Indigo Print & Lamination

[Edd_ZZZ]

Hi All,

We have been running some covers for a company and they are either matt or gloss laminated and then sent to the company where they are wrapped onto cardboard book covers.
This has been working well but we have had quite a few have the laminate lift as the side of the print near the spine.
We have spoken to the laminate manufacturer and they said to wait 24 hours when printed before laminating and then 48 hours before wrapping round a cover.

We have been printing and laminating the same day more often than not and delivering early in the morning.
It's a weird error as we must have printed 350k of covers and this has just started happening!

We have an Indigo 7900 and a Foliant Mecury Laminator.

Does anyone have any ideas?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Seeking Knowledge]

Hello Edd,

In a previous life, I had similar issues with laminating digital prints too. We used a product from Skandacor that had UltraGrip in the name of the product, it helped but we sometimes did have issues though. They too would suggest the 24 hour waiting period as well. But as you mentioned it worked before, so have you checked if any variables have changed? Are the roller temps is accurate to what is being displayed (maybe a faulty temp sensor), is the pressure the same, has the speed of the machine changed? Has anything changed with the Stock? Have you checked the Manufacturer lots and tried another?

Good luck,
SK

 

[tngcas]

There's been some changes globally in chemicals being used in some places (inside drums and toners) due to rule changes (in the UK), supply chain issues etc. They could be affecting how the lamination glue adheres. I don't know for sure but that could be part of the problem. If you're getting updated batches of toner recently.

 

[TJPrinter]

I just opened a new roll of mounting adhesive this week and it stinks, literally stinks. There aren’t too many smells that bother me in this business, but something is different with this mounting adhesive from past orders. I would definitely agree, manufacturers are making modifications to materials.

Maybe your laminate supplier had to make changes to the material due to shortages of some adhesive materials and you’ll need to make adjustments, higher heat, slower speed, more pressure. A infrared thermometer can verify that your rollers are at the temperature you think they should be.

 

[Matt Revard]

I just recently had the same issues with my Indigo prints. I ended up switching to Nobelus as my laminate vendor and I'm having night and day results. We run and Indigo 12000 and laminate on a D&K DoubleKote Junior NT.