New Product Project - Improved Sleds
For the type of laminating we do, a sled is used often. A sled is a non-stick rigid surface which supports a print and laminate film as it is processed through a laminator. Common sleds are made from silicon paper-faced foam boards and specialty materials such as formica. Our goal is to make sleds more durable, easier to ship and use to make pouch laminating and single-sided laminating easier.
What we are looking at includes:
1. Foam board has the issue of forming to the size of the print being laminated creating an outline which can them subsequently be embossed into larger pieces that are laminated with the same sled. Materials such as Formica are up to 3 times more expensive than foam boards. We are looking at alternatives such as mat boards, paper boards and other harder materials. We are still laminating these materials with silicon papers to have a non-stick but more durable board.
2. Regardless of the sled material, the print and laminate is usually held in place by taping the edge which will be inserted first into the laminator. Making sure the leading edge is smooth is critical to preventing wrinkles and can be difficult because many tapes do not adhere to the non-stick surfaces. Also, if you wrap the tape to the back of the sled, the tape can tear the back of the board and make it not last too long. We are experimenting with creating a flap over the leading edge of the sled such that a user could slide their print and laminate under the flap and when it is inserted into the nip of the laminator, the pressure would hold everything in place smoothly.
3. Finally, sleds are expensive to ship. They are larger thank the prints being laminated and usually are the width of the laminator and twice as long as the width. Also, one sled should be good to last for 25 to 50 uses. What happens is that people need to buy a half dozen at a time to last several months. But the cost to ship 6 foamboards is often more than the value of the boards and becuase they are fragile, companies such as UPS can damage these easily. We are looking at rollable materials which can be shipped easily.
Any thoughts or suggestions are more than welcome.