Running single-sided laminate on a dual-roll laminator can cause some problems for photographers, but many people do it anyway. With laminators that are intended for single-roll use costing upwards of $20,000 it’s obvious why people do this, but they should be aware of the problems they will face. With this knowledge, though, photographers and artists may find that they can get around the purchase of a single-sided laminating machine.
Trying to run single-sided lamination on a traditional roll laminator may leave adhesive and wrap the film around the laminator rollers. Most laminators use a special film on the top and the bottom, and the two layers stick together where material does not need to be laminated. This is not possible with dual-roller laminating machines, but there are a few ways to get around this:
* Running a roll of kraft paper on the bottom roller of a laminator works for many people. The single-sided film will stick to the paper wherever there isn’t a document, which safeguards the rollers and makes the finished product more valuable.
* Other people have found luck with running two rolls of single-sided laminating film at once and then placing book covers, prints and other materials back to back. This allows artists and photographers to laminate two documents at one time. This can sometimes counteract the anti-curling properties of single-sided laminating film, though, depending on the laminator and the materials.
* Another options is to run a narrower laminating roll than the documents that are being run through it, and then to overlap the documents slightly as they are fed into the laminator. Then the documents or covers simply need to be flushed trim to create the finished product.
The finished products often curl when trying to do single sided laminating with dual-roller machines. Large single-roller laminators are designed with special features that prevent this, but a Lay Flat nylon laminating film for single sided applications can help manage curling with dual-roll laminators. A single sided laminating film such as GBC Digital Lay Flat laminating film will also help to eliminate some of this curl.
Another problem with single sided lamination involves the adhesive used in many laminating film. Even lay flat nylon films are not designed to adhere to digital output, as the high fuser oil content of many digital prints does not lend itself to lamination. After flushing trim a digital print that is laminated with many of these films, the laminate will begin to peel off the print. Running a Hi Tac laminating film that is specifically formulated for digital output can help, as well as GBC’s Digital Lay Flat Laminating film, which is designed for this application.
Doing single sided lamination with dual roll laminators also causes problems with the availability of supplies. GBC Digital Lay Flat laminating film is only available on a 2.25” or 3” core, but the rolls on a 3” core are 3000’ long and won’t fit on many laminators. Using GBC Digital Lay Flat Laminating film will require a roll laminator that accepts a 2.25” core. It may be possible to have this film produced on another core size, though, or in other lengths, but this usually requires an order of at least $2000.
Trying to do single sided lamination on a traditional dual-sided laminator is not a recommended application, but those who choose to do it should try to perfect the process and save the cost of buying an extremely expensive laminator.
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