AGL’s New Fast-Trak 72 Laminator
By Steven Strooh
Take a few minutes to watch this video [https://youtu.be/BBnVZ7-u15E]. It details one of the most exciting new laminator developments in the wide format graphics finishing arena.
My Experience
Starting in the wide format color business in 1994, I quickly discovered that mounting and laminating large prints would be one of our biggest challenges. Using an old ORCA and attempting to encapsulate our first, super-saturated, 36x48 inch posters from our new MacDermid ColorSpan Inc.’s DisplayMaker inkjet printer was an unmitigated disaster. That Saturday, I spent hours and hours printing and reprinting, laminating, and re-laminating these two posters in a vain attempt to have them ready for our customer Monday morning. Finally, we had to give up and provide them unlaminated. I realized then that laminating was more art than science.
AGL Laminator was the Solution
After working through a few operators and many Orca and Seal laminators, we finally bit the bullet and bought an AGL laminator. This “Rolls Royce” of laminators yielded repeatable quality and reduced reprints. The result significantly increased production, efficiency, and throughput, all while reducing the cost of wasted time and materials.
Increased Productivity
Do you have a hard time finding additional labor for your finishing departments? The solution for your facility may be a new customized AGL Fast-Trak 72 Laminator. Even a single operator can web 600-to-1250-foot rolls of 62” printed vinyl with a cast overlaminate! According to Brian Buisker, AGL president since 1995, “This is due to a recent innovation of theirs that allows the SAV media to be moved horizontally to align correctly with the already webbed overlaminate.” Not only is this feature labor-saving, but it also means that only 4 feet of ‘leader’ is typical, thus saving on the waste and cost of expensive, sometimes scarce media. Productivity is exceptional, considering the Fast-Trak 72 can complete a 1250-foot roll in about 15 minutes. With a sufficient volume of decor finishing, the combination of speed and capacity delivers maximum productivity, reliability, and a good return on investment.
Poor laminate adhesion and silvering problems are solved using excellent thermal and adhesive release characteristics. AGL’s proprietary heating and nip pressure design, which are the best in the industry, results in this laminator reliably providing consistent quality décor production.
Features
With a ten-inch diameter steel nip roll assembly covered with the highest quality silicone rubber, the Fast-Trac 72 yields less print distortion and wrinkling. The top nip roll features preset heat assist for warming up pressure-sensitive over-laminates resulting in a perfectly smooth output.
Here are some of the features and options which are included based on each customer’s needs:
- Pneumatic control for nip, unwind and rewind pressures for repeatable setup from job to job
- Two laminating modes for sheet-fed and roll-to-roll applications
- Machine speeds of 3 – 100 feet per minute
- Rugged 10-inch diameter steel nip roll with steel wall construction
- Ergonomic control panel
- In-line rotary output trimming knives
- A dual light end-of-roll sensor system
- Four emergency palm stops and two-foot activated e-stops
- Light curtain safety system
- Static elimination system
Priced between $100,000 and $200,000, this is a heavy lift for most RMX Network facilities. However, the offset to this capital purchase can be a trouble-free operation for decades and the ability to handle future growth in decor volume.