Getting the best results from our laminating films.
pick the best laminating film for your needs.
When selecting the width of the film, there are several factors to keep in mind:
- Thermal laminators are designed especially for encapsulating your artwork. This means you will trim your artwork before laminating. Your product will have laminating film on top and bottom, and that film will extend about 1/4 to ½ inch beyond the printed piece.
A second trimming operation will be needed to get the top and bottom film extension to the right size. You may or may not need to trim the side edges. Sometimes you will want to use a corner rounder to round the sharp corners of the cut lamination. When calculating film width, keep these trimming operations in mind. - Your thermal laminator may also do “flush cut” two sided lamination. In this case, do not trim the artwork before laminating. Instead, laminate the untrimmed pieces, then trim the edges only once after the lamination has cooled.
TIP: If your margins permit, run your film slightly smaller than the printed piece. It guillotines better, and you will eliminate most of the adhesive residues that inevitably build up on the hot rollers, saving you some cleaning.
single sided lamination.
Single sided lamination is applied typically using thin films over the artwork when the back will be glued to a rigid substrate (such as a book or fancy box cover). The film must be sized so it is slightly narrower than the printed stock. Pieces must then be fed into the laminating rollers so they overlap by about 1/4 to 3/8 of an inch, to keep the laminating film from touching the bottom roller.
Alternately, we sell inexpensive backing film to protect the bottom roller. Just peel it off the laminated product and discard. When doing single sided laminating, curl is always an issue. Keep your film tensions as low as possible to minimize this problem.
Alternately, we sell inexpensive backing film to protect the bottom roller. Just peel it off the laminated product and discard. When doing single sided laminating, curl is always an issue. Keep your film tensions as low as possible to minimize this problem.
using cold films.
- Your thermal laminator may also be used to apply PSA (pressure sensitive adhesive) films, sometimes called cold films. While these films can cost more, they can be used for delicate items that cannot take the heat of thermal laminating.
- Just turn the heat down to about 80-110F, and use the laminator to align the film and the article you are laminating. You will have to remove the backing sheet by hand; so run slowly and peel evenly.
- Also for one sided cold lamination, consider using our inexpensive backing film to protect the bottom roller.
factors in film bonding.
Quite a few factors influence the ability to get good bonding with various laminating films. Good lamination is always a function of temperature, pressure, time, and web thickness. Heater wattage must sometimes also be considered.
Let’s discuss these one by one.
Let’s discuss these one by one.
temperature.
The film that you choose for your job determines your temperature setting. Formulation of the thermal adhesion plays the biggest part, by far, in determining the temperature needed. Some high tech and some very cheap films can require over 300oF. Various copolymer films will laminate at temperatures of 240, 220, and 185oF. Some varieties, known as "heat assist" will run at 120 - 150oF. This is a very wide range of temperatures.
Our recommendation is to set the temperature about 10oF higher than the manufacturer’s recommended temperature.
The temperature that you set controls the temperature of the shoes but the laminating rollers never quite reach the shoe temperature. By keeping the shoe temperature SLIGHTLY above the minimum temperature, you will heat the film fast enough to run at a good speed. The laminating rollers will be hot enough to do a good job of bonding the film to your material yet be a low enough temperature to minimize distortion, warping, or shrinking (“neck in”), while being high enough to attain bond at a low to medium speed.
If you run faster, you may need to set the temperature a few degrees higher.
We recommend that you set the temperature about 10oF higher than the minimum recommended for the film, laminate one piece (preferably one mis-print piece), then stop. Now evaluate the laminated piece:
Our recommendation is to set the temperature about 10oF higher than the manufacturer’s recommended temperature.
The temperature that you set controls the temperature of the shoes but the laminating rollers never quite reach the shoe temperature. By keeping the shoe temperature SLIGHTLY above the minimum temperature, you will heat the film fast enough to run at a good speed. The laminating rollers will be hot enough to do a good job of bonding the film to your material yet be a low enough temperature to minimize distortion, warping, or shrinking (“neck in”), while being high enough to attain bond at a low to medium speed.
If you run faster, you may need to set the temperature a few degrees higher.
We recommend that you set the temperature about 10oF higher than the minimum recommended for the film, laminate one piece (preferably one mis-print piece), then stop. Now evaluate the laminated piece:
- Is it flat?
- Does it have uniform appearance, or are there repeating bands across the web showing that the rollers had not heated up uniformly yet?
- Does the film make the graphics pop (add an appearance of depth)?
- Cut or tear the film, and try to peel it off of the substrate. Did you get good bond?
- Decide whether to change the temperature and run another sample or begin the run with the present settings.
roller pressure.
In commercial practice, pressure is usually more or less constant on any given BONDMASTER laminating machine, as most use spring loaded rollers.
If your machine has adjustable pressure, then set it according to specific instructions in your operator’s manual. Otherwise, consider the pressure to be set at an optimal value at the factory.
If your machine has adjustable pressure, then set it according to specific instructions in your operator’s manual. Otherwise, consider the pressure to be set at an optimal value at the factory.
time to bond.
Time is varied as machine speed. The slower the speed, the longer the time the material has to reach optimum temperature.
Why must we consider time? In order to bond, the surface of the adhesive that contacts the article (the inside surface) must reach at least a minimum temperature (determined and reported by the manufacturer). But, heat is applied from the opposite side (the outside) of the film. Heat migrates through plastics comparatively slowly; so the thicker the film, the more time it takes for the heat to get from one side to the other. The simple adjustment is to slow the machine for thicker films to give the heat more time to get through.
There are a couple of other influences on heat migration time. Raising the heater temperature a bit will drive the heat through faster, but you must be careful to not overheat the film. Overheated film may melt, causing excessive neck-in (shrinkage across the web), and stretching in the running direction. Then, when the part cools, the “memory” in the plastic will cause warping, waviness, curl, or other distortions.
Also, the composition of the heating surface determines how quickly heat can transfer out of it. When the cool (room temperature) film touches a heated surface (either the shoe on a “shoe machine”, or a laminating roller on a “hot roller machine”), some of the heat contained in that surface is transferred to the film. The film becomes hotter, and the heated surface becomes a little cooler. Then the reduced temperature of the “heating surface” is sensed, and the temperature controller turns on the electric heaters. These then get hot and transfer heat into the heating surfaces. When the sensors determine that the temperature has reached set point, the heaters are turned off.
Aluminum shoes, as found on most Bondmaster laminators, transfer heat to the film very quickly, and they also recover this lost heat quickly. Heated rollers, as found on other Bondmaster laminators, transfer heat less quickly, and have longer recovery times. The speed change needed to compensate for thickness will be different from machine to machine.
Why must we consider time? In order to bond, the surface of the adhesive that contacts the article (the inside surface) must reach at least a minimum temperature (determined and reported by the manufacturer). But, heat is applied from the opposite side (the outside) of the film. Heat migrates through plastics comparatively slowly; so the thicker the film, the more time it takes for the heat to get from one side to the other. The simple adjustment is to slow the machine for thicker films to give the heat more time to get through.
There are a couple of other influences on heat migration time. Raising the heater temperature a bit will drive the heat through faster, but you must be careful to not overheat the film. Overheated film may melt, causing excessive neck-in (shrinkage across the web), and stretching in the running direction. Then, when the part cools, the “memory” in the plastic will cause warping, waviness, curl, or other distortions.
Also, the composition of the heating surface determines how quickly heat can transfer out of it. When the cool (room temperature) film touches a heated surface (either the shoe on a “shoe machine”, or a laminating roller on a “hot roller machine”), some of the heat contained in that surface is transferred to the film. The film becomes hotter, and the heated surface becomes a little cooler. Then the reduced temperature of the “heating surface” is sensed, and the temperature controller turns on the electric heaters. These then get hot and transfer heat into the heating surfaces. When the sensors determine that the temperature has reached set point, the heaters are turned off.
Aluminum shoes, as found on most Bondmaster laminators, transfer heat to the film very quickly, and they also recover this lost heat quickly. Heated rollers, as found on other Bondmaster laminators, transfer heat less quickly, and have longer recovery times. The speed change needed to compensate for thickness will be different from machine to machine.
still have questions?
Contact us to discuss your problems and needs. Our tech service cell is 765 969 6406.