Until now, thermal film laminating machines have mainly been used to process printed sheets, which were separated and laid out in a stack after lamination. With the iLam Pro film laminating machine in the 35 x 50 format class from Bagel Systems, roll material can also be processed: The printed roll is unwound, laminated, and rewound. The printed products can then be further processed from the roll.
When compared to a stack of sheets, the advantages are obvious
The reel simplifies both the transport of the laminated material and increases the loading capacity as it’s being fed into the downstream press. A typical application for laminating a roll is for producing labels.
Users also have the option of creating the roll first in the thermal film laminating machine: If the user deactivates the separation function when laminating printed sheets onto the film roll, the iLAM Pro can continue to laminate almost forever. The film roll is the carrier, and after lamination, the print sheet is wound back up to the roll. This opens up a new possibility for such functions as performing double-sided film laminating.
iLam Pro – a milestone in easier operation
The iLam Pro film laminator is also a good example of how technological progress is enabling ever greater automation. Recently, there have been major improvements in temperature stability during different stages of the process, like warm-up, production, and machine stop. Fluctuations have also been reduced to a minimum. The operator only has to select the desired temperature; everything else is taken care of by the intelligent control system. This frees up the operator and raises the quality of film lamination to a new level. The machine can even process difficult materials with static build-up or blocking independently—without the operator even noticing.
Both microperforation and film threading have been redesigned to offer more convenience and faster setup. 3D printing finishing is possible with the new 3DF module. UV coating machines apply coating to the entire surface of a print product as well as spot coating. Spot coating has a particularly noticeable impact on the print product. To further enhance the visual effect, a metallic effect can now be applied to the spot coating using the 3DF module of the thermal foil laminating machines from Bagel Systems. This makes the print product even more attractive.