Cold laminating with 51" manual laminator

[Sign and Print]

Hi Folks. I have recently invested in a Roland VP540, plus a 51" cold laminator - manual job with the crank handle on the side. And I'm having issues! The pressure I am using is about 1/8 turn more from when the rollers contact, but still the material bunches as it is going through. My initial setup is trim the craft paper from the laminate about 3", then squeegee that to the printed film as carefully and straight as possible. I feed it as gently and evenly as possible into the rollers, then eyes everywhere to make sure it goes through cleanly. Does anyone have any more or better ideas please?

 

[player]

What size print?

What brand/model laminator? What size are the rollers?

Pics?

Have you tried just running material through without laminating?

Do you have a leader board to ensure the material is entering the rollers square?

How do you keep the laminate under tension?

 

[Sign and Print]

The print is about 45" wide x 6' long. The rollers are about 4" diameter. Pressure is exerted by adjusting screws at each end. I wind each down until the rollers touch, then add 1/8th turn of each screw. Then turn the handle on the end which turns the top roller And draws the material through. It works much better at the 1/8 th turn than the 1/2 turn I tried originally. Just running material also buckles. What is a leader board? And why/how to tension the laminate? Thanks in advanced

 

[player]

A leader board can be a piece of thin board that you put into the rollers then attach the print to it so everything is square. I have used thin styrene for this.

Another option is a board larger than the print to carry the print through the rollers.

When I laminate I need to have tension on the laminate. It cannot be slack or just draped over the rollers. If you don't have a way to tension the laminate you can get someone to pull it so it is somewhat tight.

The model and a pic of your laminator would be helpful. There is probably someone here with experience on that laminator.

You may have the wrong pressure as well.