Ledco Digital Laminator
User-Friendly Wide Format Laminating and Mounting.

These 42 and 60-inch wide machines are designed exclusively for the owners of inkjet printers producing up to 60" prints.

The Digital 42 and 60 do all the finishing tasks required of a large format imaging shop - laminating one side or two, encapsulating, mounting with heat activated (dry mount) or cold pressure-sensitive films, simultaneous mounting and laminating, and application of transfer adhesives.

For narrower versions of this laminator (25" wide), check out the Work horse and Saberslit laminators.

The Digital series laminators are made to be very easy to use, incorporating many of the glitch-proof features Ledco has developed from over 40 years of laminating experience.

With a Digital 42 or 60, you can laminate one item, then mount and laminate the next item in one pass on mounting board up to 1/2 inch thick. Here's the catch: There are no setup changes needed.

There isn't any pressure setting or gap setting to adjust. Next time you see one of those laminators with big orange rubber rollers, ask the operator (not the salesman) how easy it is to operate. And then ask yourself does it really need to be that complex? Do you need to delegate or train other people to use it?

With a top speed of 30 FPM and a sustainable laminating speed of 10 FPM with 5-mil hot laminate on both sides, the Ledco Digital laminators are much faster than the other machines made for wide format applications.

Pull rollers keep hot laminates from curling. Most laminators will allow the finished product to drop once it has passed through the heated rollers. This promotes curling because your material will be cooling and hardening in a curled state as it drops vertically from the nip rollers.

Any industrial built Ledco laminator (Digital, Workhorse, Thoroughbred, Heavy Duty Industrial) capable of running hot laminates incorporate what are called "pull rollers."

What are "pull rollers?" Pull rollers are a second set of nip rollers that are driven a bit faster than the front nip rollers. The pull rollers pull the laminate taught, perfectly straight, and flat while the powerful fans cool the laminate before it exits the machine. Your prints will lay flat & stay flat!

Both upper and lower rollers are mechanically driven. This also prevents roll curling. Other less expensive laminators that cut corners on design may only drive the upper or lower rollers, which creates friction on one side only. This can make the material curl as it is pulled though the laminator. You get what you pay for.

Heat shoes vs. hot rollers, fact vs. myth: Aluminum teflon coated heat shoes simply heat up and cool down faster than siliconized rubber rollers. A matter of fact it takes about 10 minutes to heat or cool the heat shoes back to room temp in comparison to 1.5 -2 hours heat or cool 6" rubber rollers.

Heat shoes also supply more consistent heat across the width of the laminator than heated rubber rollers do. If you get a cool spot on the internally heated roller type laminator, it will result in your laminate not melting or adhering to your print properly. It will eventually delaminate or blister.

Another myth about heat shoes: We hear this one often. Prospects are often told by salespeople of a hot roller laminators that heat shoes will scratch your laminate. Heat shoes don't scratch laminates, careless people do. Heat shoes have a very smooth teflon coating that doesn't scratch... Unless there is a burr left on the shoe from someone carelessly cutting film on the shoe.

We also have seen careless people cut on the rollers of many laminators. The rollers eventually delaminate and fall apart. With shoes, cutting leaves scratches in the teflon coating. If the scratches leave burrs, the burrs will leave scratches. If you have careless people and you want to keep them, heat shoes cost about 20% of what hot rollers do. And you can replace them yourself.

Heat transfers need hot rollers. When using heat transfer materials that must simultaneously come in contact with the heating element and the material you are transferring to, hot rollers are the solution.

Since heat shoes only come in contact with the laminate just before it comes in contact with the printed stock, they don't work as well and sometimes don't work at all with some transfer medias.

ADDITIONAL OPTIONS:
Release liner take-up: An optional release liner take up allows the Digital 42 & Digital 60 to apply cold laminating films and wind up the scrap liner on a core.

Standard features on both machines include variable speed, independent top and bottom heat control, spacious feed tray, powerful film cooling system, and swing-away heating units for cold applications and easy cleaning of the rollers.

ThermoGlide™ Ledco's patented ThermoGlide™ option is available on both units. ThermoGlide combines the best features of hot shoes and hot rollers to produce the next generation of thermal laminating technology. Heat elements from Thermalglide never contact the film. The heat is radiated towards the film.

Roll Feed Assembly - Hand feeding long prints or rolls of prints and keeping them straight requires more skilled operators. The addition of the Roll Feed Assembly simplifies the process and keeps you prints straight.

Ledco is known for making machines that are very reliable, easy to use, and inexpensive to maintain. These units reinforce that reputation. They come with a one-year factory warranty. They are shipped fully assembled with a helpful operator's manual and a 90-minute instructional videotape.

Ledco provides a toll-free help line to back up the training and support required of its dealers.

ThermoGlide™ is a trademark of Graphic Laminating Inc., and Ledco Inc.