Laminating, coating and mounting are the standard processes in the wide-format printer’s toolkit to do that; new technologies and market needs may offer opportunities to eliminate some processes and enhance others.

“The reasons to laminate are still there, to protect and enhance the print,” says Antalis digital development manager Paul Duffy. “What you use comes down to application and cost. For some, such as vehicle wrapping, you have to laminate. The cost of cast vinyl, printing and application are much higher than the cost of a laminate. Lamination preserves the high value of the application.”

For products that have to last, such as pop-up display units and graphics that will be reused at several events, the added longevity and robustness of applying a laminate is well worth the expense.

“For print products that are likely to see heavy use then there is a benefit of having the extra protection and the stiffness of an extra layer of material,” says Vivid Laminating Technologies marketing communications manager David Smith.

If a product needs laminating then it’s important to match the laminate to the substrate, argues Smith: “If you don’t you can get problems, either the cost of over specifying or reduced product life and delamination if you use too low a grade.”

Other options

However, firms are finding that where longevity isn’t key, newer ink technologies are tough enough to go out unadorned, offering faster turnaround times and reduced costs.

SM Signs recently upgraded its production facility with a Mounter’s Mate applicator and a Roland DG printer equipped with LightBar and solvent UV inks from CSL.

“Print from the LightBar is more scuff resistant than from the eco-sol, so it isn’t as necessary to laminate,” says managing director Graeme Speirs. “Now nine out of 10 jobs no longer need to be laminated.”

Film laminating isn’t the only option, though, there’s also the confusingly titled liquid lamination, which is basically applying a liquid coating or varnish.

“There’s been a resurgence in interest in liquid lamination,” says Peter Davidson, business & commercial director, at liquid laminate supplier Landor.

“In the early days the technology didn’t have the best reputation, possibly because it was released too early and was portrayed as a panacea that would eliminate the use of laminating film, which proved not to be the case, so there was a backlash.”

Liquid laminates and coatings are used for applications where a film wouldn’t be flexible enough, such as inflatables and truck curtains. They may also be used where a film would hide the texture of the substrate, such as canvas art prints. 

“Another application is wall coverings, which fits well with our Phototex product,” says Davidson. “A water-repellent coating ensures longevity. You will get staining in a retail or catering environment without coating.”

Coating can be an option for very high-volume applications and conversely very low-volume applications. At the high end the low cost of coating compared to films makes it attractive. 

“Liquid lamination materials look very cost-effective but the capex for the machines can be high, so you need to have high volumes to justify investing,” cautions Antalis’ Duffy.

Applicator machines for water-based coatings start at £12,500 for a 1.6m-wide machine. A 3.2m machine suitable for truck curtains and other large widths will be £25,000-£30,000. UV coaters are around £150,000. 

“You need to be using one everyday to justify the investment,” says Davidson. “90% of our customers choose to apply by hand using a brush or roller.”

He cautions using a bit of nous before reaching for a roller: “You need a clean environment – it’s not the sort of thing to do by the back door with the doors open – that way you will get dirt in the coating.”

In POS, where flatbed presses are used to produce high volumes of work, advances are reducing the demand for coating. Earlier UV ink formulations had a matt finish that often didn’t match the underlying board, meaning a coat was needed to produce an acceptable and consistent finish.

HP Scitex aftermarket manager Mila Tselibeeva says:  “There’s less need to use varnish to control gloss level now with the settings on the presses to do that. Side by side you’d find it hard to tell a varnished job from an untreated one.”

As campaigns get shorter the need for protection reduces and the turnaround times are becoming quicker, which makes taking out production steps desirable.

“The typical lifetime of a POS unit means it may not need protection,” says Tselibeeva. “Laminators just don’t operate as fast as the presses, so you’re likely to create a bottleneck, which can really slow things down.”

Environmental issues are also important, and may influence finishing.

“Market demands for recyclability and low cost mean lamination may be a step back. Our HDR 250 inks are designed to be de-inkable,” she adds. “A varnish may render that product unrecyclable by making de-inkability impossible.”

Flatbed applicators

Despite the development of flatbed printers for printing onto rigid boards, there is still a large part of the market for which they aren’t appropriate despite the need to produce rigid work. While it is possible to mount using some laminators it’s not the most user-friendly or productive approach, which is why in the last few years there has been a proliferation of flatbed mounters and applicators.

SM Print’s Speirs says: “Using a standard laminator for mounting was hit and miss. Using the Mounter’s Mate applicator is like having an extra pair of hands. 

“A lot of the work we do is mounting onto 8x4ft boards and it’s amazing how quickly we now get through work now. It almost paid for itself in the first week.

“We didn’t have the demand for a flatbed printer. We do such a wide range of work – a lot of posters, vehicle graphics, roll-up banners, displays and panels, that we needed the versatility of a roll-fed printer and applicator. I also wanted to stick with a Roland printer.

“With a roll-fed machine we can leave it running all day, or all night unattended. With a flatbed, someone would need to be there loading and unloading.”

Mounter’s Mate general manager Omar Benmez developed the device to be the applicator he’d wanted when working as a printer. 

“There weren’t a lot of options,” he says. “A flatbed printer to go direct to board was at least £70,000 and mounters for print produced on a roll-fed machine cost £20,000. Either is expensive when your printer cost £15,000. I wanted a mounter that cost under £10,000.”

Demand for even more cost-effective mounting kit has led to the development of laminators that can do a better job of mounting, albeit without all the capabilities of a dedicated applicator. At Fespa in May Vivid launched Easymount Air, a wide-format laminator, which uses the pneumatics originally used its smaller format laminators. 

“Use of pneumatics allows you to mount as well as laminate due to the precise control of material thickness and pressure,” says Vivid’s Smith. “That’s important if you want to bond onto Foamex or Correx without crushing the mount.”

Mounter’s Mate also offers a roll-to-roll machine that can mount to board. “It’s more fiddly and needs two people,” says Benmez. “It’s a stepping stone to a flatbed for half the price.”

Despite the introduction of kit to make mounting easier, there may come a point when moving to flatbed printing makes sense due to the need to increase throughput and decrease turnaround time. 

“If you’ve got two or three roll-fed machines and you’re mounting the majority of the output then a flatbed comes into its own,” says Antalis’ Duffy. “Especially if you’re using eco-solvent and you have to wait a couple of days before laminating. It’s less of an issue with Latex and SUV but mounting is still another process.”

Finding the right kit and processes to protect and enhance your client’s work, especially if you can save them time and money can only help to do the same to your bottom line and business. 

CASE STUDY

Octink

Current PrintWeek Out-of-home Printer of the Year Octink produces a huge number of site hoardings on aluminium composite materials (ACM), and by default applies protective anti-graffiti laminate films.

“We’d like nothing better than to be able to strip out the need to overlaminate but it’s not feasible,” says managing director Mike Freely. “When you need a protective layer it’s about getting the lowest cost and the lowest environmental impact. But that protective layer is integral part of the majority of our work.”

The firm is considering liquid laminating, with the hope of the process running inline with its Durst printers to maximise efficiency.

Freely is also interested in the potential of liquid laminating to reduce environmental impact. 

“There’s a lot of waste backing material with the laminate films; reduced waste would fit our environmental strategy.”

However, at the moment he’s not convinced that the technology is proven and is keeping a watching brief: “I want to see evidence from early users that it really stacks up.“