Hot Pouch Laminating Issues - How to prevent one side from being wavy?

I'm having issues with laminating an 8.5x11 inch 80 pound cover stock document. I'm using hot lamination, specifically a pouch laminator. My laminating machines are a Sky 335R6 and Apache AL13P. In order to get the best results, I'm using a carrier.

ISSUE: What I'm finding is that the end of the document (in a carrier) going into the laminator first is coming out wavy. But the remaining 75% of the length of the document is not, and looks generally fine.

My first thought was too much heat, but I don't think that's the problem. I've tried turning the temp way down, to the point that the pouch isn't even sealed properly, and I still see this waviness on the side of left edge of the document, which goes into the laminator first.

Ironically, I get great results without a carrier, but I get lots of scratching - mostly on the underside of the resulting output - which in theory customers won't care about, but it doesn't look great.

If anybody has come across this type of issue and has any thoughts, I very much appreciate it.

 

usually either there may be trash on one side of your rollers (need cleaning) or there may be uneven roller pressure (weak spring). Some laminator models have an adjusting screw to even pressure while other models just have springs. you may need to replace one.

 

thank you bill. i'm skeptical that it's due to debris on the rollers. i've seen this now with three different laminating machines, where if i use a carrier, the initial side is wavy. i just tried yesterday on a new Fellowes Jupiter2, which though it's not a production machine, it is regarding to yield good results.

i tend to think - though i don't know - that maybe there's moisture in my content? and somehow that initial side, where the pouch seem is, applies pressure differently than through the second half of the sheet. ??

regardless, i have found a dr. frankenstein approach where i cut a carrier in half, actually a bit smaller than half. and i just use the carrier on a portion of the bottom side of the pouch. it prevents the bottom scratches and somehow also prevents the waviness. recall that my results were perfect without a carrier, except for scratching underneath.

what i'm wondering, and haven't had time to test, is if there are simply limitations to these hot pouch laminating machines with certain content that's thicker (like my 80# cover stock) and also used with thicker pouches like 7 or 10 mil. In other words, a test I could do right now is simply to try laminating a regular piece of paper and see if the waviness happens. i probably did this right at the start but have done so many tests in the meanwhile that I don't remember.

My long term answers are either to perfect my hacked approach or to find a roll laminating service in town.