Really getting pi$$ed off now.

[petesign]

My Daige laminator saga continues. long story short, it's never worked right, they did some trouble shooting with me over the phone and sent me a new bottom roller at a "discount" and the same problem still persists. Now they want me to take it apart again on my own time and dime and go over problems with it over the phone again. When I suggested I call a technician from my supplier in, I got "i normally find that dealer technicians do not add anything, since they know very little about our laminator. After you take off the bottom roller call me."

Monday my tech came in and validated my "wobble" claim. Daige says they will send me another roller. My supplier cant promise me they can have a tech come install it. So, I'm still stuck right where I was when this all started. I don't know if i am here to ask a question, or just rant... but I am really starting to get pissed off. If a customer came in right now and asked for something on cast vinyl, I would have to farm it out... no way I am going to have to throw away that much expensive cast stuff and reprint half of it and let it outgas again.

I can tell you what I want them to do with this pos, but i think it might get me banned

Have a great day to all!
-pete

 

[CS-SignSupply]

I hope Ike can help you out with this issue, as he has always been very good at helping me in the past with my clients. The Daige has the reputation of a love/hate relationship as far back as I can recall. Some like it, some hate it.

For me, the Daige is an option for someone stepping into the world of mounting and lamination. The Daige units can not compete with double or triple priced units from other manufacturers like Royal Sovereign, Seal, GBC, etc. Just not apples to apples in my mind.

When you get to the 55"+ sizes, I usually do not recommend the Daige, unless the budget demands it... I like to tell the client to save a bit more, outsource for a little longer, and then pay for the big boy 55"+ laminator. They will be happier in the end.

As for 28" and 38", the Daige has done well for most of my clients. Again, a good starter unit and a great mounter for long-term use. Albeit, slow.

Hope the issue is resolved so you can get back to production.

 

[petesign]

All of my conversations with Ike have been pleasant - my interactions with his laminator thus far have not

I am sure this will be resolved, but it's very trying.

 

[CS-SignSupply]

How long have you had the unit? What size is it? Obviously, Ike knows more about this unit than any tech as he is the designer of the unit, from top to bottom.

I have a decent amount of experience with the Daige QM4 series. Is this the Solo series or the QM4?

Not that I can do much, but feel free to call me to discuss your issues... maybe I could add something that makes sense or help in some way.

 

[petesign]

it's a 54" solo. In my sleep last night, I figured out how to fix the unequal pressure problem people have with these... but it's got a wobble. I took a micrometer to the roller, and it's perfectly round, it just rises up and down when you turn it.

So, we fix the wobble, and I am probably golden. The unit is now 7 months old.

 

[James Burke]

it's a 54" solo. In my sleep last night, I figured out how to fix the unequal pressure problem people have with these... but it's got a wobble. I took a micrometer to the roller, and it's perfectly round, it just rises up and down when you turn it.

So, we fix the wobble, and I am probably golden. The unit is now 7 months old.

Sounds like one of the rollers is not concentric with the center pins. Have someone at a machine shop put it on a surface plate and check the concentricity (total runout) with v-blocks and a dial test indicator. Given your symptoms and the fix you've already tried, I'd start looking at the upper roller.

 

[petesign]

well, if you put the two rollers right next to each other, and run it, you can see the bottom roller wobble, as the top stays stationary. then if you move them closer still, the bottom roller will come into contact with the top roller briefly, and then lose grip, and as the wobble comes back around, it will do the same thing, over and over and over. so the top roller is planed just fine. the bottom roller checks out round on a micrometer, it just wobbles.

someone on here also suggested to get them just touching and put a strip of paper between them, and loosen until you can just pull it out... when you do this and run it, you can feel the pressure intensify and then get loose - which explains the silvering and bubbles.

The only way to effectively laminate or mask with this machine the way it is, is to run it until the rollers are at their farthest apart, then stop it, and adjust the rollers from there... that way you at least get some pressure all of the time... the problem there is, since the rollers are slightly crowned, when the pressure is at its highest, the rubber warps a little and makes either the material being fed through bind, or the laminate to start to wrinkle. This works fine for short runs of about 4 feet... but laminating or masking a 4x8 sign is precarious at best. I am trying to imagine doing a vehicle wrap in four foot sections

 

[Techman]

every body else is trying to be nice. But,

The daige is a pile of scrap iron. Its a good mounter. But as a lam it is junk. You will ruin more prints than you can count. I have one and it sits on the corner being punished. I use it once in two years when I get the need to feel inadequate. And only then if it is not a critical print.

Other wise I use my trusty squeegee tools. The very same ones I used long before the daige (that was just about given to me when I didn't know why) came along.

My advice? Get a real lamitator or get the Big Squeegee.

 

[d fleming]

Sounds to me like they should just replace your machine. It's called customer service because that is what the customer should get, not do.

 

[cartoad]

I understand your frustration with the Diage, we struggled with one for a year, ruined a lot of prints. Also go a new bottom roller, and still had issues, while the concept is good for an inexpensive lam option, a RS, Seal, or GBC is what you need if you are doing any lamination at all. The higher price tag will pay for it self in no time at all when you figure the ruined prints and labor to operate the *&^ thing! With the volume we do now we could not keep up with a Diage.

As for our old Diage, I was going to trash it, shure glad I did not! We use it daily to mount vinyl, prints to most substrates, wow does it look good and fast. We keep spare shear pins on hand for when we need to change them, takes me 15 minutes to disassemble, repair and reassemble.

Bottm line, buy a better laminator and keep the Diage as a mounter, you will be glad you did.

 

[iSign]

well, if you put the two rollers right next to each other, and run it, you can see the bottom roller wobble, as the top stays stationary. then if you move them closer still, the bottom roller will come into contact with the top roller briefly, and then lose grip, and as the wobble comes back around, it will do the same thing, over and over and over. so the top roller is planed just fine. the bottom roller checks out round on a micrometer, it just wobbles.

someone on here also suggested to get them just touching and put a strip of paper between them, and loosen until you can just pull it out... when you do this and run it, you can feel the pressure intensify and then get loose - which explains the silvering and bubbles.

The only way to effectively laminate or mask with this machine the way it is, is to run it until the rollers are at their farthest apart, then stop it, and adjust the rollers from there... that way you at least get some pressure all of the time... the problem there is, since the rollers are slightly crowned, when the pressure is at its highest, the rubber warps a little and makes either the material being fed through bind, or the laminate to start to wrinkle. This works fine for short runs of about 4 feet... but laminating or masking a 4x8 sign is precarious at best. I am trying to imagine doing a vehicle wrap in four foot sections

if the roller "checks out" and then wobbles anyway...

...can you put the top roller in the bottom rollers place?
If you could, it seems that it would wobble... taking the suspicion off the roller, & onto the driving force that turns these things crookedly

 

[rushworks graphics]

we have the diage solo laminater the 54" one and its great for mounting...no problems, but were having a hell of a time getting it to laminate a print with out creases coming in at about a foot or so! i had a roland tech whos been in the sign business for 20 odd years try it and he laminates with all sorts of other brands all week, he screwed up the print! he said he'd never screwed up a print in over 17 years and phoned diage their and then! also the turn screw/pressure screw bound up when he was trying it! diage sent me out 2 new sides and guess what....one side wouldn't even line up so i couldn't replace it!! i got a brand new unit from my supplier the next week and diage apparently weren't happy about it! had the unit approx 2/3 months now and have yet to actually get this thing to laminate a print over a few feet correctly!
used my sign suppliers rs unit to mount and laminate a load of prints the other week.....absolutly great!! kinda thinking of sending this unit back and spending the $ for a rs. hay ho!

 

[fmg]

I am feeling your pain so much.I could not wait to get that bit of junk out of my shop, even as a mounter it was a headache.
Seal BASE all the way. No looking back!

 

[petesign]

Ok, an update.

Daige sent me another new bottom roller... and I had our technician come out and install it.

I just laminated over 30 linear feet of 54" material through it with not one wrinkle, this machine has never worked this well, ever. There is also very little silvering, and I am sure that a soft squeegee will take care of that.

I am keeping my fingers crossed that this is the end of my Daige solo issues, and that we are back in business. I am going to build a rod that goes across the front of the laminator with pins that are adjustable from a single screw in the middle to apply pressure to the rollers, and if that works, I will post the design and results on here for all of you other Daige users to copy. The biggest issue with this laminator is the inability to measure or apply equal pressure on each side, and I am sure this solution will at least guarantee that the pressure is equal.

Good weekend to all, and I sincerely thank you for all of your advice and input.
-Pete

 

[Pat Whatley]

Why didn't you raise hell with the people you bought it from? My first line of attack always starts with the guy who sold me the piece of shit. Make him be the one to get it fixed, replace it, or give me my money back.

 

[SignManiac]

Pat I love that you're such a badass amen.