The Best Laminator

Buying Guide

For many professions, such as teachers, a laminator is an essential piece of equipment. It’s also a necessity for many homes, especially for those people who like to preserve certain documents or photographs. When choosing a laminator, first consider which type you would like to get: pouch or roll.

A pouch laminator is ideal for laminating items such as business cards, badges, tags, ID cards and more. There are different sizes of pouch laminators, and the one you need will depend on the type of documents you need to laminate. The sizes can range from business card size all the way to legal paper size. Some special varieties are even larger and can be used to laminate items like restaurant menus.

As the name suggests, pouch laminators have plastic pouches where you place the documents, and then the pouch is run through the machine where it is heated. The adhesive within the pouch fuses together to laminate the document inside.

The other type of laminator is the roll laminator, which use rolls of laminating film instead of pouches. These types of laminators are on the commercial end and designed for heavy-duty use, typically found in printing shops or schools. They can handle documents of any size, though they work best for large documents.

While new and not very common, there is a lesser-known third type of laminator, known as the cold laminator. These use pressure instead of heat to laminate documents. Some of these types of laminators can also work without electrical power, which pouch and roll laminators require.

• If time is of the essence, keep warm-up and preheat speeds in mind when choosing a laminator. Typically, most laminators require at least five minutes to heat up before they can be used. Some take a little bit longer, while newer models can heat up in about a minute. For most people, waiting five minutes isn’t a big deal. However, if you laminate often, then that waiting time can add up.
• In terms of lamination speed, the process is going to be slow no matter what type of laminator you get. Going slow and steady is what results in a smooth and even lamination that doesn’t have any creases or air bubbles. Keep in mind that the industry standard is about twelve inches per minute, but some newer models can go up to fifteen inches per minute.
• In order to work effectively, pouch and roll laminators run very hot. Unfortunately, this means they cannot run for a long time because they need to be able to cool down – otherwise they may shut off or stop functioning. Typically, you should only run a laminator for about 20 minutes before turning it off for a break. If you sense the laminator is about to overheat, be sure to turn it off right away.
• Some laminators have a tendency to get jammed, especially those that use pouches. Taking out a jam isn’t easy, since the pouch can be sticky and hot. Always opt for a laminator that has quick jam release. This is typically a lever that enables you to separate the rollers and pull out the jam. Jams can lead to fires, so this is an important feature to have.