What issues with lamination should I expect?????

[Git-R-Done]

Hello again, It's me the guy trying to figure it all out prior to buying a printer. I think I may have a line on a Roland SP-300 (30") Print/Cut system. My questions are as follows. First, do you think this printer would be a good starter printer for a home based "shop"? Also, what issues with lamination will I have in the proocess from print to cut. Remember I have never run a single machine. I am starting very slow to learn the trade. I just want to make sure this is the right machine for my needs. I am focusing on vehicle graphics. Sorry for the dumb questions, just a rookie.

Thanks,
Brian

 

[Techman]

If you have no experience laying vinyl or running machines then you are not ready.

Laying laminaiton is not the same as laying vinyl. I watched at least two different people insist they could lay laminant as easy as laying vinyl. HAH! what a party it was to watch.

First you will have bubbles.
Then when you lift the lam to lose the bubbles you rip up the print.
Nest is the water leakage under the lam runing the prints around the edges. Theres a trick to sealing them edges.
Then you will have bubbles. Some times only one other times you will have pickle skin.
You must have a good lam machine. The the daige 300 bux special in not the one you want.

Then, you will have the lam sticking on the machine and ruining another print. When you attempt to lam a reprint the lam material will get crooked and ruin another print.

You will burn up a couple of rolls of material learning how to profile your rig. Then you will burn another roll practicing with your RIP.

good luck..

tech

 

[JP]

Since we are on the subject of laminators, I'm about to spend $13995 on the GBC Titan 165. Does anyone have any comments positive or negative on it? Sorry for cutting in on your post Done.

 

[Fred Weiss]

Good laminator but it sounds like you're going to pay list price. When we were shopping for one, our experience was that GBC was very aggressive in discounting their machines.

 

[Scott Reynolds]

Do you need a hot laminator? You can get the cold Arctic Titan 165 half that. That's what I use and it works good. If I was to buy a new one, it would be a Seal. If you get the cold Arctic Titan, let it run for 3-5 min with the heat on before laminating, and run it at its slowest speed. Nice and slow will make the colors pop out nice and rich. Faster and you get silvering, and the colors dont "pop".

 

[JR Digital]

Since we are on the subject of laminators, I'm about to spend $13995 on the GBC Titan 165. Does anyone have any comments positive or negative on it? Sorry for cutting in on your post Done.

if you oculd afford it , spend an extra 3k and get seal pro-s.. titan 165's shouldnt cost more than 11,000 if u shop around, i've seen refurbished ones go for 8000..