looking to buy a new laminator

[dasigndr]

I am looking at buying a new laminator.
We do a lot of vinyl prints for vehicle wraps, decals, etc... also a lot of mounting onto Alupanel sheets from 4X8 to 5X10.
We presently use an EZ Taper that has served us well over the years.
What is everyone using for vinyl wraps and board mounting and laminating?

I have been looking into the Rolls Roller and Roll Over.

Please help asap!!!

 

[iPrintStuff]

Budget? You could go really cheap or really expensive here lol

 

[Boudica]

Our current laminator is a a Kayla Mistral and I highly recommend it. It' has a heat assist which helps with silvering, and the spooling option is great - I can do really long runs with this.

 

[FatCat]

We have a CWT 1640 flatbed laminator AND a GFP 563TH and use them both all day. The GFP is good for long runs like a whole wrap job or wall mural, the flatbed is great for smaller stuff or specialty laminates and also is the best at mounting and sticking vinyl to substrates.

Just my .02¢

 

[dasigndr]

I am looking at buying a new laminator.
We do a lot of vinyl prints for vehicle wraps, decals, etc... also a lot of mounting onto Alupanel sheets from 4X8 to 5X10.
We presently use an EZ Taper that has served us well over the years.
What is everyone using for vinyl wraps and board mounting and laminating?

I have been looking into the Rolls Roller and Roll Over.

Please help asap!!!

yes I do realize that and I do wish to see the full spectrum !

 

[dasigndr]

Our current laminator is a a Kayla Mistral and I highly recommend it. It' has a heat assist which helps with silvering, and the spooling option is great - I can do really long runs with this.

I was just researching that one this morning and it looked reasonable and reasonable priced. How long have you had it? and any issues that I can expect?

 

[dasigndr]

We have a CWT 1640 flatbed laminator AND a GFP 563TH and use them both all day. The GFP is good for long runs like a whole wrap job or wall mural, the flatbed is great for smaller stuff or specialty laminates and also is the best at mounting and sticking vinyl to substrates.

Just my .02¢

I nhave looked at the CWT's and was told that the frames twist and have issues. The rolls roller is supposed to be the best and.

 

[FatCat]

I nhave looked at the CWT's and was told that the frames twist and have issues. The rolls roller is supposed to be the best and.

Can't say I know anything about that. We've had ours over 3 years, it gets used most of the day, every day as we are all print and stick. No issues or problems thus far. I really couldn't understand how the frame could "twist" if you saw the structural steel under this thing I think you could park a car on it and it wouldn't bend. Maybe someone is referring to the smaller tables?

Again, if you're doing a lot of print and stick I would say having 2 laminators (roll fed and a flatbed) is the way to go as 1 won't be able to do all jobs as effectively as each unit has its strengths and weaknesses)

 

[Pixels Are Bad Mmmkay?]

We bought a RollsRoller 280/145 Entry (roughly 109" x 56") and it's been a great investment for both laminating prints and mounting to substrate. However, we don't do wraps so I can't speak on that. While I'd imagine the RollsRoller could laminate wrap panels easily enough, I'd think a standard roll to roll laminator would be a bit more efficient.

 

[Boudica]

I was just researching that one this morning and it looked reasonable and reasonable priced. How long have you had it? and any issues that I can expect?

We've had it for a few years now. We are actually on our second one - long story short, the first one was involved in a car accident and insurance bought a new one. The second one is as wonderful as the first one. Issues - particularly on the second one, the take-up core keeps trying to "crawl" out of it's slot. As I laminate it the rotation eventually rotates it out and it crashes on the floor. There should be more tension there - my current solution is a bungy cord which is doing the trick. Other issue most people have is the safety laser. I use our old laminator for mounting substrates which is where the safety laser on the Kayla is a pain. There is a workaround but some people don't find that helpful. When laminating vinyl the laser not so much of an issue - I don't have any problems.

 

[Boudica]

...when laminating a whole roll, it would get too heavy and the tension spring on the take up reel would compress and drop the roll, scaring the sh!t out of the guy staring at the leading edge of the machine! Sounds similiar to Boudica's issue with the Kayla if I'm not mistaken?

LOL, that does sound similar - however - it happens right at the start. Once I have enough spooled up, it will stay in place better (if I baby sit it and keep pushing it back in until it's heavy enough) - so it's not too much weight in my case. We just need to figure out how to get the tension back. I didn't have this problem with the first Kayla - well actually I take that back. After a while (year or so) this started happening but we just used a lil dab of lithium grease and that solved the problem - back then. It didn't work on the new one - buy my bungy cord does.

 

[Boudica]

That's really weird, can you shoot a picture? I've looked at these before, but not many pictures.
Also, now I have to ask, how did you get the laminator in a car accident?

Do you want a picture of the bungy?

 

[Boudica]

2nd try: how our laminator was in a car accident:

 

[Boudica]

As you can see, the laminator was parked, and this was clearly the other guys fault. DUI approx 70 mph, he took out a telephone pole before he smashed into our building.

 

[dasigndr]

Our current laminator is a a Kayla Mistral and I highly recommend it. It' has a heat assist which helps with silvering, and the spooling option is great - I can do really long runs with this.

can you do mounting onto 10mm coroplast without any bubbles? could you mount to 3mm and 6mm Alupaanel as well?

 

[Boudica]

can you do mounting onto 10mm coroplast without any bubbles? could you mount to 3mm and 6mm Alupaanel as well?

I believe you can. I have not tried it - I use our old laminator for mounting. Oh, another feature I have not tried yet, but your supposed to be able to laminate two sides at once. One of these days I'm going to try it, but the need hasn't come up yet.

 

[Boudica]

Do you want a picture of the bungy?

I really should state that the bungy thing should not be necessary - hopefully if you decide to get one you will not need a workaround. I really should get this fixed.

 

[Signed Out]

We have a Kala, got it mainly for the ability to lam full rolls with awesome tracking, and also be able to trim off the margins with the optional slitters. Hands down it laminates and tracks perfectly, full 150' rolls. But the slitters are designed all wrong and don't work good at all. We have used both versions of their slitters (they came out with a newly revised version because the original had so many complaints) the new updated version was even worse than the original.

The safety lasers as mentioned are a huge PIA on these. And everytime you trip it, you have to hit a reset button. Doesn't sound like much but super annoying. They can be bypassed, however we haven't bothered, since we don't use ours at all...

Mounting to substrates sucks big time on this machine too. Tables are too small, and the rollers have a very thin coating so they aren't as forgiving as say a royal soverign.

It is a hell of a laminator though, if all you want to do with it is long runs roll to roll. Set it and walk away. We ran about 60 rolls through ours during a large wrap project, and it's been parked in the corner of the shop ever since. We use our old royal soverign instead. Have been trying to get our supplier to buy it back, but yea not happening.

Anybody want to buy a slightly used one? About to put it up for sale on digital garage.

 

[Boudica]

We have a Kala,....Anybody want to buy a slightly used one? About to put it up for sale on digital garage.

The OP might, he's looking

 

[dasigndr]

Our current laminator is a a Kayla Mistral and I highly recommend it. It' has a heat assist which helps with silvering, and the spooling option is great - I can do really long runs with this.

have you done any mounting to Alupanel sheets or coroplast with your Kayla Mistral? if so, any issues?