Laminators: Hot, Cold and Just Right

KEY TO SUCCESS

Project: Choosing a laminator to meet current and future needs

Key to success: Purchasing a laminator that only meets your current needs means there’s no room for growth. Investing in a more robust machine now may save you from having to invest in a whole new machine later.

Selecting a new laminator or upgrading your current laminator requires some serious thought about your current needs as well as assessing your future needs as accurately as possible. Image courtesy of AGL

As with any capital equipment purchase, planning for the long run is a necessary but often overlooked component of the process. It’s sometimes difficult to look down the road when a huge job that requires new equipment, like a laminator, is staring you in the face.

THE GOLDILOCKS DILEMMA

When looking at laminators there are three basic groups hot, cold and dual. Like Goldilocks, the trick is to find the one that’s just right—for your shop’s immediate and future laminating needs.

Take, for instance, the need to laminate vehicle graphics. More print shops and sign companies, and particularly sign companies, have added this to their repertoire. The nice thing about vehicle graphics, besides the potential profit, is that they don’t require hot lamination.

Perhaps the bad news is that they require lamination. For some time shortly following the introduction of solvent printers, the Holy Grail of wide-format printing was the elimination of lamination. By getting rid of the lamination step you… well, saved a step in the process, plus the material.

However, it quickly became apparent that lamination not only adds value by providing scratch-resistance, enhanced color and rigidity when needed, it’s an absolute necessity for vehicle graphics. “The inks have improved the longevity for UV protection, but the prints still need abrasion protection,” says Ike Harris, president of Daige Inc., in Albertson, N.Y. “There’s a difference between theory and reality. On paper, the printers provided the necessary UV resistance, but once people realized how easy it was to scratch the ink, everyone changed their tune.”

When laminating applications such as carpet floor graphics, be careful with the heat—high heat will cause the film to become too soft. This carpet graphic was produced by 11th Hour Business Centers using LexJet’s Simple CarpetAd with a 5 mil LexJet GraphicsGuard Velvet Floor Laminate. Image courtesy of LexJet

Daige manufactures a variety of cold laminators, which are perfect for applications like vehicle graphics where you’re applying a pressure-sensitive laminate to one side of the print. They’re relatively inexpensive and easy to use. Moreover, there’s less setup time and less maintenance with a cold laminator.

Hot laminators—that is, those that can add heat to the process to melt and cure the adhesive—require more skill, often acquired through trial-and-error. However, hot laminators provide more versatility and thermal laminates are generally less expensive. But this is not about which type of laminator is better; it’s about which type is best suited for your applications and volume of output.

MATCH YOUR MARKET

“The laminator should match your market focus. If you’re going to do a lot of trade show graphics, for instance, you’ll want a beefier laminator with more functions like heat and dual take-up reels, but if you’re a sign shop printing a lot of vinyl, a cold laminator will work just fine,” says Jeff Leto, product manager for LexJet, Sarasota, Fla. “If you’re looking to expand beyond vinyl applications and add specialty films and papers for posters and other encapsulated prints, you need to look down the road and seriously consider a dual laminator—one that can run both pressure-sensitive and thermal laminates. Don’t say to yourself: ‘What do I need right now?’ Instead, plan for any expansion beyond the need of the moment and find a machine that will grow with your business.”

Leto adds that if you decide on a hot laminator because you plan to expand beyond vinyl-printing applications like vehicle, window and floor graphics, be careful with the heat on those applications. Too much heat on vinyl will make it softer and more pliable, pointlessly and dangerously stretching it.

However, a little heat—Leto recommends about 90-100 degrees—will help the adhesive flow on a cold laminate, giving it a quicker bond with less silvering. “Even just 90 degrees is not enough to stretch the vinyl, but it’s enough to soften the adhesive and get it to flow a little better. The adhesive isn’t touching everywhere on the media you’re applying it to, but when you heat it a little it flows and has more contact in more places, providing a better bond,” says Leto.

All of AGL’s hot laminators feature absolute PSI readouts, but some also feature an LED bar graph to indicate the degree of tension on the film in order to establish predictable, repeatable results for a particular combination of films. Image courtesy of AGL

But, as Daige’s Harris points out, a little heat simply speeds up the cure time and any silvering that shows up right after a print is laminated will disappear after about 24 hours of curing. It’s also crucial that the ink has time to dry—usually 24 hours or more—before you laminate. This is particularly true for solvent and UV-cure prints.

“The silvering will go away regardless, but if you want to spend more for the heat, okay, but it’s not necessarily needed,” says Harris. “Let the ink dry properly before you laminate and then give it time to make sure it cures properly. Sure, sign shops do rush jobs, but waiting 24 hours for the laminate to cure properly should not be a problem. You just need to know your parameters.”

The point is, if you make the extra investment in money for the machine’s extra features and time in learning how to operate it properly and consistently, use the heat to your advantage even in cold-laminating situations.

“Laminating is an art; it is a skill. It seems like a relatively simple thing to do, but first-time buyers of hot laminators can expect to go through a lot of material learning how to run it properly for the best results. Keep a log book next to the laminator, so that when you figure out the settings that work with the media combinations you’re using, write them down and make it available as a quick-reference guide,” adds Leto.

BE PREPARED

AGL Inc., which manufacturers hot laminators at its plant in DeForest, Wis., provides “control feedback” on some of its higher-end models. Brian Buisker, AGL’s president, explains: “Whenever you laminate, tension is involved. Most laminators operate with the concept of a clamp and a wingnut. If you have two or three different operators, everyone has their own wingnut setting, so we added an LED bar graph on some of our laminators. It doesn’t tell you a value of tension; it just tells you a degree of tension from 1-10 so that you can establish a repeatable process for a particular combination of products. All of our other machines have absolute PSI readouts. Control feedback is very instrumental in establishing a menu for a variety of media, like a 2-mil cast vinyl over vehicle graphics. If your tension varies on a particular media combination you’ll end up throwing all that ink, media and laminate down the drain.”

Of course you’ll pay more for added feedback and control, plus the heavy-duty, precision-built American-made AGL laminators, factors that must be weighed against how much volume and what types of applications you expect to do and what you’re willing to pay.

Vehicle wraps can be laminated using a cold laminate. This van wrap employs LexJet Simple Flo Wrap and LexJet 2.4 Mil GraphicsGuard UV Gloss laminate. Image courtesy of LexJet

There are two other factors, beyond a laminator’s features and whether or not it provides hot or cold lamination, that are vital to work out beforehand: space and size, which are, of course, related. “The most common and biggest mistake I run across is buying the wrong size laminator. If you have 60-inch printing width capability you’ll naturally sell more 60-inch output, but a lot of shops will go out and buy a 54-inch laminator to save a little money and end up kicking themselves because they have two pieces of equipment that don’t match. Your manufacturing capabilities should always match,” says Leto.

Moreover, your shop space should match the size and capabilities of the laminator. Manufacturers will normally supply a checklist of parameters for installing the equipment. Use the list, check it twice and make sure you’re compatible and absolutely prepared.

Leto relates the story of a customer who called in for support because he was having major problems with his laminates. Leto paid him a visit and found the laminator installed on the second floor of an old home. “You could see where the middle of the floor was bowing because of the weight of the laminator. The laminator was cockeyed, but it was about to go straight… straight through the floor and on top of his designer’s head,” Leto recalls.

“Sometimes they’ll deliver the laminator and someone forgot to tell them one or two of the requirements and the installer shows up and says, ‘Woops! Sorry. I’ll be back in a month when you get the wiring done properly,” he adds.

Besides accounting for the laminator’s footprint, electrical and other requirements, such as a compatible compressor in some instances, make sure there’s enough workspace as well. All of this space should be level and solid.

“You should have a good idea about what kind of worktable will be required, both for input and output. The length of the worktable is proportionate to the length of graphics you want to laminate. The worktable should be attached by way of bracketry so that it’s square and level,” says AGL’s Buisker.

Daige manufacturers a variety of cold laminators, which are perfect for applications like vehicle graphics where you’re applying a pressure-sensitive laminate to one side of the print. Image courtesy of Daige

It’s also a good idea to place rubber mats underneath the laminator’s legs to mitigate static electricity. Static is one of the biggest problems in the print process, but it’s also easily fixed.

Finally, Leto recommends partnering with a laminator company that will provide good service. This seems obvious, but you need to find out how responsive—or non-responsive—the company might be. Give them a call and first see how easy it is to reach someone. Then see how long it takes for someone to get back to you after you leave a message.

“If you have a difficult time reaching someone or getting a call back, that’s what you can expect down the road if you need help or service. Meanwhile you’ve got jobs piling up while your laminator is down,” says Leto.

Sign & Digital Graphics

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