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Selecting The Right Laminator It's wise to be discriminating when |
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| Should I use hot or cold laminates? Continued ... Most manufacturers of laminators for digital imaging make:
Many high-volume imaging businesses thermally laminate almost everything. For example, Jim Offut, owner of Mediagraphics, Inc., Belleville, NJ, estimates that 98% of the work from his five 36-inch HP and Encad printers is thermally laminated on his 38 inch imaging laminator/mounter. Cold lamination must be used with piezo inkjet inks or when thermal films won't adhere to the media or if the media won't tolerate any heat. But cold lamination has taken a backseat to hot lamination for many graphic applications because cold laminating films typically cost several times more than hot laminating films of the same thickness and quality. Also, most cold laminators coat only one side of an item per pass. On a one-sided job, exposed adhesive from the laminating film can stick to the rollers, causing a wrap-around or making a mess elsewhere inside the laminator. So to protect the rollers from exposed adhesives, one-sided laminating must be set up by feeding scrap paper or by running a roll of masking paper under the whole job. On a typical doubled-sided thermal laminator, this problem is eliminated because as the two opposing webs of material unwind from the supply roll, there is no exposed adhesive -- even when the film is being advanced without laminating anything. However, some double-sided cold laminators are just hitting the U.S. market. Even though heat -intolerant inkjet inks and media must be cold-laminated, some heat-sensitive inkjet materials can still be finished on a hot laminator with the right film and technique. For example, some inkjet papers tend to warp when exposed to heat too long. They can still be run on a hot laminator if you increase the speed of the machine. It's like moving your fingers through a candle flame. If you move your finger quickly, the flame won't hurt you. |
Will the equipment be used for
mounting? Another aspect of finishing big-format color graphics is mounting. Like lamination, it may be done with either heat-activated or cold pressure-sensitive adhesives. Heat-activated adhesive mounting, also known as dry mounting, is a process that has been typically used by art or photo-framing businesses. Conventional dry-mount adhesives often don't do a good job of holding coated inkjet papers to coated mounting materials such as foamboard. While some new heat-activated adhesives have been developed especially for coated papers and mounting boards, many imaging businesses still use cold pressure-sensitive adhesives for mounting. Although more costly than heat-activated adhesives, these adhesives will stick just about any paper to any mounting substrate. If their equipment is up to the task, most imaging providers will simultaneously mount and laminate all items that are going to be mounted. If your machine can't handle laminating and mounting in one pass, you'll have to run your images through the machine twice, and change the setup between runs. Even when your machine is set up for encapsulation, you can still do one-pass mounting and laminating. Laminating the back of an inexpensive mounting board can enhance its rigidity and offer additional protection. And, you avoid set-up changes. What should my laminator be able to do? Listed below are some of the specific functions you might want a laminator to perform. These functions will vary depending on the type of printer you use and your most frequent applications, but will generally apply to the vast majority of digital imaging businesses. Encapsulation. Many successful shops say that they automatically encapsulate most items. The only decision then is whether and how to mount the image. Mounting. Most shops will want to be able to cold mount some items and hot mount others. Most will use mounting substrates less than 1/2 inch thick. If you choose to buy uncoated mounting board, make sure your machine can also apply typical one-liner cold mounting adhesives. At this time, there is no practical process for using a laminator to apply thermal adhesives to uncoated boards. |
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