whgjettdesigns
New Member
How do I keep from having little air bubbles in my laminate jobs using the big squeegee? Also what is the best way to get the air bubbles out?
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Big Squeegee Laminator?
- Thread starter whgjettdesigns
- Start date
CropMarks
New Member
I love the Big Squeegee but it was driving me nuts with air bubbles. In my case I am pretty darn sure that the cause was my table. I've heard people mention in youtube videos that unless your table is nice and level wherever you use it, you can get bubbles.
as far as getting rid of them, sometimes I've been able to put a tiny hole in them and work them away.... sometimes.
as far as getting rid of them, sometimes I've been able to put a tiny hole in them and work them away.... sometimes.
Mosh
New Member
Silvering. Let is sit a day or two and they mostly go away. The BS is awesome, but it is not as good as a laminator. We do use ours to laminate stuff under 4' or so and use it to apply almost everything to substraits. We we the laminator on longer stuff.
Anyway, practice, smooth table and let it sit is my advise.
Anyway, practice, smooth table and let it sit is my advise.
JR's
New Member
whgjettdesigns
New Member
what is silvering?
J
john1
Guest
I had the BIGGEST time beleiving the BS was nothing but BS lol but after working at it about a dozen times i got it down.
You have to tape the end of the graphic down, then roll out the laminate you need, line it up, tape it down just in front of your graphic, roll it up with the sticky side facing up towards you (keep backing on), and you roll it up to the cradle of the BS at the end you taped it at and then lift up the backing paper, pull the backing AND swipe it across the graphic until your done. Pulling at the same time allows no room for crinkles from the thin backing getting stuck between the squeegee and the backing.
Sorry for the long sentence but that's my tips.
Make sure your table is 100% flat and smooth. I use a MDF board table for laminating only.
Silver WILL OCCUR and it's nothing but lack of pressure from what i understand, all you do is laminate the print, let it sit 24hrs and most if not all the silvering will go away. It actually looks terrible and like the print has a silver haze but it will clear up. Trust me.
Another thing to help is print the print, let it outgas a few hours then laminate and don't contour cut the print until the silvering is gone. This has worked the best from my experiences.
This is exactly how i do mine but i pull the backing as i go, not let it roll itself since i use oracal laminates which have a thin backing instead of a thicker like in the video. Use a tack clothe like painters use to wipe any dust or dirt from the prints. Has worked WONDERFUL vs a microfiber i first tried using which sucked.
Hope T3 doesn't mind me posting his video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfKd_SlnI20&feature=fvst
You have to tape the end of the graphic down, then roll out the laminate you need, line it up, tape it down just in front of your graphic, roll it up with the sticky side facing up towards you (keep backing on), and you roll it up to the cradle of the BS at the end you taped it at and then lift up the backing paper, pull the backing AND swipe it across the graphic until your done. Pulling at the same time allows no room for crinkles from the thin backing getting stuck between the squeegee and the backing.
Sorry for the long sentence but that's my tips.
Make sure your table is 100% flat and smooth. I use a MDF board table for laminating only.
Silver WILL OCCUR and it's nothing but lack of pressure from what i understand, all you do is laminate the print, let it sit 24hrs and most if not all the silvering will go away. It actually looks terrible and like the print has a silver haze but it will clear up. Trust me.
Another thing to help is print the print, let it outgas a few hours then laminate and don't contour cut the print until the silvering is gone. This has worked the best from my experiences.
This is exactly how i do mine but i pull the backing as i go, not let it roll itself since i use oracal laminates which have a thin backing instead of a thicker like in the video. Use a tack clothe like painters use to wipe any dust or dirt from the prints. Has worked WONDERFUL vs a microfiber i first tried using which sucked.
Hope T3 doesn't mind me posting his video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfKd_SlnI20&feature=fvst
gabagoo
New Member
Yes it was that video that made me finally understand how to do it. thanks t3
Some laminates have a nice thick backing paper and will respond the way you see in the video.... the thinner backed backing paper will generally jump out in front of you while pushing the squeegee and then you jam up and have to pull the paper forward while trying to apply the pressure evenly over the graphic.
Not being able to have that free hand to apply pressure over the whole squeegee will result in more silvering. It does go away and sometimes I have experienced it taking upwards of a week....but will relax... Dont decide to go over it with a regular squeegee or you will end up with definate tinybubbles that wont go away...just let it sit or you can hit it carefully with a heat gun to warm up the laminate.
I like to roll up all the backing paper afterwards and then I simply keep putting roll into roll until I get a nice big roll...then either we use it for packaging or I toss it.
Some laminates have a nice thick backing paper and will respond the way you see in the video.... the thinner backed backing paper will generally jump out in front of you while pushing the squeegee and then you jam up and have to pull the paper forward while trying to apply the pressure evenly over the graphic.
Not being able to have that free hand to apply pressure over the whole squeegee will result in more silvering. It does go away and sometimes I have experienced it taking upwards of a week....but will relax... Dont decide to go over it with a regular squeegee or you will end up with definate tinybubbles that wont go away...just let it sit or you can hit it carefully with a heat gun to warm up the laminate.
I like to roll up all the backing paper afterwards and then I simply keep putting roll into roll until I get a nice big roll...then either we use it for packaging or I toss it.