Discussion Choosing the right 60"+ LAMINATOR

[rdelight]

Hi there,

There are multiple threads about laminators, but they're all dated.
I'm trying to pick a good reliable laminator, as I'm currently experiencing huge issues with my Master Laminator Us Tech Vt8700. It's creating wrinkles, it doesn't keep straight, it doesn't hold even pressure on both ends even with multiple adjustments and the support is literally none.

So far I found that Seal is the number one laminator in the US, but it's quite pricy which pays overtime.
What are your thoughts about GFP and Royal Sovereign?

Should I go with a pneumatic or manual crank laminator? Does the pneumatic loose air and causing issues? Does the crank press equally on both sides?

We mostly do vehicle wraps and for that, we only use cold lamination, but we also do some signs and cold laminating leaves some silvering, is this something that I should be worried and be a reason to get heat assisted one?

Royal Sovereign RSC-6500H Laminator - $12 000 Heat assisted
Seal 62 Base Laminator -$12 000 Heat Assisted
Seal 65EL Laminator - $8 600 - Cold laminator only
Gfp 363TH Laminator - $6 300 - Heat Assited

There aren't any expos coming soon where I ca go ahead and test any of those. Hopefully, you guys have more experience.

 

[WYLDGFI]

Seal isn't bad....I would stay away from RS had one and didn't like it much. Small rollers didnt help.
AGL I believe has the Compadre....its imported likely but not 100% on that fact. I almost got it and really liked it. Seems robust and easily maintainable. Have to worry about power too. 120/220 and amps of course.

 

[FireSprint.com]

We run a GFP and like it alot.

 

[rdelight]

Looks like a lot of people are quite happy with the GFP.
I see that the more expensive laminators are having silicone rollers and tension springs on each side of the roller, however the GFP doesn't have a spring, but it's direct adjustment nut and that worries me.

Is it better to have silicon over rubber roller and does the tension spring vs nut matters?

Another thing that comes to my mind is that GFP's are 400-500lbs compared to other brands that weights 700-800lbs. Does that mean they're made with cheaper/thinner material?

I'm comming from a cheap chineese laminator and I don't want to repead my mistake again.

 

[Tessellate]

Seal 62 base with heat assist here.

We can run a 150’ roll of 180 with 8518 and it MIGHT skew a 32nd...

Bought the machine second hand from a shop closing the doors so I would date it around 10 years old (as we have had the machine for 5 years) and the only repair has been a simple fuse when we left the heater on and it somehow tripped the fuse. A $0.25 fuse and we’re back in business.

Cannot say enough good things about this guy. It’s dead simple inside so repairs for any future issues should not be a problem. Weights a small car but very tough because of it.

Highly recommend - Buy once - cry once

 

[Notarealsignguy]

I hate air. Just another thing to trip over and a hand crank gives you feedback on tension. We have 2 cheap china laminators. 1 is so off you can visually see it. I think you'd be surprised how far out of wack these can be and still work right. Before you throw in the towel, mess with it a bit. When ours wrinkles, I grab the roll of laminate on 1 side. Just try to counteract the skew and see how it goes, you can see it react.

 

[tudouqiezi]

Kala Mistral 1650

 

[netsol]

i am too cheap for a brand new RS or seal
we have a 44" seal and a RS1650C that were both craigslist purchases.
plenty of money left on the table to send rollers to a machine shop or a resurfacing company for the money saved

 

[FatCat]

Seal seems to be a good name, and well built, but I have never owned or ran one.

We have a GFP 563TH and its been pretty good, big improvement over our US Tech AK-600. However, for the life of me I can't get it to track straight as much as I'd like. When I do get it right it is fine, but more often than not on long runs I wind up cutting and resetting the material after about 20' in or so. I

would also look at the Kala Mistral as I have heard really good things about it.

 

[jfiscus]

We run GFP 563th laminators here and do full rolls all day long. We are also primarily a wrap shop.
Everyone in the shop can run these laminators they're so easy to use. I haven't seen any issues that weren't operator error out of them.
After like 3-4 years one of our heating elements went out on one of our laminators, but it was the old style quartz element. It was easy to replace.
We do run the top heat on 110 degrees to make it look perfect immediately, I think the little bit of heat helps the adhesive too.

 

[axelmk]

We've had our Seal 62 Pro since 2008 and it has been a workhorse ever since. We've had to replace the heating lamps once in all this time of use and we use daily.
Highly recommend it.

 

[OhioSigns]

I love my Kala Mistral 1650.

 

[balstestrat]

Neschen makes solid laminators but I'm not sure if they sell in the US.

 

[karst41]

Nix the Seal quality and service is gone with the wind. So bad that I scrapped my 62 Pro
and plenty reports on Heater failure.
Seal is now owned by GBC.

RS 6500 no Temp adjustment runs at 138 deg
No media slitter option
Rollers are a bilch from heII to adjust.....! Unless you have the
correct method. There are NO youtube videos for the 6500
The older series procedures Do NOT work on the 6500.
I bought this laminator, regrettably.

GFP is the way to go.
Ease of adjustment, Temp control adj. Slitter Option

Get a good sales rep. That will make calls if your new equip
has issues. Gregory in Ks (Steve) or Athens Paper would be a good call to make.

A fully loaded GFP is under 12k
If I could do it over,,,, GFP.

 

[wleong]

Does anyone have any experience with AGL laminators?

William

 

[BillGram]

William, I sold a lot of AGLs back in the 90s (Encad days) and early 2000s. IMO it is the best made and designed laminators ever made.
Here is a Video Link to and AGL video. If you look for used AGLs on any use equipment site, ebay, etc., they are not there, no one sells them unless they are out of business. Easily a 25 to 30 year longenvity.
If you are overlaming wrap film there is no better machine to do.

 

[WYLDGFI]

Does anyone have any experience with AGL laminators?

William

We have an AGL Encore. Its a beast and does an awesome job. IT was an investment and one Im happy I made for my company.

 

[BillGram]

Wyld Bill. Good to hear about your experience with AGL.
I also suspect that you would say over time well it was well worth the additional money you spent vs. lower cost laminators.
Bill

 

[WYLDGFI]

100% yes. We had a model from a vendor of ours, imported from China and it lasted us 5 years or so...but the AGL is hands down awesome. Laminating roll to roll or even flat rigid prints it does the job right the 1st time. Heated top roller....works great. Just had to run an upgraded power line and air line to it. Not a big deal really.

 

[ozzie2433]

Seal seems to be a good name, and well built, but I have never owned or ran one.

We have a GFP 563TH and its been pretty good, big improvement over our US Tech AK-600. However, for the life of me I can't get it to track straight as much as I'd like. When I do get it right it is fine, but more often than not on long runs I wind up cutting and resetting the material after about 20' in or so. I

would also look at the Kala Mistral as I have heard really good things about it.