Apply some pressure
Sometimes, writing for a print magazine can have its humbling moments.
Coming to write an extended study of flatbed laminating systems, I
thought, naïvely, ‘how complicated can this be?’ Viewing the machines in
action, the benefits of having a flatbed over an upright laminating
system for large-format print applications seemed pretty clear: the
bridge controlled roller for single-man operation, the easier and more
accurate application meaning faster, better laminating—the facts are
persuasive. Yet the question all print providers have to ask is whether
the machine is really worth the investment. Laminating may not be the
largest part of what they offer, and with flatbed printers becoming more
popular, would this other large piece of equipment actually be useful
or simply gather dust?
My scepticism seemed initially well-placed, as across the board
manufacturers and suppliers were coy when it came to talking about this
technology. William Smith and Spandex, suppliers of the kingpin of the
applicator manufacturers, Rollsroller, both declined to comment on the
sales of the machines. After a number of failed attempts to get through
to Radecal, supplier of the Monster Applicator Table—though this could
have more to do with post-Christmas disorganisation—I did get the
feeling that the large-format print world was not terribly excited about
flatbed laminating systems.
However, my whole perception changed on speaking to the dynamic Loic
Delor, managing director of Josero, a company especially well-known for
its large-format printer and inkjet expertise, but which also supplies
the Bubble-Free Flatbed Applicator, which comes in 1.5m (4' 11") to 2.2m
(7' 2") widths, and 2.2m (7' 2") to 7m (22' 11") lengths. Delor starts
out with a statement that proves I, and the industry at large, have the
completely wrong idea when it comes to the potential for this equipment.
The Bubble-Free Applicator from Josero, says managing director Loic
Delor, has multiple different advantages for a print provider, saving
time, manpower, and money
Delor begins by identifying that the first problem with an industry-wide
misunderstanding is purely verbal. He says: “Flatbed laminators don’t
really exist: they are called flatbed applicators. The difference is,
although you can laminate with a flatbed applicator—the same way you can
mount with an upright laminator—laminating is not its primary
function.” The confusion, is clear, as, even on Josero’s website, the
Bubble-Free is both described as a laminator—which it can do—and an
applicator—which it is, but Delor is very clear that the two machines
have different functions: “People do need to understand the difference
between an applicator and a laminator. Some people will tell me: ‘Well, I
can do everything on a laminator’ at which point we invite them over to
try the applicator. Then they try it and you see them thinking: ‘Oh
god’ and they realise the difference.”
These differences, according to Delor, are ones that can make—and have
made—huge improvements to a company’s workflow. From talking to
customers, Delor has pinpointed what the biggest advantages of the
equipment are. He says: “People use the flatbed applicator for various
reasons, the main one being the time saved. It is a lot faster to do
most things on flatbed than a laminator. If you use a laminator you have
to feed a whole sheet or board through the rolls and, say your board is
two metres long, you need a table in front and behind to stop the board
from falling. Obviously nobody has four metre long arms, so you need to
have two people, one at the back and one at the front. Again that makes
the process difficult and time consuming.”
O Factoid: The
very first flatbed applicator, the RollsRoller, was invented in 1996
when Reklamidé AB took on too much work and its head man Göran Johansson
realised they would never make their deadline. His solution was to
fabricate a table with a traverse beam and a roller would make it much
easier to apply material to the underlying surface, significantly
reducing production time. O
Delor also points out that it is a lot easier to make mistakes on an
upright laminator, especially when under the pressure of a large order:
“As the laminator is fixed and the roller is spinning, the board is
going through the laminator. That is much harder to handle than having
the roller moving above the board. The problem is that if the board is
not perfectly aligned and perpendicular to your roll when you start
sending it through, your board is going to be on an angle, so what
you’re trying to stick on it is going to be applied at an angle. It’s
going to crease and then you’ve ruined your print, you’ve ruined your
board, and you have to redo the order.” Delor is quite clear, however,
that for low productivity laminating or application, the flatbed may not
be necessary: “If you only need the odd board doing, and you’re quite
skilled, then a laminator is fine—everyone would say to do it through a
laminator before moving to a flatbed. But, if you get an order for, say,
20 boards you’re going to start having a massive headache.”
Delor goes on to say that a big difference between the two machines is
that the roller is made of much softer rubber on the applicator. He
warns: “You can still use it to laminate, but if you are just doing
laminating all day long, you’ll end up damaging the roll.”
Applied engineering
In terms of productivity, Delor says you can really start to see the
difference between an upright laminator and a flatbed applicator: “To
give you an idea, someone in a normal print shop who is skilled with a
laminator will do maybe three or four 8 x 4 boards an hour. With a
flatbed, you can do 25 an hour. And the other difference is, with a
flatbed you’re not going to have any problems: 25 boards will be 25 good
boards.”
So, the applicator is not simply a fancy step-up from an upright
laminator, says Delor. It has extra functions, on top of laminating,
which makes it a superior and more flexible piece of equipment, as Delor
highlights: “You can pretty much apply onto whatever you want; Foamex,
Dibond, any rigid material at all. You can also apply on clear film, two
films together, and of course you can laminate as well. You can mount
whatever you want. It is also really good for application tape. If
people want to sick a board somewhere then they can use the machine to
apply application tape and it will go on right the first time.
“Even big print firms who have flatbed printers that can print on almost
every substrate will still use a flatbed applicator. The point is that
flatbed printers can print on almost everything but not on everything.
You might have a substrate you can’t really print on, or that the
quality might not be good enough, or you might want to add a laminate
after you’ve printed it.
“For example, if you print on glass and then you want to laminate it,
you cannot put that through the laminator. You need a flatbed for that.
Also, sometimes to print on glass is very awkward so you might print it
on a normal solvent printer on a roll-to-roll clear adhesive and then
mount it on the glass.” The Monster Application Table (MAT), from
Radecal, for example, claims to be able to juggle multiple applications,
with various material types. The machine, which comes in sizes 1.4m x
2.5m to 1.6m x 4m, with an illuminated glass table top for more accurate
application and self-healing cutting mat, is especially suited to
flexible banners and applied signage. It is clear that, for printers who
already produce vinyl or adhesive print, the addition of a flatbed
applicator could help them offer more services to existing customers and
expand easily into other markets.
The Monster Applicator Table from Radecal comes with a twelve-month warrantee
GPT is another industry supplier that has seen the virtue of these
systems, and is the sole UK distributor of the LamiDesk range. It was
initially designed to help commercial printers moving into wide-format
cope with the extra workload and remove bottlenecks and the need for
high skill levels to carry out the vinyl application. Coming in lengths
of 1.6m, 3.5m, and 4.5m options, users can choose to either run
lamination automatically with its motor drive and foot control to make
it a true single person operation, or manually using button operation.
The machine has also got around the need to use an over table gantry to
improve ergonomics.
“We are extremely impressed with the superior construction, quality,
reliability, and cost point of this new commercial flatbed laminator.
With the improved productivity offered by the inbuilt motor feature of
LamiDesk, our customers will be able to easily handle growing volumes of
lamination and short turnaround times while meeting business growth
goals,” says Shaun Thompson, general manager at GPT.
He continues: “This is a market that has traditionally been dominated by
one or two major players. However, we believe the LamiDesk offers some
unique benefits, build quality and value for money.”
Dispelling myths
One setback of the flatbed applicator is that it doesn’t necessarily
come cheap—it is a serious investment like any other finishing
equipment. Top of the range is Rollsroller, and they come with the price
tag. Its entry level model, the Rollsroller Light, launched by Spandex
in 2013, which comes in 3.4 x 1.45m and 2.8 x 1.4m, starts at £7,900.
The range goes up to the enormous Premium range—the largest of which
comes in at a whopping 1.7 x 10.8m starting at £10k, with additional
accessories available, such as an extra roller to create to work
stations, an extension table, side trays, and bed end media holders.
You can buy a laminator for £1000, or £13,000. They are both
laminators, but there are going to be differences—you get what you pay
for”
It may be tempting to search the market, especially internationally, for
a cheaper option. However, when it comes to purchasing, Delor is
adamant that there is no point in buying a cheaper machine, because
cutting corners will end up wasting you money in the long run. Or, as he
says: “Rollsroller invented this technology 25 years ago, they
innovated the product, added all the different accessories, and they are
the most expensive. You can buy a laminator for £1,000, or £13,000.
They are both laminators, but there are going to be differences—you get
what you pay for.” Delor then points out a number of factors to take
into account: “On flatbed applicators the key point is that it needs to
be a welded frame. You can’t have it bolted. A lot of people tried out
cheaper tables which were bolted, the benefit of that being so you can
move it around. But at the end of the day those tables weigh 500kg and
the bridge is very heavy. So, if you leave the table out, it’s going to
start to wobble, then it won’t be flat, and you can’t apply properly.
That’s why you need a welded table.
(Above & below) Rollsroller’s range of flatbed applicators, supplied
by William Smith and Spandex, span from the Light—a smaller, lighter,
entry level model—to the Premium, which comes in sizes up to 5’ 7” x 35’
5”
“The next thing is the warranty: Other than Rollsroller, we are the only
ones offering a five year warranty on our Bubble Free Applicator. All
the others are one or two years. This is important because it’s a
product you are going to keep for ten or 15 years so you need to make
sure you’ve got something that is sturdy.” Delor continues: “Then you
have the lights. The advantage of the glass with light top is that if
you print backlit you can see what the print will look like immediately,
like a print proof box. But also it is a lot easier to align your vinyl
with the board when you’re mounting because you can see through it. “A
lot of products have neon lights. Rollsroller has LED lights and so do
we. Obviously there are environ-mental benefits but furthermore, with
LED, you get uniform light on the bed. LEDs also don’t use much power so
if the lights are on all day, it doesn’t matter.”
A term bandied around as another advantage is when the flatbed comes
with a bridgeless roller, such as Rollover’s Application Table, as it
makes it easier to move flexible material from one end to the other.
Delor advises against this: “When you don’t have a bridge, you operate
the roller from one side only. The force is applied only on one side so
in the long run the roller will go askew.
Rollsrollers also come with optional accessories, such as side trays,
self-healing cutting mats, or an additional roller to create a second
workspace
“It’s a lot cheaper to make a table without a bridge. However,
Rollsroller have been making tables for 25 years. It’s no huge secret—if
they didn’t need a bridge, they wouldn’t build them with bridges.”
Heated debate
A final pitfall, says Delor, is the worst of all, and that is when a
table offers heated rollers. Though he says very few manufacturers
actually do this, it is something that printers ask him about. He is
adamant on this point: “The advantage of heated rollers? Absolutely
nothing. It’s actually something you shouldn’t do. It’s the opposite of a
benefit: it’s a pain in the arse.
“The reason heated rollers ended up being used on applicators is because
it was taken from the laminator. When heated, glue will dry and clear
more quickly, so you will not get what’s called the ‘silver effect’.
This comes about when a layer of glue is not completely dry. If you try
and apply the laminate when the glue is cold, you will see a layer of
what looks like tiny air bubbles developing. It’s not air, it’s glue,
and it takes about 24 hours to disappear. If you laminate with heat,
that goes straight away and you get no silvering.
Rollover’s Flatbed Applicator features a bridgeless roller, which makes
it easier to move material from one side of the bed to the other, though
has the risk of going askew
“On an applicator, however, when you heat up the vinyl, it will stretch.
If the vinyl has stretched and you put your board on, by the time you
get to the other side of the board then the vinyl is bigger than the
board. It is pretty silly.”
We have installed more than 25 and every single customer has sent me
an email two days later telling me they can’t believe they hadn’t bought
one before”
Delor is positive about the future of the application table, mostly due
to the positive reaction he gets from his customers after installation:
“We started selling the applicator two years ago. We have installed more
than 25 and every single customer has sent me an email two days later
telling me they can’t believe they hadn’t bought one before. It just
saves them so much time.” In regards to the investment, Delor notes that
the technology is at its peak, so a single investment is just that:
“There is no need to upgrade, so once you get one you never need to
change it.”
It seems as if the flatbed applicator—as I am now inclined to call it—is
one of those hidden gems of the industry that has advantages but,
because of some misunderstanding of its function and abilities, has not
been so much in the limelight. In essence the machines are quite simple
conceptually; a flatbed that can apply any adhesive onto any
substrate—but since its conception a lot of research and development has
gone into making it the ultimate wide-format-friendly tool for printers
operating at a very high productivity rate and to a very high standard.
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