Review of USTECH Laminator VT9600

[Mr. Sign Pro]

Just thought I would share my initial thoughts on my new US Tech laminator. I purchased it about a month ago and it has been a bit of a learning curve from what I'm use to. This is our second laminator and we have found it a bit more difficult to run than our other that we have had for over 10 years.

There are several design flaws in my opinion. The first flaw would be the height of the bottom roller in relation of the front table. The roller is about 1" above the front table making it difficult to slide the material in without the the material shooting up into the laminate. This also makes it more difficult to line the material up to ensure a straight run. I'm not sure why the bottom roller wouldn't be the same height as the front table?

The second flaw would be the hand crank. In order to raise and lower the top roller you have to make 25-35 revolutions in order to go from up to down. The cogs that control the hand crank almost seem to have been put on in the reverse position. It's pretty annoying the amount of the effort you have to put into hand cranking the roller up and down.

The third flaw in in the forward/reverse switch. The switch has a forward/neutral/reverse position all in one switch. There is no problem toggling the switch to the forward position but when toggling it back the neutral position half of the time you accidentally toggle it to the reverse position which obviously causes issues. In order to remedy this we disconnected the reverse operation.

Our machine also seems to have an issue with the motor skipping periodically. The motor doesn't run smoothly meaning there will be a small hiccup every few feet.

I will say that the machine seems to be heavy duty and built well. I was just hoping for better.

 

[CreatedDesigns]

The only complaint I have against US Tech is that they claim free shipping then turn around and charge for shipping.

apparently Wisconsin is not one of the lower 48 states.

 

[player]

Just thought I would share my initial thoughts on my new US Tech laminator. I purchased it about a month ago and it has been a bit of a learning curve from what I'm use to. This is our second laminator and we have found it a bit more difficult to run than our other that we have had for over 10 years.

There are several design flaws in my opinion. The first flaw would be the height of the bottom roller in relation of the front table. The roller is about 1" above the front table making it difficult to slide the material in without the the material shooting up into the laminate. This also makes it more difficult to line the material up to ensure a straight run. I'm not sure why the bottom roller wouldn't be the same height as the front table?

The second flaw would be the hand crank. In order to raise and lower the top roller you have to make 25-35 revolutions in order to go from up to down. The cogs that control the hand crank almost seem to have been put on in the reverse position. It's pretty annoying the amount of the effort you have to put into hand cranking the roller up and down.

The third flaw in in the forward/reverse switch. The switch has a forward/neutral/reverse position all in one switch. There is no problem toggling the switch to the forward position but when toggling it back the neutral position half of the time you accidentally toggle it to the reverse position which obviously causes issues. In order to remedy this we disconnected the reverse operation.

Our machine also seems to have an issue with the motor skipping periodically. The motor doesn't run smoothly meaning there will be a small hiccup every few feet.

I will say that the machine seems to be heavy duty and built well. I was just hoping for better.

That might be a loose chain in the drive. I would open it up and see if there is a loose chain or sprocket.

 

[Dennis422]

Did you try calling Dave at US Tech to try to let him walk you through fixing it?
A lot of stuff moves while laminator is in transit. You might have something loose and easy to fix.
I know he is kind of hard to understand, but he knows his laminators!!!

 

[Mr. Sign Pro]

I have talked with Dave a couple times. I might call back and talk to him about the possibility of a loose chain. It's not the biggest of complaints as the other issues I have with the laminator can't be fixed because they are part of the design.

 

[player]

I have talked with Dave a couple times. I might call back and talk to him about the possibility of a loose chain. It's not the biggest of complaints as the other issues I have with the laminator can't be fixed because they are part of the design.

Put a board (wood planed to the correct thickness, or an aluminum plate...) on top of the front ledge to raise it up to the height you want. 2 sided tape. Velcro... Height issue fixed.

 

[Mr. Sign Pro]

Put a board (wood planed to the correct thickness, or an aluminum plate...) on top of the front ledge to raise it up to the height you want. 2 sided tape. Velcro... Height issue fixed.

Yea, that's kind of what I had in mind as well. Not ideal but it would work.

 

[rcook99]

I have talked with Dave a couple times. I might call back and talk to him about the possibility of a loose chain. It's not the biggest of complaints as the other issues I have with the laminator can't be fixed because they are part of the design.

I have had the same laminator for a couple months as well. So far so good but I did have to tighten the chain on the left side which is causing your skipping. Also remember you don't have to crank the handle all the way up when not in use. It will save some cranks on the handle. I chose the crank vs the motor for the simple reason that the motor can fail and the machine is down. I also had to level the top roller as it was off a little. The tracking of the vinyl through the rollers can wander which mine still does but it is usally because It was started wrong.

I actually am very happy with mine once I made a few adjustments to it from shipping.

 

[player]

Modify a drill gun to motorize the up/down crank?

 

[davidgodden]

picture of assembly