Mounting Vinyl with a laminator

[WB]

I thought I'd post a quick and dirty version of how I use our Laminator to mount vinyl to different boards.

In my opinion if you have a Laminator then you should be using it to mount your vinyl. Alot of people do it by hand or with a Big Squeegee which is perfectly fine if that all you have, but a laminator can to the job faster and better.

This sign is Arlon Cast vinyl with a cast overlam being mounted to 3mm Dibond.

I've found that if you leave abit of extra material on the bottom you won't get small air bubbles from you crease line.



With laminated vinyl I don't normally apply pre-mask but for the sake of demonstration I did. It's just a 3" strip across the bottom, Once you get comfortable mounting you can do away with it. When I'm training someone I usual get them to apply the pre-mask to everything until they get hang of it..





After the Pre-mask is on and trimmed you flip the vinyl over and fold a small flap up about 1-1.5"







Then flip it over and line it up on your material, then press down you hinge. You can see in the picture that I didn't use all the vinyl I had left for my hinge, I only did this because I only had about a 1/2" of Dibond to play with..






It's important whenever possible to mount your hinge to a straight edge thats nice and square, this will ensure that when you start feeding into the laminator it'll run straight and apply the vinyl evenly. If you end up shoving 1 corner in 1st it'll end up apply the vinyl at an angle and you'll end up with the chance of getting a wrinkle it shifting your print as it lays it down..






So normally I'll push th eboard up to the rollers and make sure it's straight then feed it in a 1/2" or so. This will hold the vinyl down so you can then hold up the print over the roller.. like so



Once you have it up over the roller you want to make sure that the vinyl is tight but not streched. You want to the vinyl to be nice and smooth across the roller. If the vinylis nice and smooth as it goes through then you'll have a nice flat print, if you start seeign wrinkles at the bottom of the roller stop..






So once your in place with the vinyl up over the roller you simple press the pedal and make sure your removing the release liner as it feeds through.





A couple of things, if you start to see some small wrinkles you can sometimes avoid wrinkles by apply some tension on the print as it goes through. If you drop the release liner or vinyl and it goes through, back it up and keep going most of the time you'll be fine depending on the material.. I'd also recommend NOT have the heat on the rollers if you have a hot laminator, the heat will stretch the vinyl..

That's about it I guess. Once you get the hang of it you'll never look back.. I can run non laminated 4'x8' by myself with no worries. On material like Corex it'll apply the vinyl no problem with no bubbles in the grooves. I also normally go 1 setting smaller then my material, Ex. that piece of 3mm Dibond was mounted on the 2mm setting.

Anyway I hope that helps someone.

If anyone has any questions let me know

Bill

 

[Kevin-shopVOX]

We use the laminator all the time, however I use the laminator as the hinge. Put the board half way in, then put your print on it ( I typically oversize the print a bit.) Lower the rollers and now you have a center hinge. Flip the backing over the roller cut the backing away. Mount then turn the board 180 and do the same thing but you don't need to cut the backing this time. Just peel and the laminator will do the rest.

 

[Graphics2u]

We use the laminator all the time, however I use the laminator as the hinge. Put the board half way in, then put your print on it ( I typically oversize the print a bit.) Lower the rollers and now you have a center hinge. Flip the backing over the roller cut the backing away. Mount then turn the board 180 and do the same thing but you don't need to cut the backing this time. Just peel and the laminator will do the rest.

+1

 

[Graphics2u]

I thought I'd post a quick and dirty version of how I use our Laminator to mount vinyl to different boards.

In my opinion if you have a Laminator then you should be using it to mount your vinyl. Alot of people do it by hand or with a Big Squeegee which is perfectly fine if that all you have, but a laminator can to the job faster and better.

This sign is Arlon Cast vinyl with a cast overlam being mounted to 3mm Dibond.

I've found that if you leave abit of extra material on the bottom you won't get small air bubbles from you crease line.



With laminated vinyl I don't normally apply pre-mask but for the sake of demonstration I did. It's just a 3" strip across the bottom, Once you get comfortable mounting you can do away with it. When I'm training someone I usual get them to apply the pre-mask to everything until they get hang of it..





After the Pre-mask is on and trimmed you flip the vinyl over and fold a small flap up about 1-1.5"







Then flip it over and line it up on your material, then press down you hinge. You can see in the picture that I didn't use all the vinyl I had left for my hinge, I only did this because I only had about a 1/2" of Dibond to play with..






It's important whenever possible to mount your hinge to a straight edge thats nice and square, this will ensure that when you start feeding into the laminator it'll run straight and apply the vinyl evenly. If you end up shoving 1 corner in 1st it'll end up apply the vinyl at an angle and you'll end up with the chance of getting a wrinkle it shifting your print as it lays it down..






So normally I'll push th eboard up to the rollers and make sure it's straight then feed it in a 1/2" or so. This will hold the vinyl down so you can then hold up the print over the roller.. like so



Once you have it up over the roller you want to make sure that the vinyl is tight but not streched. You want to the vinyl to be nice and smooth across the roller. If the vinylis nice and smooth as it goes through then you'll have a nice flat print, if you start seeign wrinkles at the bottom of the roller stop..






So once your in place with the vinyl up over the roller you simple press the pedal and make sure your removing the release liner as it feeds through.





A couple of things, if you start to see some small wrinkles you can sometimes avoid wrinkles by apply some tension on the print as it goes through. If you drop the release liner or vinyl and it goes through, back it up and keep going most of the time you'll be fine depending on the material.. I'd also recommend NOT have the heat on the rollers if you have a hot laminator, the heat will stretch the vinyl..

That's about it I guess. Once you get the hang of it you'll never look back.. I can run non laminated 4'x8' by myself with no worries. On material like Corex it'll apply the vinyl no problem with no bubbles in the grooves. I also normally go 1 setting smaller then my material, Ex. that piece of 3mm Dibond was mounted on the 2mm setting.

Anyway I hope that helps someone.

If anyone has any questions let me know

Bill

Great post Bill! I'm surprised how many don't use their laminator to mount prints.

 

[javila]

Little tip for long prints. The folded edge of the backing paper can be "hooked" onto the leading edge of the substrate, after about two feet the substrate itself will pull the backing paper off the vinyl.

 

[Larry L]

Wow, my first time on this forum and I learned I can use my laminator to stick. I never ran thick material through my rolls, How do you set the height or pressure? I normally just lower it to the crank free spins.

 

[Vital Designs]

Good post!

I had a project a couple of years ago that required me to mount a translucent print to both sides of sheets of lexan. The pattern was different colored stripes going long ways. Using this method I was able to do 20 ft long sheets where the lines matched up perfectly.

I have a laminator between to 16 ft tables dedicated to mounting.

 

[digitalwoodshop]

This is an EXCELLENT POST.... I have a 4 foot Hang Crank Laminator and never thought of using it like this.... WOW.... :U Rock:

Thanks,

AL

 

[johnnysigns]

I used the center hinge method more often than starting on one side like the OP. I always found that a calendered air egress would aid in making sure the print went down perfectly over a normal calendered film.

 

[TheSnowman]

Good post! All your photo's appear to be loaded off site? At least a few I know were...might wanna upload those to the website here and save Fred or Stacy some extra work.

 

[Slamdunkpro]

We use the laminator all the time, however I use the laminator as the hinge. Put the board half way in, then put your print on it ( I typically oversize the print a bit.) Lower the rollers and now you have a center hinge. Flip the backing over the roller cut the backing away. Mount then turn the board 180 and do the same thing but you don't need to cut the backing this time. Just peel and the laminator will do the rest.

I'll bite, when doing a center hinge, 1) How do you cut the backing away without cutting the print and keep the hinge square? Do you peel the entire side? and 2) Don't you get air pockets or ridge lines where the hinge separates when you flip the piece around.

 

[phototec]

Great post

Wow, a great post with photos, thanks for adding the photos!

It's the only clear way to explain the process, A+++ from me.

 

[johnnysigns]

I'll bite, when doing a center hinge, 1) How do you cut the backing away without cutting the print and keep the hinge square? Do you peel the entire side? and 2) Don't you get air pockets or ridge lines where the hinge separates when you flip the piece around.

We peel the print back and cut the liner w/ scissors. W/ a calendered air egress film, there's no issues w/ lines. We mainly ran Oracal 3165RA as our 'standard' digital print film.

 

[GVP]

I find using scissors or a knife can leave whiskers of backing paper under the vinyl, so prefer to fold the paper under. Here's how we do it - it's pretty much the same as the original poster, but eliminates pre-mounting the leading edge to the board, and uses the laminator itself to hold everything in place.

 

[digitalwoodshop]

GVP,

This is a GREAT TIP !!!!!

Thanks,

AL

 

[sjm]

We use the laminator all the time, however I use the laminator as the hinge. Put the board half way in, then put your print on it ( I typically oversize the print a bit.) Lower the rollers and now you have a center hinge. Flip the backing over the roller cut the backing away. Mount then turn the board 180 and do the same thing but you don't need to cut the backing this time. Just peel and the laminator will do the rest.

It's probably implied as you use the hinge method too, but just in case for the other readers. Tack down the digital print with double side tape on all 4 corners, on a 4 x 8 print also at the half way point. We use a double sided carpet tape 1/2" x 1/2" will do.

This becomes especially important if you are mounting large prints to a substrate where the end product is and over sized mural and things must line up.

 

[The Sign Dude]

Great Post WB and GVP!

 

[asd]

thank you for sharing these great tips

 

[Shadowglen]

I find using scissors or a knife can leave whiskers of backing paper under the vinyl, so prefer to fold the paper under. Here's how we do it - it's pretty much the same as the original poster, but eliminates pre-mounting the leading edge to the board, and uses the laminator itself to hold everything in place.

Well I did my first 4'x8' using this method over the weekend and it worked spectacular. I have done several small signs with a smaller laminator but the line up method show above worked great. It is good to hunt down old posts for fresh ideas.

 

[eahicks]

Wow...I thought everyone used laminators for mounting. Kinda surprised to see so many just learning this.