Looking into a new laminator

[DennisTd]

I am currently evaluating a laminator to support the recent install of our Epson S70 printer. I have a quote from GBC for their Spire laminator but am also considering the Seal 62 Base laminator. They seem to be comparable in price but I am not familiar with large format laminating. I would appreciate any feedback or advice on the plus or minus of either of these units.

 

[M@CK]

I own a GBC titan 1264WF for about 5years, its a hot and cold laminator.
It mostly works good, we had to replace some parts on it including the keypad board (shorted because of static).
We also had an issue were it would not get warm enough to laminate properly, replacing the main board fixed that.
We get the rolls replace about yearlly (included in my service contract) the coating delaminates from it and makes big bubbles on the rolls.
The take-up unit had to be rebuild a couple of times also.
If I can make one recommendation, take the service contact, replacing one set of rolls pays for it. But then again we use ours almost every day, all day.
The service was good, the tech knowledgeable.

Just my 2 cents

 

[solaprinter]

Laminating equipment, supplies - applications and techniques

Laminating equipment, supplies - applications and techniques

I am currently evaluating a laminator to support the recent install of our Epson S70 printer. I have a quote from GBC for their Spire laminator but am also considering the Seal 62 Base laminator. They seem to be comparable in price but I am not familiar with large format laminating. I would appreciate any feedback or advice on the plus or minus of either of these units.

I'm in the exact same situation. These folks don't seem to have much faith in their equipment since they're offering only 90 day warranties. If you live in a remote area like mine, we either have to pay $1300+ per year for a service agreement or risk having to pay big bucks for mileage or air fare to fly in a technician.

I've never used cold laminate and our current hot laminator has a maximum size of 27". Now that we offer wide-format printing we need to be able to laminate larger and thicker materials.

I was told we would need hot laminate on some items but I don't remember which ones. Can anyone tell me what applications require hot, cold or heat assist? Is there some type of chart out there? We print inkjet, toner and offset. We laminate items from 20# bond to 18 pt cards and need to mount printed products onto foam core and coroplast. Sizes range from 3" x 8" memorial cards to 54" decals and posters.

TIA - Jace
I would appreciate any input and advice.

 

[Seeking Knowledge]

Dennis,

We use a AGL 64 plus and it it has been rock solid for 10+ years. We have laminated hundreds of thousands of feet of material with it and no real issues. The faster the better and the AGL was the fastest at the time we bought. It is more expensive than most (from memory) but it was well worth it. It also allows for roll slitting which we find vital.

Sola,

if you are going to laminate materials that are thicker than 10mil you'll probably need to use a heat assist, tough to find pressure sensitive that thick . Also it is nice for encapsulation.