way across.
The whole thing cost me about 6000 nz dollars (3000 pounds) to make ten years ago. Works perfectly.
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Just bought a 6m X 1.7m Rolls Roller off eBay for £5k!
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Good result Gil, green with envy!!
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hopefully we’ll have some work for it by the end of the year Kevin! [emoji15]
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Hopefully mate, it’s a bit big for a card table
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Great eBay bargain. I was looking second hand can’t see any.
Great build Simon I’m thinking of building one as well. They seem expensive for all that’s in them.
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Must have been very difficult to build in a curve like that Simon. [emoji6]
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The following is a list of Flatbed Vinyl Mounting Application tables.
(1) Mounters Mate – Flatbed Vinyl Mounting Applicator.
(2) Ferman – Flatbed Vinyl Mounting Applicator.
(3) vRoller – Flatbed Vinyl Mounting Applicator.
(4) Ezz Applicator – Flatbed Vinyl Mounting Applicator.
(5) Bobis Multi Applicator – Flatbed Vinyl Mounting Applicator.
(6) RollsRoller Entry – Flatbed Vinyl Mounting Applicator.
(7) Rapid Applicator – Flatbed Vinyl Mounting Applicator.
(8) Bubble Free Pro – Flatbed Vinyl Mounting Applicator.
(9) The Sign Master – Flatbed Vinyl Mounting Applicator.
(10) LamiDesk – Flatbed Vinyl Mounting Applicator.
(11) ModulMounter – Flatbed Vinyl Mounting Applicator.
(12) Duramount – Flatbed Vinyl Mounting Applicator.
(13) RiteRoller – Flatbed Vinyl Mounting Applicator.
(14) Roll-X Multipurpose – Flatbed Vinyl Mounting Applicator.
(15) CWT Graphics – Flatbed Vinyl Mounting Applicator.
(16) Rollover – Flatbed Vinyl Mounting Applicator.
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I have listed about 16 flatbed mounting tables above, and I have no doubt there will be some missed. but those are from uksignboards.com youtube channel.
I have had a Rollsroller about 10 years now, and we paid around £21,000 for it at the time.
it’s about 5200 x 1650mm bed size. (approximately)Since then many have come onto the market with varying quality of build, functionality and some with extras.
Because of how our print room is set up, I did consider a second table. not necessarily another Rollsroller or the size of roller we have, but as we have 2 printed, 2 laminators, 2 cutters, 1 roller and another a workbench. A second roller would streamline things that bit better.
It does speed-up the application process no-end and does improve and give a consistent quality of finish.
You can see our setup in this promo video from a few years ago. It shows three printers here but one of those have now
been replaced and a Mounters Mate Laminator takes its place.The reason you will find it so difficult to get these second-hand is that once you have one, you would be daft to throw it unless you were no longer in this game or had a requirement for one anymore.
So Gill, I think you were incredibly lucky mate, well done!I would advise buying from the UK and from a reputable source because most you will see listed above will not be from the United Kingdom.
A good place to start would be Omar from Mounters mate, he posts here on the UKSignsBoards.com and I have found him very helpful with aftersales when I purchased my laminator from him. I also say that because Mountersmate has recently brought out a new workstation tabletop applicator.
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There’s CWT as well. We got a really good deal on ours around showtime last year.
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i totally get the purpose of these if you are a larger firm with volume of work. But for a small sign company i cant get my head round it. Many thousands spent on something which you can do by hand, and uses 0 vinyl laying skills.
It something which again eats into your profits. Dont get me wrong if you are busy 8hrs a day and can fit more work in 100% best move. But if you spend few hours a day with your fingers up your arse then does the extra 10 mins to do the job by hand really matter.
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quote Martyn Heath:i totally get the purpose of these if you are a larger firm with volume of work. But for a small sign company i cant get my head round it. Many thousands spent on something which you can do by hand, and uses 0 vinyl laying skills.
It something which again eats into your profits. Dont get me wrong if you are busy 8hrs a day and can fit more work in 100% best move. But if you spend few hours a day with your fingers up your ( oh i swore ) then does the extra 10 mins to do the job by hand really matter.
Imagine not having to do a 10ft x 5ft board though by hand. Oft.
All adds up and can reduce cost of staff. 10 minutes a day is still 5 working days through out the year or something.
Going by the prices I have been given now, 266 hours of saved time and it’s paid for by our hourly rate. -
quote Martyn Heath:i totally get the purpose of these if you are a larger firm with volume of work. But for a small sign company i cant get my head round it. Many thousands spent on something which you can do by hand, and uses 0 vinyl laying skills.
It something which again eats into your profits. Dont get me wrong if you are busy 8hrs a day and can fit more work in 100% best move. But if you spend few hours a day with your fingers up your ( oh i swore ) then does the extra 10 mins to do the job by hand really matter.
Well, from our perspective, we do a lot of print & mount, sometimes hundreds of signs per week, and there’s no question that a mounting table is quicker. It may seem like a lot of money, but it really does pay for itself if you’re doing a lot of mounting, as it can easily be done with one person. If ours broke, I’d order another one tomorrow.
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Thank for the mentions above Rob
The main benefits of flatbed applicators in general are time, consistency and staff management.
I can tell you all that you can save 70% of your time mounting panels with a flatbed against doing it by hand. And it’s true however the real value is less obvious, we have all had to make the multi panel tiled exhibition wall 3m high by 8m long. Getting the joints to line up are always a worry. If 2 members of staff are mounting the panels then you often get big differences in the joints especially with overlapping text. The truth is we all use a squeegee differently, different pressures, different angles, we tension the vinyl differently and often start from different ends. All this contributes to how the vinyl is applied to the board.
A flatbed applicator takes out all those variables the downward pressure on the roller is set by the machine, and is regulated to be the same every time.
You don’t have to touch or feed the vinyl into the ‘nips’ when operating the machine. Just let the flatbed do the hard work. moving the roller from one side of the bed to the other.
You would manage jobs differently with a flatbed. Say we had 30x a3 foamex signs to make. Before I would do the individually because I feel that’s the easiest way to complete. A flatbed would give you the confidence to nest the artwork on the rip to fit onto a much larger sheet size, mount in one sweep and trim after. The process of handling graphics saves you time not necessarily the actual application itself.
The final point, people. Sometimes when you are out onsite, with a customer or simply having your lunch you don’t want things to stop. With very basic training and a few good pointers your apprentice or sales guy can jump in and help. Unfortunately for people like myself who still value my squeegee skills a flatbed takes a lot of the skill out of producing great signs and graphic panels, if the workshop guys are installing a sign, someone with a small amount of knowledge can jump in and get a job out who wouldn’t normally be able too.
As a lot of people who have met me will know my passion is making graphics and signs, I am lucky that for the past 8 years I have been able to take that passion and use it to help others by suppling then with great finishing equipment (often the trickiest part) and training them to use it.
One thing that people say all the time to us is ”why didn’t we buy one years ago?”
So we have built a Smartstation we are calling the ’shorty’ it’s small, it’s 1800mm x 1000mm but it gives you a real good feeling how a flatbed applicator can benefit you and your business. We offer this machine on a free short term loan. Delivered to your workshop. this machine is not for sale, it is purely for testing the flatbed applicator concept before you buy. Got a job coming up you think it would help with? Contact us and put your name on the list.
I have some pictures of some machines we have built with custom removable keen cut bar cutters. I will add them shortly
:tongue:
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Plus one for Omar and the mounters mate, awesome machine and service.
For those that are knocking a roller table then all I can say is you haven’t used one!
Alex
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Thanks Omar. I would be very interested to see the cutters added on.
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quote Jamie Wood:There’s CWT as well. We got a really good deal on ours around showtime last year.
Thank you Jamie, I thought I had that listed, It is listed now and I found another while I was at it. the Roll-X!
quote Omar Benmez:Thank for the mentions above RobNo problem Omar, credit where it is due mate!
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Thanks for posting the video of Bubble Free Pro Rob :thumbsup:
I agree with Omar, the flatbed applicator/laminator will save you tons of time and also give consistency in production whether it’s done by a skilled operator or just anyone in the company who was shown how to use it.
People who know me will tell you that I am born with two feet instead of hands lol, so operating a machine isn’t my forte. But I can do demos on the Bubble Free Pro and I tend to say if I can do it then anyone can!
The main thing to look for is to have a fully welded frame, the original Rolls Roller was only supplied fully welded and this is why you still have working tables 20 years down the road. Of course a welded table isn’t the cheapest of the lot as you can’t ship it flat packed but ultimately it will be the most durable and reliable.
The reverse gantry is also a nice design to have, it makes it easier to flip the release liner above the roller.
Reliability and build quality were my two main concerns when I chose a table to distribute. I did a lot of homework before opting for Bubble Free and I am pleased to say that after well over 100 tables installs it was a good choice albeit not being the cheapest.
Ultimately speak to people that have the various models and most importantly try the tables yourself. Just moving the roller up and down the table will give you a good feel about what you are buying… same as when you shut a car door and it feels right.
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I bought a Rollover last September.
Check out Rob’s post, especially the bubble free video (I think number 8) showing lamination of a vinyl print.
This type of production hasn’t been great as the printed vinyl puckers inward causing creases.
After much fecking around with the supplier, the manufacturer sent a guy from their base to check out the issue.
Turned out that it needed calibration which involved slight adjustment to the glass bed. This helped some bit……it looks like the vinyl I am using, ie, Oracal is the real problem, as we tried some other brands with little or no issue.
It seems like there is an issue with the backing paper. I got some samples of General Formulations vinyl and things seem perfect.
7 months of pulling my hair out has got me to this point.
So, check that the brand of vinyl you use will work!!
Note: I’ve used Oracal vinyl for years & in my opinion it is the best I’ve ever used, never had any problems. Maybe the backing paper has been altered in some way, possibly something to do with latext printing.The Rollover is just the business for laminating direct onto boards!!
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Thanks good to know
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quote Gavin Dooley:I bought a Rollover last September.
Check out Rob’s post, especially the bubble free video (I think number 8) showing lamination of a vinyl print.
This type of production hasn’t been great as the printed vinyl puckers inward causing creases.
After much (oh, im a bad boy!) around with the supplier, the manufacturer sent a guy from their base to check out the issue.
Turned out that it needed calibration which involved slight adjustment to the glass bed. This helped some bit……it looks like the vinyl I am using, ie, Oracal is the real problem, as we tried some other brands with little or no issue.
It seems like there is an issue with the backing paper. I got some samples of General Formulations vinyl and things seem perfect.
7 months of pulling my hair out has got me to this point.
So, check that the brand of vinyl you use will work!!
Note: I’ve used Oracal vinyl for years & in my opinion it is the best I’ve ever used, never had any problems. Maybe the backing paper has been altered in some way, possibly something to do with latext printing.The Rollover is just the business for laminating direct onto boards!!
That’s interesting Gavin as we also have the same problem when trying to laminate with ours (rollover). Using Oracal for 99% of our jobs. Normally just use the laminator to laminate but would be nice to have the confidence to use the table for smaller job without the worry of it messing up. Other than that it’s a fantastic table
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WOW!
I thought there was 2 or 3 of these types of table, but 16?I would love one of these tables, just need to see this out this Corona spell first.
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quote Simon Worrall:The roller (down the left hand end) is a 150mm diameter solid cylinder of steel coated in rubber, which gives it the weight for laminating. No need for complicated pneumatics. Tables are 2x3meters by 1550mm, 10mm glass top
Its absolutely vital that the glass is flat or you wont have contact all the way across.
The whole thing cost me about 6000 nz dollars (3000 pounds) to make ten years ago. Works perfectly.That’s a really nice sturdy table. Did you make it or buy it?
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Has anybody a Monster application table?? Reviews??
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quote Bernard Gallagher:Has anybody a Monster application table?? Reviews??
Yes I have one! I’ve had a few minor issues but for the price I’m happy with it, the only issue now is backup and parts for them
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