Laminating with hot laminator
Sheet measurements minimum 250 x 250 mm maximum 720 x 1060 mm
Weight in grams 130-350 g/m²
Sheets are covered with thermal film.
NB! We have ready for use Gloss, matt, anti-scratch matt, Sense (soft touch ) and preembossed linen texture gloss laminating films in the stock. Please notice, that all films are finishing ready and the best quality available in the EU.
The length of sheets needs to be uniform within a task (sheets are to be cleaned) as the feed speed of the machine is regulated based on the specific task. In case of printing it is important to remember that the necessary front and marker rim must be at least 15 mm, on other rims the surface without printing has to be at least 10 mm. In case of half-sheet work (if sheets need to be cut for laminating) a sufficient cutting reserve needs to be given during assembly and the opening needs to be left without printing.
Printing powder
Choose fine grain printing powder and use it moderately. Excess powder will leave a granular surface (especially in case of gloss laminate).
Printing ink
When choosing printing ink make sure that it is suitable for laminating. Metallic inks (golden, silver) take considerably longer to dry. Our recommendation is to cover the metallic inks with offset varnish as it slightly increases their durability to mechanical factors (wheels, strings, spinning, cutting, etc.). In case of metallic inks, extensive full surfaces (reflexive blue, SPOT) and CMYK areas (for example dark blue, black) there have been problems with tacking. The adhesive layer of the laminate is very thin and it may happen that during mechanical processing the laminate will come off with the coat of paint.
The sheets to be laminated must be dry. The optimum drying and acclimatizing time is 24-48 hours. In case of larger formats (~A1; B1) the sheets often crease. Thus, we recommend cutting off excessive unprinted areas in case of larger formats and leave a 10 mm rim without any print. This will reduce the laminating of problematic sheets remarkably (before cutting please consult us).
It is always important to take into account that some of the sheets can be damaged in the course of laminating. We recommend adding about 50 pages of extra material to the size of net print run. In case of A1 and B1 sheets the amount of extra material is remarkably bigger – 150-200 pages. The minimum amount is about 10 pages.
There are many factors (humidity, the thickness of the coat of paint, static electricity, temperature, the stretching of sheets, etc.) which have a considerable influence on the laminating process.
NB! Lamination does not hide print defects, but rather highlights them (especially in case of matte lamination).