Manual laminating

[Assman42]

Anybody here laminate stickers by hand or using a manual roll laminator? I’m using Drytac polar prem vinyl and their overlam. I was manually rolling the overlam on inkjet vinyl when I was using a cricut machine. Had no problems at all. Now I’ve moved to using a premium solvent vinyl and I cannot laminate without small bubbles and silver skin. I wait 24hrs, then I’ve tried the roller on various pressures, and even hand rolled small 8” squares with zero success. The big company here just told me I can’t manually laminate. Even though I told them I did it 100 times on other media.

Which kind of leaves me to think it’s possible to do manually but maybe it’s the vinyl?

 

[signheremd]

Silvering is normal when cold laminating. It usually goes away in a day or so. We use a CWT Cut Work Table with a roller to laminate. Some times on color tests I manually laminate using a tack roller. If you are trying to get all the silvering out, you will simply trap bubbles - let it work itself out. It is normal. If you need to show a sample without silvering, set the piece in the sun for an hour or so and the silvering disappears. Small bubbles are another thing - indicates places you missed, or your roller has damage, or humidity is up and the paper liner on your vinyl is warping. More pressure usually causes more problems... Hop that helps you

 

[Stacey K]

I concur with signheremd. I manually laminate everything from my latex printer with several different combo's of vinyl and laminates. Less pressure is best!!!! The silvering goes away.

I just did some race panels in which I printed, then overlayed with silver metallic and fluorescents then I laminated the entire panel and applied. There is a slight space on the edge of all the metallics and flourescents and there was silvering on the black print. The silvering is gone now and the gap will be gone once the car hits the sun. So, don't worry about it, it will be fine. (if this wasn't a race car I would probably use my finger around all the edges but...it's a race car so I'll let the sun do it)

 

[Assman42]

Silvering is normal when cold laminating. It usually goes away in a day or so. We use a CWT Cut Work Table with a roller to laminate. Some times on color tests I manually laminate using a tack roller. If you are trying to get all the silvering out, you will simply trap bubbles - let it work itself out. It is normal. If you need to show a sample without silvering, set the piece in the sun for an hour or so and the silvering disappears. Small bubbles are another thing - indicates places you missed, or your roller has damage, or humidity is up and the paper liner on your vinyl is warping. More pressure usually causes more problems... Hop that helps you

That’s good to know. It just seemed weird that it was flawless with the inkjet vinyl. And the one difference I could see was the texture of the Drytac vinyl as opposed to the inkjet vinyl which was very smooth.

 

[Assman42]

I concur with signheremd. I manually laminate everything from my latex printer with several different combo's of vinyl and laminates. Less pressure is best!!!! The silvering goes away.

I just did some race panels in which I printed, then overlayed with silver metallic and fluorescents then I laminated the entire panel and applied. There is a slight space on the edge of all the metallics and flourescents and there was silvering on the black print. The silvering is gone now and the gap will be gone once the car hits the sun. So, don't worry about it, it will be fine. (if this wasn't a race car I would probably use my finger around all the edges but...it's a race car so I'll let the sun do it)

Can I ask what media you use? I would like to get cast vinyl (probably Avery 1106) and matching laminate but didn’t want to spend all that money to find out I couldn’t laminate by hand. (Manually. I have one of those vevor laminate rollers). As of now I don’t do anything larger than 24” wide

 

[SeMi57]

I do 36" material, printed eco-solvent. hand laminated with the "Big-Squeegee", then most projects contour cut. Some not contour cut for race cars or trailer wraps. Sometimes contour cut imediately after laminating sometimes a day or so later. When I laminate there is noticable silvering, approximately 12 hours after laminating the silvering basically is not noticable. I use Oracal 3651 vinyl and either Oracal 200 or 210 clear laminate.

 

[Stacey K]

Can I ask what media you use? I would like to get cast vinyl (probably Avery 1106) and matching laminate but didn’t want to spend all that money to find out I couldn’t laminate by hand. (Manually. I have one of those vevor laminate rollers). As of now I don’t do anything larger than 24” wide

I have the same laminator, mine is 52". I use 54" material and when I print, I keep my prints under 48" so I can trim 3" off the side so it fits in the laminator.

For vehicles I use Arlon SLX with the Arlon laminate BUT I tried the Briteline Cast series and so far I've no issues with it. I used to use the 3M but it was pretty expensive.

For regular sign stuff, decals, etc. I've been using Briteline Duration X for about 2 years now and if it's outside signage I'll use whatever 2mil lam I have (either Arlon or Briteline) if it's inside stuff or just decals I'll use the Briteline Shield UV Luster. You're not supposed to use different brands but I do and have not had any issues.

Note: I have laminated all kinds of vinyl including reflective and window perf with my Vevor laminator and I've been doing it for about 8 years. No failures. I do partial vehicle wraps, trailers, boats, race cars, signs, decals...the whole gamut.

 

[Assman42]

I have the same laminator, mine is 52". I use 54" material and when I print, I keep my prints under 48" so I can trim 3" off the side so it fits in the laminator.

For vehicles I use Arlon SLX with the Arlon laminate BUT I tried the Briteline Cast series and so far I've no issues with it. I used to use the 3M but it was pretty expensive.

For regular sign stuff, decals, etc. I've been using Briteline Duration X for about 2 years now and if it's outside signage I'll use whatever 2mil lam I have (either Arlon or Briteline) if it's inside stuff or just decals I'll use the Briteline Shield UV Luster. You're not supposed to use different brands but I do and have not had any issues.

Note: I have laminated all kinds of vinyl including reflective and window perf with my Vevor laminator and I've been doing it for about 8 years. No failures. I do partial vehicle wraps, trailers, boats, race cars, signs, decals...the whole gamut.

That’s awesome. Thank you, I guess I’ll keep trying till I get it.