How Does an Industrial Roll Laminating Machine Work?

The world of industrial laminating requires a lot of specialized tools and techniques. One of the most important is the industrial roll laminating machine. Many different industries have come to rely on the cost-effective and high quality lamination that these machines provide.

Applications for advanced industrial laminating machines span across industries, from consumer goods to construction supplies. If your business requires access to an industrial laminator, you should first familiarize yourself with how they work. This guide will help you understand the fundamentals of roll laminators. 

The Basics of Industrial Roll Laminating Machines

A laminator’s basic function is to attach a layer of lamination film to web goods such as paper or textiles. Manufacturers use many types of laminators to accomplish this.

Heated roll laminators are the most common type of industrial roll laminating machines. These laminators apply heat to a hot melt adhesive that’s been previously added to a laminating film. Once the adhesive is in melted form, the machine begins the process of applying the film to a web substrate.

The substrate, which can be anything from paper to fabric to foam, gets squeezed through the heated rollers. Heat from the rollers attaches the adhesive to the substrate and provides a durable, laminated finished product. 

However, other types of laminators also exist. Cold roll laminators are the other common laminator type. A cold roll laminator uses pressure instead of heat to apply film to a substrate. Generally, cold roll laminators also need to use pressure sensitive adhesive to bond the film and the substrate.

Hot or Cold Roll Laminating?

Both hot and cold roll laminating offer their own advantages. Hot roll laminating tends to produce more durable goods, and when properly set up, it’s also tremendously efficient. However, cold roll laminating is often necessary for goods that are sensitive to heat. Cold roll machines are also sometimes more user-friendly to operate.

Common Applications for Industrial Roll Laminating Machines

Industrial roll laminating machines are useful for any project that requires applying a film or covering to a substrate. Some of the applications in which you’ll find industrial roll laminating used include:

• Consumer goods packaging
• Printed documents
• Scientific and medical goods
• Construction materials
• Banners and signs
• Textiles
• Visual merchandising displays

Part of what makes industrial roll laminating so versatile is the variety of configurations that are possible with laminator machines. Wide roll laminators, for example, are built to handle wider webs. Pouch laminators, meanwhile, use pre-made pressure-sensitive pouches to apply lamination on standard sized documents quickly and easily. 

Does CTI Offer Industrial Roll Laminating?

Conversion Technologies International is an industry leader in laminating technology. We’re also one of the top suppliers of on-demand contract industrial laminating services. As such, it’s important that we keep a wide array of laminating options available for all of our customers. 

Industrial roll laminating machines are a key part of our capabilities. CTI’s roll laminators allow us to provide lamination for a huge variety of substrates and film materials. We can laminate varying thicknesses of materials and use many different kinds of adhesives. 

CTI even offers custom industrial laminating solutions. We pride ourselves on developing laminating technologies to solve the most challenging design problems. Our flexible modular manufacturing facility is perfect for your R&D needs, and our experts are always ready to assist.

Our Development Center Offers Evaluation & Testing Services

Furthermore, our cutting-edge R&D facility assists in the development of other products and materials as well including coatings and slitting or die-cutting. Moreover, our technicians can facilitate the process in the final steps of the design phase. This creates an opportunity for you to evaluate and test the market, before committing to the final production requirements.

Material Evaluation

With our extensive resources of engineering staff and versatile equipment, we utilize several methods for processing your material. By working with various suppliers, we help determine the best sourcing to achieve the desired results. Likewise, with our intensive focus on coating and lamination, we provide a selection of results in order to determine the best solution. We can also coat or laminate materials that the client provides. Allowing a contractor to handle these development phase tasks can cut costs drastically.

Equipment Evaluation

CTI is equipped to handle initial runs of new materials and products in order to save companies from investing in production equipment before developing the final specifications. Often, it is this development phase that causes the producer to exceed their budget. Especially, this is true if the producer needs to test several methodologies before finalizing the process. By allowing a contractor to utilize various equipment configurations in order to achieve the most efficient, cost-effective method of production, a company can eliminate a great deal of cost.

Your organization is then able to analyze results from various methods, before investing in new equipment and finalizing the technology.

Testing the Marketplace

While you are testing a product in the marketplace, we can handle the short- or long-term production until you have had an opportunity to make final modifications and are ready to bring production in-house.

Get Started with Laminating Services

Whatever your industrial laminating needs, CTI is prepared to help. We’re always happy to advise on your questions about laminating, coating, die cutting, and other conversion manufacturing processes. What’s more, we offer free quotes—just call 419-924-5566 or contact us online, and our pros will help you get started.