lamination

[Geneva Olson]

OK. I'm having a debate with my boyfriend over this. I gotta ask. What do you do when you are in the middle of laminating a run and you run out of lamination in the middle of a print? Do you laminate replace the role and laminate over it? do you pull the laminate off? or do you trash and start over?

 

[XtremeXccessories]

Depends on the job.

If it's somewhere it's going to be noticeable like in the middle of the side of a van I'll scrap that section and see if I can reprint from a seam, like a door. If it's something like a wall mural that's 10 feet off the ground I'd probably just seam the laminate with a new roll, but only overlap it .25" or so. If you relam the entire thing then it will shift the colors slightly on the section that's double laminated vs the single laminated section.

 

[Geneva Olson]

Depends on the job.

If it's somewhere it's going to be noticeable like in the middle of the side of a van I'll scrap that section and see if I can reprint from a seam, like a door. If it's something like a wall mural that's 10 feet off the ground I'd probably just seam the laminate with a new roll, but only overlap it .25" or so. If you relam the entire thing then it will shift the colors slightly on the section that's double laminated vs the single laminated section.

It's a 4'x8' realtor sign

 

[Geneva Olson]

It's a 4'x8' realtor sign

and it's literally the last foot of the print. mainly white space but there is the rest of the lettering.

 

[Boudica]

scrap it and start over

 

[Geneva Olson]

scrap it and start over

that's what I told my boyfriend. Man I hate wasting that print but it is what it is.

 

[White Haus]

scrap it and start over

Definitely. And hopefully learn from your mistake so it doesn't happen again.

Low tech solution: Keep lots of stock and if you think it might be close roll it out or put on another roll
Higher tech solution: Add a roll counter to your laminator so you can know exactly how much is left on your rolls

 

[jfiscus]

On most laminates it takes a few minutes for the glue to really "set". So, if it is a single panel job like this you can get it off the laminator quickly and onto your production table and yank the laminate back off before it sets up. We've had to do this with pieces that get a wrinkle or other laminate issue before. If you wait like a half hour it's not coming back off.

 

[Boudica]

On most laminates it takes a few minutes for the glue to really "set". So, if it is a single panel job like this you can get it off the laminator quickly and onto your production table and yank the laminate back off before it sets up. We've had to do this with pieces that get a wrinkle or other laminate issue before. If you wait like a half hour it's not coming back off.

are you talking about laminating a substrate, or laminating vinyl? It sounded like the OP was laminating vinyl.

 

[Adam Vreeke]

It's a 4'x8' realtor sign

That right there tells me that I would redo the whole thing over. Those people are pickier than satans a-hole and crabbier than one too.

 

[Geneva Olson]

That right there tells me that I would redo the whole thing over. Those people are pickier than satans a-hole and crabbier than one too.

I spit my drink out!

 

[jfiscus]

are you talking about laminating a substrate, or laminating vinyl? It sounded like the OP was laminating vinyl.

I was talking about laminating printed vinyl. We use 3M 180c and 8518/8519 primarily, so it may not work with other brands, but it works on these if you do it right away.

 

[Geneva Olson]

On most laminates it takes a few minutes for the glue to really "set". So, if it is a single panel job like this you can get it off the laminator quickly and onto your production table and yank the laminate back off before it sets up. We've had to do this with pieces that get a wrinkle or other laminate issue before. If you wait like a half hour it's not coming back off.

I would have pulled it off if it wasn't on the whole thing except the last foot of the project.

 

[WB]

Trash and start over. No questions asked

 

[Boudica]

I was talking about laminating printed vinyl. We use 3M 180c and 8518/8519 primarily, so it may not work with other brands, but it works on these if you do it right away.

Well, if you do it right, you won't run out laminate

 

[Johnny Best]

I think you and your boyfriend need better topics to talk about.
"I ran out of lamination just as I was getting close to the end of a 4x8 today." "That's hot Babe, it turns me on when you talk about putting your hands on those rolls of vinyl and slipping it in the laminator."

 

[truckgraphics]

It certainly depends on the pickiness of the customer....But if I had to finish up a realtor sign, I would cut a piece of laminate to fit, flood the remaining part of the sign with slightly soapy water and float the laminate up to the already laminated sign, creating a butt seam. I will be awfully hard to see if the rest of the sign is mostly white and shouldn't take too long to accomplish.

 

[Boudica]

You put soapy water on the print?

 

[Notarealsignguy]

It's crazy what nonsense people will do and the time they will waste to save 20 bucks. How don't you see it's gonna be short too?

 

[SignEST]

Get this.

Some people manually cut down the laminate from their rolls to fit individual prints to save that extra foot of laminate wasted using certain laminators. It also creates subpar laminations due to lack of tension. I guess if 5 inches looks like 7 then 6.5 feet of laminate might look over 8.