Laminators

Contrary to popular belief, all laminators are not the same. Before deciding on a machine you should consider your requirements carefully.

What size of materials will you be laminating?

Bear in mind, that if you buy an A3 Model you will be able to laminate items from ID up to A3 in size. Because the price difference between models is so small, it is always advisable to go for a laminator that will accept materials bigger than you think you will generally need.

How thick / rigid do you need your laminated materials to be?

If you need your laminated materials to be thick/rigid you will need to go for a higher specification machine that can handle up to 500 micron pouches.

How important is the perfection of the finish?

When carried out correctly, hot lamination enhances the appearance of the images that have been laminated, making them brighter and cleaner. However if you laminate at the wrong temperature or speed for the pouch that you are using, the finished article can end up cloudy or wrinkled. This is a common problem and to avoid it you need to make sure that you choose a machine with either a variable heat or variable speed setting (or preferably both) and make sure that you do not use pouches too thick for the machine.

How much laminating do you do / how quickly do you need to do it?

If the machine is only used occasionally (i.e a few times a week) then a low spec machine will be adequate. However, if the machine is going to be used everyday, a higher spec and higher priced machine will normally be more reliable under intensive use and also have quicker laminating speeds. As with most things, you get what you pay for.

If you are doing very high volumes of laminating you should consider a roll laminating system as they are much faster than pouch laminators, you do not have to manually insert the documents into pouches and they are more economical.

What types of materials will you be laminating?

If you will be laminating heat sensitive materials such as photographs you should consider choosing a higher spec machine with heated rollers.

Other things to consider

Reverse Function

Sometimes laminating can go wrong and a pouch can get stuck. If you choose a machine with a reverse function you can usually extract the pouch quite easily and be up and running again in no time.

Warm up time

If you only laminate occasionally, but need to do it in a hurry you should choose a high spec machine which will normally have a quicker warm up time.

Pouches

Microns

The micron rating indicates the total thickness of the pouch, with 150 microns being the thinnest and 500 microns the thickest. The higher the microns, the stiffer the pouch and hence the more protection it offers.

The most popular weights of pouches are 200 and 250 microns as these generally offer adequate protection and a good finish.

Be careful not to purchase pouches which are too thick for your machine - only the best machines are capable of laminating pouches thicker than 350 microns.

Gloss

Gloss pouches are the most popular and are suitable for nearly all general laminating applications.

Matt

Matt pouches are advisable:

• if the item needs to be seen clearly and is placed in direct sunlight.
• if you need to be able to write on the pouch and even rub this off for reuse

Self Seal

Self Seal pouches are useful if you do not have a pouch laminator as one inside leaf of the pouch is sticky - you simply peel off the portective paper and stick this side to the item and to the edges of the other side of the pouch. However, they do not offer the same levels of protection or presentation as laminated pouches and are considerably more expensive.

Roll Laminating Film

Microns

The micron rating indicates the thickness of the film, with 17 microns being the thinnest film and 250 microns the thickest. The higher the microns, the stiffer the film and hence the more protection it offers.

Note: if you laminate both sides of an item with 75 micron film the rating of the finished lamination will be 150 microns. Be careful not to purchase film which is too thick for your machine - only the best machines are capable of laminating film thicker than 125 microns.