Lamination
equipment for wide format inkjet printers
Links,
info on all major wide format laminating machine manufacturers
for wideformat inkjet printers, Seal, CODA, GBC, LEDCO, USI,
Accutech, AGL Advanced Greig Laminators and other laminating
equipment for large format.
I tend to inspect the equipment at trade shows,
such as the Seybold, Comdex, DRUPA, SGIA, ISA, etc. In past
years the nice people at LEDCO provided helpful information
(as well as laminated all my Encad wide format print samples
that I was carrying around). LEDCO seems to make good equipment.
Another good manufacturer of laminators is USI.
Laminating does more than protect your prints
from coffee spills inside and rain outside. Laminating actually
increases the dramatic contrast of the colors of your ink
jet print. Take a sample print and laminate it; a laminated
print attracts more attention as a point of sale sign, or
displays for a trade show. Once you acquire your wide format
printer it is only a matter of time before you want a roll
laminator as well.
"High-end" lamination equipment
is a polite way for saying that these laminators are industrial
strength, large, complex and correspondingly expensive. These
are for large shops with lots of equipment and trained operators.
AGL and Seal make the best known high-end laminators.
If you are just starting in wide format,
or are a small company with limited budget, it makes more
sense to find a practical laminator that is easy for you and
your staff to use. We recommend laminators from USI for several
reasons, including that USI offers the widest range of products
that will help yourself and your company enter the world of
large format digital color printing.
We checked with several companies that had
laminators. They had LEDCO brand, so this is the first laminator
we have installed in the new FLAAR facility at Bowling Green
State University.
| Accutech |
laminating equipment for
wide format |
Tel 1-888 490-4232
|
| AGL Advanced Greig Laminators |
high-end laminating equipment |
aglaminators.com
|
| Axiom Graphics, now part
of Seal |
liquid lamination for super
wide 12' and 16' widths; AguaSeal branded. |
.hunt.com
|
| Banner American Products |
Finisher 4000, Finisher
6000 |
banam.com
|
| CODA |
laminating equip and mounting
board |
Tel (201) 825-7400
|
| Daige |
laminating equipment |
daige.com
|
| GBC |
laminating equipment |
gbc.com
|
| InterLam |
Jet Lam, 62", hot
lamination |
|
| LEDCO |
laminating equipment |
ledco@ledcoinc.com
|
| Neschen |
various models |
tel 800 524-5568
|
| Repro Technology Inc. |
laminating equipment, Star
44, Star 62 |
reprotechnology.com
|
| Seal Products Inc. |
high end laminating equipment |
|
| USI, email John Hewes JHewes@usi-corp.com |
recommended laminating
equipment and wide range of practical accessories |
market@usi-corp.com
|
Seal is clearly the #1 name in commercial
laminating equipment. GBC is another large company, though
a GBC machine at Kinko's ruined all my wide format panoramas
(it was probably the careless operator; I would like to
try another GBC machine to give the company the benefit
of the doubt). USI has the
most useful catalog, covering the widest range of accessories.
LEDCO, already mentioned above, seems to make good basic
equipment. Just as soon as we have time to wrangle a demo
unit we will report on which company we recommend. For entry
level laminator, contact the helpful people at USI, email market@USI-corp.com
Check out whether the ink and media can take
the heat of heat lamination. Otherwise you need a cold lamination
system or a liquid lamination system. Liquid laminate is
available from Valspar Corp. and other companies.
UPDATED:
August 2/2001