Page 46 - Print21 Magazine May-June 2021

Wide Format
How do you pick
a laminator?
Neschen, represented in ANZ by Starleaton, has a handy guide to enable print businesses to ask the right questions when it comes to choosing a new laminator.
Neschen says it often hears the same question from potential customers: “If laminators are in fact
just two rollers and a motor, why are some of them more expensive than others?” The answer it says is quite simple: they are just like cars – all of them have four wheels and a motor, but the price difference can be huge.
Everybody instantly recognises the differences between a Mercedes and
a Hyundai or a Ford, although all of these cars will do the job and take you from A to B. However, the difference between laminating machines is not visible from the outside, which can make it difficult to pick the right model, similar to when you are trying to decide whether you need a van
or perhaps a small pick-up truck for your company.
Many of the machines on the market are presented as a “professional tool for an affordable price”. Nevertheless, the expression “professional” has many different meanings when referring to laminators. This is similar to cars: all of the Mercedes, Skoda or Dacia vehicles are being manufactured
in a professional way, but the differences are big.
So how do you pick the right laminating machine for your company? What are the differences? How do you differentiate between marketing spin and recommended features? Neschen believes the following points will help you
find the most suitable laminating machine for your business.
Wish list
First, you should create a list of
the applications you would like to process on the future machine. You should specify the needs as much
as possible. Then, all these needed applications should be written down in detail, including the specific materials. In addition, non-standard projects should be kept in mind.
46 Print21 MAY/JUNE 2021
Demonstration
The laminating machine is a manually operated instrument and therefore, before your purchase, some physical and real presentation is needed. A technical data sheet gives vital information, but without touching the machine, it means nothing. To use the car analogy, the laminator operator does not buy a car based on a brochure alone. A test drive is clearly necessary.
The most important parts of a laminator
Rollers
Rollers are the most important part
of the laminator. Their properties and behavior have a crucial influence on the operator’s efficiency and the final product quality. You have to check
the diameter. As a general rule: the bigger the better. Rollers with a bigger diameter are often better because they bend less, provide equal pressure, and during operation apply less tension
on the laminating film. Less tension on the laminating film is beneficial, especially when working with cast vinyls or standard laminating films, together with heat assistance.
A laminator with a bigger roller diameter has a positive impact on the possible amount of shrinkage of the over-stretched laminating film at the latter stage. This shrinkage, caused by over-stretching during the laminating process, usually leads
to bleed at the end of a graphic, as well as to bending of the laminated boards, lifting corners and edges
of the graphic or lifting the graphic from the corrugations (for example when wrapping cars).
A bigger roller diameter is also better when it comes to laminating onto soft substrates, the substrates have less of a tendency to twist.
Check the thickness of the material. Thicker metal will provide better stability than thinner steel, even with the same roller diameter.
Above
All-rounder: Neschen Hot Laminator 1650 Double H
Stronger and more stable rollers
are important for laminating onto harder substrates, for example onto MDF and glass.
Another good parameter to check is the weight of the roller. Good
and reliable rollers have a weight
of approximately 40kg. Two rollers
in the machine means about 80kg
in total. When you see a laminator datasheet that shows the total weight of the machine is 150kg including the frame, you know what to expect – a less than robust machine.
The last part of the roller you should focus on is the soft coating. This should be thick enough to
resist possible grinding of the coating in the future. The rubber coating should also provide perfect geometry, ideally with a crown shape on one of the two rollers.
Heating
The next parameter in your focus should be the heating of the
roller. Even for pressure sensitive adhesives, so-called cold laminating films, we suggest using a machine with a heated top roller. The temperature should be up to 70°C with the option to make continual adjustments in small steps. Heated rollers allow the adhesive to flow, which helps to prevent or reduce silvering. This can have a big influence on the quality of the lamination results.