Q: Best way to accelerate a Diage Laminator

[petesign]

A: 9.8 m/s off the side of a freaking cliff.

I HATE my Daige Solo cold laminator. Anyone have any advice on how to get the pressure even on both sides so you don't run half of your expensive laminate out before it's set right, or ruin prints because of wrinkles? What a total POS... If my shop ever starts making enough, that's the first thing I am going to do is set that piece of junk (edited myself here for posterity sake) on fire and send the video to those rat bastages at Daige.

Not happy today, not happy at all.

 

[AUTO-FX]

feels good to get that off your chest , doesnt it?
been there.
makes a decent mounter though, so dont launch it yet.
maybe get a "big squeegee" instead.

 

[Accelerated Graphics]

I have a Daige3 Laminator but don't know what the difference is..
With nothing in it I set it at "0" clearance between the roller(turn it till they just touch) then back it off a tur, load my lamination and then pull it tight from behind and turn each knob to move the rollers together.. Mine works good with this setting.. Hope it helps..

 

[cajun312]

I have a Daige 4 and it works great, I use a pvc sled so I don't have to worry about the lam sticking to the rollers. Went through a full roll of lam this week with no problems.
The folks that make the Daige are nice and helpful if you call them, have you tried that?

 

[B-RAD Graphics]

:ROFLMAO:..i am so sorry but I really almost just fell off my chair i was laughing so hard. I had the same thing happen to over & over again when I first got mine 4yrs ago and it was not funny @ all..I hated it so bad and thought the same thing POS. But the truth of it is..it does work it just takes some of longer to figure out. I am still not there #1 fan but for the price the mounting alone make it worth it. 4x8 signs mount them by myself with know bubbles.

 

[petesign]

I don't use a sled, it's not loading the laminate and having it stick to the rollers that is the problem, it's adjusting the pressure equally on both sides.. the little green dots on the knobs never line up in the same place twice - so you waste 6 feet of laminate getting what you think is correct and equal pressure, load a 50 foot roll of printed vinyl to go through there, and the first 10 feet look fine, and then surprise surprise - wrinkles start to show. so you cut off the vinyl where you can, and waste another 6 feet of laminate to get it set again smooth, and start all over again. Sometimes you can do 100 feet with no problems, other times like today, I can't get the pressure equal for anything and just waste waste waste...

I bet in the 6 months I have been in business, I have wasted more prints and vinyl than this piece of crap cost me in the first place.

*for mounting, yes, it works great. Of course, once you get your laminate finally set right, you have to cut it off and set the %*#&$% thing to mount -- and start again when its time to laminate or mask.

 

[B-RAD Graphics]

i would never attempt that..I understand. I would never a confidence in going that long of a run..Nooooo way. I break down into pieces..it kinda sucks feeding new pieces in but i have a system down that works for me.

 

[jmcnicoll]

Spend the money and buy a real laminator! AGL all the way!!!!!!!!

jim

 

[txsurfer]

Dont give up on it, we one of these also along with a $6500 Laminator, I hated this thing until we figured it out!!!

 

[CropMarks]

When laminating small things I use a big squeegee. It took a few times to figure it out, but once you do figure it out it works really well. After you lam the item, just use a small felt squeegee to get out the silvering.

 

["Deposit Please"]

I thought the solo was suppose to be an improvement from the previous quickmount4. Did daige carry over that dumb rubber band from quick mount to solo????

 

[speedmedia]

Did you view the videos on the website?

http://www.daige.com/solo.htm

I had a Quickmount 4 for a while and after I got it all setup it worked great! Most of the time with any laminator if it isn't working properly it is user error. They can be very finicky. I have a Artic Titan and if I don't get it started perfect I get the same thing. It is what it is.

You just have to be very careful on how you load it and be precise.

Thanks,
Kurt

 

[strypguy]

Never had a problem with mine. I use very little pressure and there is usually some "silvering" but it goes away quickly.

John

 

[petesign]

Thanks for the replies folks. Just ruined another 4x8 print. I really hate this laminator. It works perfectly for a month, and then I cant seem to get it right no matter what I do. Daige should have come up with some sort of pressure gauge. "Tighten wheels until touching, and add a 1/4 turn" isn't very scientific, and pressure from one side of the laminator to the other is never consistent... I tried laying a 4x8 print on a .040 aluminum sign - worked flawlessly the first time, and halfway through the other side when the pressure became uneven enough for the machine to bind up and ruin the print.

So my thinking... I wonder if they make a click style torque wrench that's sensitive enough to tighten this thing to the appropriate levels so I can guarantee the pressure on one side is the same as the other? Anyone tried this?

**EDIT** Just got off the phone with Daige - my bottom roller is warped or has a flat spot in it. We shall see what becomes of this issue.

 

[Rising]

We were selling these Laminators in the UK back in 2004 through a third party and we had one ourselves...... for a short while. It got to the point (within a few months) that it was almost embarrassing doing demo's with them, consistency was quite often a problem. The fact you have to use a sled to laminate is cumbersome and a pain in the a$$.

I would really go and get a proper machine, cause all your current hassles with that machine will evaporate.

Good Luck

 

[petesign]

Spent all my capital when I started up. Trust me, that's the first improvement I make once things start moving at a faster pace. I regret not spending the extra money when I should have. There's no telling how much I have wasted in materials, reprints and time cursing that abomination of a laminator. The only upside is that I will have a machine in the future dedicated only to mounting, so I won't have to swap tapes and laminates off all the time.

My background is much more in the design and not production side... I have learned quite a few hard lessons in the past 6 months about how NOT to do production. I have a lot more respect for the guys who have the touch with vinyl application after trying and failing as many times as I have

 

[petesign]

Well, to revive this thread.. still having problems.

We had a warped roller. Got a new one. I still can't set the pressure evenly on this thing. One day I am going to set this pos on fire and send the video to Daige personally. Has anyone figured out how to put a pressure gauge on each side of this thing? I either have too much pressure which causes the material to buckle in the middle and get creases in it, or i get the pressure uneven, which causes wrinkles, or not enough pressure at all - which causes silvering like crazy.

I'm sorry, but as the directions state, tighten the rolls until just the sides are touching, and turn an additional 1/4 turn is not very precise. And honestly, I'm beginning to get very annoyed - and am tired of ruining prints and laminate. This craptastic machine has already cost me more in materials and time than what buying a decent one would have set me back. Daige, I'm sorry to bash your product, maybe i am just an idiot and can't figure this thing out, but for the love of God, this shouldn't be such a gigantic pain in my backside. I'm about to buy a Big Squeegee and use the laminator as a torture device for overdue account-receivable clients.

 

[Kwiksigns]

When you get the pressure to where they are just touching, you want to back off a quarter turn. What I did to get mine even is I have a mark so I know exactly how many turns to turn each wheel.

Also, the wrinkling is caused by tension and pressure. If the tension on the roll with the media is too loose, it may buckle on one side.
If it is not set up perfectly straight, 8' down the road it will wrinkle on one side.

What I do to see if it is a tension problem, mine was too loose. So when I saw it started to buckle and get loose as it was feeding through the rollers, I put my hand on the media roll and applied my own tension and I watched everything go back to normal. Even if you have it too tight and it starts to buckle in the middle, this little tip works too.

If you have any questions I am sure I could answer a couple. I've been through hell with these laminators too. call or email me if you'd like.

 

[scallahan]

You could try this method for setting your pressures.

1. Take a piece of copy paper and cut it into 1" strips.
2. Place a strip of paper between the rollers at each end and in the center.
3. Drop your rollers until they touch.
4. Slowly tighten until paper strip does not move when pulled.
5. When all three strips are firmly grasped between the rollers slowly back of pressure
alternating between left and right until each paper strip just starts to move when
using the same amount of force.
6. Your rollers should then have even pressure across the entire surface.

 

[petesign]

That method would work great, except, my brand new bottom roller we just put in will touch in the middle, and not on the ends - isn't that GREAT!? Probably explains the entire problem.

I set it to where they were just touching, and the top roller would spin for half a revolution from the bottom roller, and then stop - then when the BRAND NEW bottom roller would catch it again, it would start spinning. So I got them to barely touch using the paper method you just described - and it would pull on the paper pretty firmly, and then half a turn later, it would be very loose. I don't have a choice but to replace that *#(@# roller again I don't guess. Only takes a few hours, and you get lithium grease everywhere. Driving and resetting that pin on the shaft is also a lot of fun. It's out of round, and also not level - the middle is thicker around than the ends.. Nice...

Now the question is, how much has the top roller been affected by using the bottom one thats out of wobble for the past two weeks?