Need Help Need help selecting laminator used only for applying transfer tape

[kheebl]

What kind of app tape are you using? I only find myself messing up sometimes when I use the clear app tape and that's due to the static, but when using paper app tape I never mess it up maybe an occasional wrinkle in the tape but it never affects the decal.

 

[victor bogdanov]

What kind of app tape are you using? I only find myself messing up sometimes when I use the clear app tape and that's due to the static, but when using paper app tape I never mess it up maybe an occasional wrinkle in the tape but it never affects the decal.

nekoosa 775 (formerly know as perfect tear plus), I never mess up by hand, flatbed occasionally wrinkles backing on areas without vinyl on certain patterns such as 10ft long 4 inch wide trees spaced a inch apart

 

[kheebl]

nekoosa 775 (formerly know as perfect tear plus), I never mess up by hand, flatbed occasionally wrinkles backing on areas without vinyl on certain patterns such as 10ft long 4 inch wide trees spaced a inch apart

Never heard of that stuff before, I've been using R-tape 4075 or 4076 for years.

 

[victor bogdanov]

Never heard of that stuff before, I've been using R-tape 4075 or 4076 for years.

Pretty much exactly the same stuff as r tape with rla especially now that nekoosa owns r tape and main tape

 

[SignMeUpGraphics]

Does RLA even work properly? I've tried using our laminator to apply tape to graphics and within minutes of it coming off the machine, every single part of the tape that isn't stuck to vinyl will buckle wildly making for a difficult install on large jobs. This has happened with the last 3 rolls of 4076 material, all fresh.

 

[victor bogdanov]

Does RLA even work properly? I've tried using our laminator to apply tape to graphics and within minutes of it coming off the machine, every single part of the tape that isn't stuck to vinyl will buckle wildly making for a difficult install on large jobs. This has happened with the last 3 rolls of 4076 material, all fresh.

Yes rla does make a huge difference especially when shipping the rolled decals, never get that issue with rla

 

[victor bogdanov]

Does RLA even work properly? I've tried using our laminator to apply tape to graphics and within minutes of it coming off the machine, every single part of the tape that isn't stuck to vinyl will buckle wildly making for a difficult install on large jobs. This has happened with the last 3 rolls of 4076 material, all fresh.

Yes rla does make a huge difference especially when shipping the rolled decals, never get that issue with rla

I think rolling up right after applying tape also helps and I notice temperature/humidity changes can affect the tape a bit but im totally satisfied with nekoosa 775 /rtape with rla, plus the price i get is hard to beat

 

[Signed Out]

With the flatbed applicator we have found that after taping a sheet, roll past the graphic so that you can cut the tape behind the roller. We cut the tape on the graphic, taking some of the backing paper with it. Makes it easy to handle and sort of roll some more tape out and over the roller sot it's ready and waiting to tape the next sheet.

 

[victor bogdanov]

With the flatbed applicator we have found that after taping a sheet, roll past the graphic so that you can cut the tape behind the roller. We cut the tape on the graphic, taking some of the backing paper with it. Makes it easy to handle and sort of roll some more tape out and over the roller sot it's ready and waiting to tape the next sheet.

This just gave me an idea to try that I hope works. You know how you have to slide the vinyl and roller back to the starting point if the section you are working on is longer than the table and then continue applying the tape. I will do this and keep adding sections without cutting the transfer tape and let the just taped stuff slide onto an adjacent table for trimming. Can't wait to give this a try tommorow!

 

[jfiscus]

For applying rolls of app tape to rolls of vinyl I really like the GBC Arctic Titan laminator. We have one that has done probably 50,000 rolls of mask.
Really, any laminator works for this, but simpler actually is better for app tape.

 

[taebde]

A little background:

In business 10 years making wall decals (sayings, trees, animals etc)

Business is going good and I'm expanding but we have a major bottleneck in production --- applying transfer tape.

I currently have 2-3 station set up with WEBERmade Tape Tool and while it is good and fast it is physically exhausting and impossible to find anyone willing to do that type of work outside myself and invested parities in the business. I can mask (and trim) 150yd this way in 5-6hrs and have another person that can do the same. (Most of the sections are 4ft to 10ft long) It is hard work and training others to do it fast has failed, they are either way too slow or give up after a week.


So I did some research and bought a CWT flatbed roller table, it is a dream for applying vinyl to banners, applying graphics to substrate etc but it is a little slower at applying transfer tape than we can do manually, mostly due to having to square up and "set up" the tape around the roller every section (they really need to add a brake to the roller assembly, this would make it slightly easier)

I've seen a method used by businesses doing what I do where they have a laminator sandwiched between two long tables, I tried this method very early on when I was starting the business with a very bad chinese laminator and it was horrible. But I think this might just be the way to go with quality equipment.

Can anyone recommend a good laminator, all vinyl and transfer tape I use is 30" wide, the laminator will be used only for transfer tape and Ideally this set up would be able to do 300+ yards per day of various length decals up to 10ft long.

Any recommendations/tips/trick are welcome, I know nothing about laminators

Would you love to sell the Webermade tools?

 

[Johnny Best]

Did Victor ever get this problem solved? This post is like 1.5 years ago.

 

[taebde]

Did Victor ever get this problem solved? This post is like 1.5 years ago.

Well, I used the search function first. Can not see a problem with this.

 

[victor bogdanov]

Did Victor ever get this problem solved? This post is like 1.5 years ago.

We're still using the flatbed for transfer tape. I am going to try applying transfer tape to a whole weeded roll using a friends laminator soon

 

[victor bogdanov]

Well, I used the search function first. Can not see a problem with this.

replied to your PM

 

[Stacey K]

Interesting! Let us know how it works please

 

[JBurton]

We're still using the flatbed for transfer tape. I am going to try applying transfer tape to a whole weeded roll using a friends laminator soon

I've done this, not a whole roll but something like 70'. Best thing I did was add a banner shipping tube, the 6 or 8 inch one, over the takeup reel. This keeps the vinyl from buckling when it's rolled too tight, and also keeps the premask off the laminator platen on the back side. Trick is to waste a good bit of mask to thread the whole thing and put a few wraps on the core to see how straight you're tracking, then open the nip, insert the vinyl, (pull tight from the back side of the vinyl (which is pretty challenging considering that's where the oversized takeup is sitting), then clamp the nip shut and go to town.
The challenge is to weed a roll of vinyl without cutting it down to manageable sizes. I got on of these to help, but a second would be best. Had to grind down where the edges protrude beyond the rollers though, otherwise it's a pretty decent tool out of the box.

APPRoller Tape Application Roller

APPRoller Tape Application Roller

uscutter.com

 

[jfiscus]

We apply transfer tape to full rolls with a basic GFP laminator. We feed a 12' tables worth out onto a table, then cut it off, then repeat (stack) until the roll is complete. Then we cut it down into individual decals. Sometimes if it isn't a full roll of the same thing, we just cut the tables worth down and then feed the next part and repeat. Never left a full roll of weeded decals "together". That's just asking for tunneling.

We do mask full rolls of air release vinyl (not weeded) roll-to-roll on laminators; then slit it with our slitter after that, but slitting smaller rolls is definitely easier.

 

[JBurton]

We apply transfer tape to full rolls with a basic GFP laminator. We feed a 12' tables worth out onto a table, then cut it off, then repeat (stack) until the roll is complete. Then we cut it down into individual decals. Sometimes if it isn't a full roll of the same thing, we just cut the tables worth down and then feed the next part and repeat. Never left a full roll of weeded decals "together". That's just asking for tunneling.

We do mask full rolls of air release vinyl (not weeded) roll-to-roll on laminators; then slit it with our slitter after that, but slitting smaller rolls is definitely easier.

I have a couple of questions on this.
How do you feed the beginning of the next sheet into the laminator? Mine almost always catches one side before the other, or worse, both sides but not the center, which causes tunneling. Do you open the nip? Seems to be the only way to guarantee it feeding true.
Why do you mask rolls of unweeded vinyl? I've tried to get out of weeding something delicate by masking and installing first, figuring to weed it after it's applied, but I always regret it.

 

[SightLine]

Like Jfiscus we also have an older GBC Arctic Titan (165) that we exclusively use for app taping and mounting. Used to be our main laminator years ago. Keep usually 4 different roll sizes of tape on it.

As far as feeding, it just takes practice and finesse to get it to where you almost never mess up but sometimes you still will when feeding individual pieces back to back. The key is if you let one corner hit first, you just have to let it feed in crooked (or immediately stop and reverse to pull it back out), if you try to force it back straight it will wrinkle/tunnel. Really no different than laminating really. Can also trim the backing in an every so slight arc so that you are more confident if the center feeding first.