Operation
4-6
Laminator Setup
Your laminator has been designed to make the setup and lamination process as easy and repeatable as
possible, however, there will be techniques that make this phase easier that you will only learn by using
the machine. Do not get frustrated if the setup process takes longer than you expected, the process will
get quicker and easier the more you use your laminator.
The set up process is comprised of the following steps:
1. Loading and positioning the film.
2. Webbing the laminator.
3. Setting the process controls to initial settings.
4. Warm up time (if required by process)
Loading and Positioning the Film
1. Determine the way the film is wound, adhesive inside or outside. This will determine the way it is
placed on the unwind shaft. If the adhesive is wound to the inside, the web will be pulled from the
bottom of the supply roll. The web path configuration figures show the film in this configuration.
2. Swing the upper rear shaft out for loading. The lower and center front unwind stations require
you to loosen the upper clamp blocks to allow the shaft swing out.
3. Remove the locking core chuck and the core idler. The locking core chuck has rollers that rotate
out to hold the core as it turns. Slide the locking core chuck, film roll, and core idler onto the shaft.
4. Rotate the shafts back into place, tighten the upper clamp blocks back onto shaft on the lower
and center front unwind stations.
5. Measuring from the sideplates, make sure the film is centered on the shaft. Once the
measurements from each end of film to the sideplates are equal, tighten the locking core chuck
and core idler down.
6. Repeat this process on any other unwind station.
7. If the film is a pressure sensitive with a release liner, you will need to set up a wind up station.
This is done by webbing the film under an idler and separating the film and liner. Once the liner
has been separated from the film, it must be routed up over the second idler and taped to a
windup core.
8. The wind up core is a cardboard core that is held between the sideframes by a spring loaded
disc. To remove the core, pull the core to your right until it clears the driving end and swing core
out. Keep in mind that the windup cores will rotate the exact same direction as the lower nip roll.
9. Tape the release liner to the core and windup any slack by hand. Feed the film with adhesive
around and through the nip opening.
Note: You may require feeder stock to keep the film
from
sticking to the lower nip roll.
Webbing the Laminator
The term webbing means routing the film through the laminators’ idlers and nip rolls and thus creating
a web. The easiest way to web the machine up after loading the film is by using a piece of feeder
stock. The stock can be anything that is relatively stiff, but still flexible enough to route around the nip
roll. A common example would be tag board.
The first step in webbing the machine is to have a planned web path configuration. There are two
web path configurations shown for two different processes in this manual. The encapsulation process
uses thermal film from top and bottom to “encapsulate” the substrate being fed into the laminator.
This process seals the edges and protects the substrate. Refer to figure 3 as the webbing process is
described below.
