Making changes to the heat settings:
If you have a heated roll laminator It's crucial to start out by using the laminator's suggested heat settings. However, those settings might need to be modified based on the film you're using and the materials you're laminating. The key ideas and theories determining the right heat settings are listed below.
If there is too much heat present, the laminate will be translucent yet wavy when it is removed from the laminator. This is due to a lack of cooling time for the film between two sets of rollers. As a fix, the temperature of the laminator must be decreased. You have to wait before sending more material through the laminator to give it a chance to cool.
If you apply heat unevenly or insufficiently, your document will turn foggy or silvery. In this case, increasing the heat's temperature is necessary to "wet out" the glue. You may also need to allow your laminator enough time to recoup heat after a prolonged laminating session because the rollers' temperature will drop as heat is transferred to your materials. Another reason that could cause silvering is the type of printing methods being employed. For example, the toner and ink used in the output of color copiers and inkjet printers contain additives that require special films.
Making Speed Adjustments:
Depending on what it is, your laminating machine can be a variable speed or a single speed. The use of laminators with variable speed controls is strongly recommended. By altering the laminator's speed setting, it is possible to directly control the amount of heat that is applied to the film.
When the laminate emerges from the laminator clear but wavy, the film has likely taken too much heat. When the laminator's speed is raised, the film will spend less time on the heaters, reducing the amount of heat it absorbs.
If your document has cloudiness or silverness, slowing down will lengthen the time the film is exposed to the heaters, increasing the amount of heat the film absorbs.
This illustrates how heat and speed may coexist together. You must balance heat and speed when choosing the best setting for the type of paper you are laminating.
Changing the tension:
The tension setting determines how tightly the laminate is stretched when it comes out of the laminator. You want as little tension as possible in your movie.
The objective is to give the film the ideal level of tension just before it enters the nip rolls, the very first pair of rollers, to remove any creases. A minor bit of creasing just at top of the roller or heat shoe is acceptable if it dissipates before it hits the nip where the two rolls of film meet.
Prior to attaching your film, release all the tension from the film mandrels.
The top and bottom rollers should be gradually tightened after the film has been inserted into the device. The film will cup or bow when it comes off the rollers if you don't do this evenly.
This occurs when the top or bottom rolls of film are more stretched than the opposite roll. When the film on the roll is used, the roll will weigh less, so you might need to adjust your tension settings.
Just keep in mind that the tension on both rollers should always be set to the same level if you are running the same type of film on both sides.
Troubleshooting De-Lamination:
De-lamination has become more problematic as the print industry switches to output created digitally. The output from digital printing that contains a lot of fuser oil or color copies poses the biggest issue. If this is a problem, you might discover that the laminate just peels off when your finished documents are face-trimmed. If you are using this type of digital output, think about using a high-tack laminating film like Color-Bond. This type of film uses unique adhesive chemistry to ensure attachment to this coated output.
