Sheeter help

[EndlessOptions]

I bought the 30" sheeter and received it last Weds. I have run a number of things through it on 24" premask, I am using Rtape Conform series premask. The things I have masked run from 3' to 10' long and everything that I have done has a lot of tunneling in it. I called the company and their suggestion to start with was to not use the crank and to pull the material out and up not letting it droop down at all, I did this and still have the exact same problem. I have it in my basement and it is a little cool and a little humid down here could that be my problem? I know that several of you have the sheeter and have made it past the learning curve, any suggestions to get me past it.

 

[Fred Weiss]

I don't recommend pulling it thru as this stretches the liner and causes it to curl up. The crank is the way to go but the tunneling is probably happening because you are not catching it on the way out. Allowing it to droop down and hit the floor seems to cause most of the tunneling we've ever experienced. So for short pieces, I stand at the output side and crank it while catching it. For longer pieces, I have a second person walk it away while holding it level as I crank.

I also use R-Tape Conform and I think it contributes to the problem but since I otherwise like the tape I put up with the tendency to tunnel. What's happening is it has a greater grab to the release liner and is trying to stay in place while it and the release liner are being stressed between two heavy rollers.

Hope that clears it up a bit for you. Keep us posted as to how you come out.

 

[EndlessOptions]

Thanks Fred I will give that a try and let you know.

 

[mcentyre]

I almost hate to ask, but
Ummmm, what' a sheeter???

 

[Fred Weiss]

I almost hate to ask, but
Ummmm, what' a sheeter???

Here a couple of pics of mine. Sheeter Premask Applicator

 

[EndlessOptions]

Here is the link.

www.weedersheeter.com

 

[mcentyre]

Haven't seen this before! So it's like a poor (and I used the term loosely) man's laminater?

Does it work as advertised? The weeding pictures are a little hard to believe. Could you us this to laminate coro with vinyl?

I'd like to see opinions of anyone who's tried one of these.

 

[Fred Weiss]

Haven't seen this before! So it's like a poor (and I used the term loosely) man's laminater?

Does it work as advertised? The weeding pictures are a little hard to believe. Could you us this to laminate coro with vinyl?

I'd like to see opinions of anyone who's tried one of these.

The Sheeter works just fine for its primary purpose which is applying transfer tape. It ca be used as a film overlaminator but because it lacks a takeup spool for the laminate liner, it becomes an awkward job best performed by two people. It does not have enough clearance to be used as a mounting device.

The Weeder (a separate device) is useful IMHO only for extremely high volume vinyl shops where you would be cutting and weeding large amounts of single colors at a time. It does a good job of removing the outside weed. It does not remove the centers.

 

[EndlessOptions]

I don't recommend pulling it thru as this stretches the liner and causes it to curl up. The crank is the way to go but the tunneling is probably happening because you are not catching it on the way out. Allowing it to droop down and hit the floor seems to cause most of the tunneling we've ever experienced. So for short pieces, I stand at the output side and crank it while catching it. For longer pieces, I have a second person walk it away while holding it level as I crank.

I also use R-Tape Conform and I think it contributes to the problem but since I otherwise like the tape I put up with the tendency to tunnel. What's happening is it has a greater grab to the release liner and is trying to stay in place while it and the release liner are being stressed between two heavy rollers.

Hope that clears it up a bit for you. Keep us posted as to how you come out.

Thanks for the advice. I made some modifications to the table that I had made for it. I added 5' of table coming off of the back and bottom of the sheeter and pinned a straight edge on the inside off the table to help with tracking, now it is everything that I hoped it would be. I did one laminating job with it and you are right it is a little awkward but it turned out well.

I ran about 50' off 24" cut vinyl through it today in varying lengths and the only problems were my fault but nothing major.

Thanks again for the help.