Print Business Glossary: Laminators and Laminating Films

Print Business Glossary: Laminators and Laminating Films

Laminating equipment for printing and wide-format graphics applies a thin adhesive-backed film to a printed piece. Applying a laminating film protects the print from excessive handling or exposure to high levels of abrasion, moisture, dirt, or chemicals that could reduce its useful life. Lamination can also prevent wrinkles, creases, and smudges in the print, or add rigidity or different surface textures and finishes.

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A laminated film can be applied to either the front or back of the print or both sides. Some printed materials are encapsulated by laminating both the front and back sides with a film wider than the print. The print is trimmed to leave a small border of the laminated film around all edges of the print. When the front-laminating film adhesives bond to the adhesives on the back laminating film, moisture, dirt, and chemicals can’t reach the edges or surface of the print.

Restaurant menus, bookmarks, safety warning labels, and equipment operating instructions are often encapsulated. Other laminated products include wallet cards, educational posters, maps, and adhesive-backed graphics that will be applied to walls, floors, or vehicles.

Types of Laminating Equipment

Different sizes and models of laminating equipment exist for use in homes, schools, offices, government agencies, printing firms, sign shops, and manufacturing plants.

Roll Laminators

Roll laminators can apply rolls of different types and thicknesses of laminating films to printed pieces. Desktop roll laminators range from 12 to 27 inches wide. Free-standing wide-format roll laminators can apply rolls of film up to 63 inches wide. Before the advent of outdoor-durable solvent, latex, and UV-curable inks, wide-format laminators were widely used in all shops producing wide-format display graphics.

The most versatile wide-format roll laminators were designed to apply a wide range of "hot" and "cold" laminating films and mount adhesive-backed graphics to rigid substrates.

Pouch Laminators

Pouch laminators are desktop devices that laminate standard-sized tags, wallet cards, and badges in pre-sized pouches made from laminating films. The pouch laminator operator simply inserts the printed document into the pouch and runs it through the laminator. The laminator applies the heat needed to bond the adhesives inside the pouch to the substrate.

Flatbed Laminators (Applicators)

Flatbed laminators are multi-purpose print-shop working tables equipped with rollers mounted on a movable gantry. The gantry can be manually moved over the surface of the table to apply laminating films or pre-masks to prints on rigid or flexible materials. Flatbed laminators are available from sign-equipment wholesalers in sizes up to 51 inches wide and 98 inches long. When the table isn’t being used to apply laminating film or mount adhesive-backed graphics to rigid substrates, the work surface can be equipped to serve as a light table and/or cutting mat.

Vacuum Dry-Mount Presses

Vacuum dry-mount presses are flatbed finishing systems that use a combination of vacuum pressure, controlled heating, and low-melt tissue adhesives to bond all types of canvas and fine art photo prints to foam boards or wood panels for framing. Dry-mount presses are also used to apply low-melt laminating films to inkjet photo prints and art canvas.

Industrial Laminators

Industrial laminators differ from graphic laminators that apply clear films and mounting adhesives. Industrial laminating equipment combines multiple layers of materials to create composite materials that meet specific requirements in the building, decor, and packaging industries. Each laminated composite material aims to deliver a specific combination of strength, durability, and aesthetics.

For example, flexible packaging pouches are made from laminated materials that combine eye-catching graphics with barrier films and foils that prevent air, moisture, and chemicals from penetrating the package and spoiling the food.

Industrial laminators for flooring combine printed decor paper with manufactured wood panels and surface coatings to create flooring planks that meet specified aesthetic, cleanability, and durability standards.

Graphic Laminating Films

Dozens of laminating films have been created to control the final look and performance of all types of printed materials. Each laminating film uses a different combination of film type, surface coating, adhesive type, and release liner. Choosing the right laminating film for a job depends on the types of inks and materials used in printing and the intended use of the finished product.

For example, laminating films for floor graphics are made to add the slip-resistance and cleanability needed to withstand grocery-store foot traffic. Different laminating films for wall graphics can protect the print from graffiti or convert the wall graphic into a dry-erase markable surface.

For graphics printed with UV-curable inks, laminated films are formulated to protect the ink from scratches. Laminating films for vehicle graphics are thin enough to stick to the super-flexible cast vinyl used to wrap the complex curves of a sports car or delivery truck. However, vehicle-wrap laminating films must be tough enough to protect the printed graphic from road grime and car wash brushes, water, and soap.

Laminating films with UV inhibitors can reduce the amount of color fading caused by prolonged exposure to sunlight and other sources of UV radiation. Textured laminating films can add a canvas or linen-like texture to an ordinary photo print. High gloss laminating films can change the look and brightness of colors printed on matte papers.

Pressure-Sensitive (Cold Roll) Laminating Films

Pressure-sensitive laminating films use adhesives that don’t require heat to develop a strong bond. The adhesives on these films have a protective backing material (release liner) that must be removed as the film is applied to the graphic.

A laminator designed to apply "cold-roll" laminating films must have a take-up roller that peels the protective release liner away from the adhesive before applying pressure to activate it.

Cold laminating films typically cost more than heat-activated films but are usually required for heat-sensitive materials (e.g., vinyls and backlit films) that soften and distort at high temperatures.

Heat-Activated Laminating Films

Heat-activated laminating films use adhesives that don’t stick to anything until heat is applied to the film surface. Wide-format laminators use heated rollers to apply controlled amounts of heat and pressure to bond a film to different substrates.

Heat-activated laminating films applied with the wrong combination of settings can show defects such as bubbles, wrinkles, and delamination around the edges. The first generation of thermal laminates required temperatures as high as 240° or 270° to melt. Laminating films with low-melt or heat-assist adhesives bond at temperatures in the 185° to 220° range.

Mounting Adhesives

Mounting adhesives are laminating films with adhesives on both sides. First, the laminator applies the mounting adhesive to a display board, glass, acrylic, or metal. Then, the laminator can mount any graphic printed on a non-adhesive media to the rigid substrate.

Pre-Mask (Application Tape)

Pre-mask is applied to the front of contour-cut vinyl letters and decals and multi-panel vinyl graphics. It helps keep the graphics from stretching or peeling until ready for installation on a vehicle, window, floor, or wall. The pre-mask also helps lift the cut graphics away from the liner protecting the pressure-sensitive adhesive. After the graphics have been squeegeed onto the surface, the protective pre-mask is removed to reveal scratch-free graphics.

Advances in Laminating Continue

Although protective coatings and outdoor-durable inks and materials have eliminated the need to laminate many shorter-term graphics, laminating still plays a vital role in protecting graphics that must endure long-term exposure to various harsh conditions.

Because you can never be totally sure what type of sign or graphic a customer might ask you to produce, it pays to keep up with advances in lamination.

Contact us to discuss your requirements for cold laminating film. Our experienced sales team can help you identify the options that best suit your needs.

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Everything You Need to Know About Laminators

Office Use

The key decisions you need to make when choosing a suitable laminator for office use are what size to go for, and also how often you’ll likely be using it. Both A3 and A4 varieties come at a wide range of prices and specs, but for the most part, the more expensive versions offer one very key feature over more cost-effective models: speed.

While the initial investment in a top-of-the-line laminator can be much higher than for a budget brand, it may save you money in the long run if you’re not constantly waiting for slower laminating processes and ramp-up times or frequently re-running the process due to a higher incidence of misalignments and bubbling common with very cheap laminators.

Many models intended for more intensive day-to-day school or office use come with handy time-saving features such as built-in memory functions, meaning you don’t have to reprogram the machine each time you want to use it.

Industrial/Heavy Use

Again, the key decisions when looking to buy heavy-duty or industrial laminators generally come down to the degree of flexibility required and the intensity of use you expect. Heavy-duty laminating machines can be built to withstand near-constant use, but you can expect to pay a premium for this sort of durability and performance consistency.

If you need to laminate multiple items daily, especially at a high rate per hour, certain higher-end or heavy-duty laminator machines are built to work faster and harder than others, producing superior quality laminations at a quicker output rate.

Another key consideration will be how long you want your laminated items to last, as this will impact the type of lamination pouches or films you should buy, and thus ultimately what sort of machine you’ll need to meet your production demands.

Hot and Cold

When choosing whether to buy a hot or a cold lamination machine, the key differences between the two are the types of documents you’ll be working with.

Many people feel that, for short-run or occasional use, a cold lamination machine is sufficient for their needs—and in fact, cold laminating can result in a nicer-looking document for certain types of ink or printed materials, as the lack of heat makes it far less likely that any running, blurring, or color variance will appear in the end result. Additionally, they tend to rely on heavier pressure than heated roller versions, meaning less likelihood of bubbling with high-quality machines.

Hot lamination, on the other hand, tends to be a better choice for consistency and durability over more frequent daily use, particularly in environments where speed and repeatability is more important than flawless finishes. The pouches intended for hot lamination use also tend to be considerably cheaper and more widely available than cold versions.

Provided you have a clear understanding of what material and document types are suitable for hot roller laminating, it’s a very straightforward and quick process to protect and embellish many documents in a short space of time with a heat-based machine. Higher-end models also offer numerous additional features for batch-processing, temperature adjustment, programmable memory functions, and more.

Laminating Photos

Laminating photographs is one of the more common intended uses for laminating machines but one that many users tend to be, understandably, worried about.

While photograph lamination is usually done to help preserve the picture for longer, there’s always a perceived element of risk when you can’t easily replace the photo if anything goes wrong. The main point to note when laminating photographs is that, as with all laminating machines, higher roller counts will give you better and more consistent results, with far less chance of misfeed or bubbling.

The most budget-conscious laminators generally come with two rollers, which can be somewhat inconsistent—far better to go with four-roller models for documents that matter, and for cherished photographs, six rollers or more is even better. These are generally the more expensive models, but as with so many things, high-end photo laminating machines do tend to confirm the old ‘get what you pay for’ adage.

Also, be conscious of the film or pouch you’re using for the lamination of important photographs. For the best results, use high-quality film that’s relatively new and decide what’s the most appropriate trade-off for you between the thickness (and thus durability) and consistency/rigidity. Also, be mindful of the finish you’re looking for—gloss pouches or matte, smooth or textured—and, for really cherished items, always do a practice run on a blank piece of paper first.

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