Lamination problems

[DWC2020]

Good day everyone,
New to the group, and industry. But can anyone please please tell me why I would be getting small bubbles and wrinkles in the middle of my media every time I laminate. I have even pressure on the rollers and everything set up right to my knowledge. This issue just started happening and I’m curious if my laminator is just a POS or if I am at laminating. At this time any answer would help. Thank you.

 

[rjssigns]

If it worked fine before then you will have to backtrack and try to make a list of things that could have changed. Humidity? Different laminate? New substrate? Something jacked up with the rollers or drive?
I used to build precision equipment for the paper industry and sometimes the problems didn't make sense. Like, how can this machine run perfect for months then start eating the web? Then you go back and start checking and find one tiny little thing is worn to the point of being out of tolerance. Sometimes that all it takes.


Other than that I've posted on laminating and what I do to avoid issues. It's all in the prep.

 

[Pewter0000]

What kind of laminator set up do you have?
I find that our media really makes a difference. For instance, some of the cores don't fit snug on our laminator, and when there's less left on the roll the tension is negatively affected. We also find stripping the backer paper roll in a timely manner helps a lot, to get the junk out of the way and also to avoid any wrinkleys.

Looks like your backer paper is all scrunched on the back. When we have that issue, it's because we either didn't set up the vinyl properly (not a nice flat piece going in flush), or we've made an error with our tension. Before we do a large bit, sometimes we run a scrap leader in to make sure it's gonna play nice.

 

[Bob Elliott]

What brand and model is your laminator? If the middle has bubbles and wrinkles and the sides look great that's an indication the rollers are bowing in the center. This is usually caused by adding too much top roller pressure if they are flat rollers. If the rollers are crowned, they could be worn out or have taken a 'set' from running a lot of rigid substrate down the middle all the time. Try backing off the pressure first.