Laminators are not a new invention but they remain one of the most important pieces of equipment for any office or classroom. At a base level, it can be used to make ID cards, helping the business to identify staff and create access levels.
But, the real purpose of a laminator is to seal paper inside the plastic. This protects the document, allowing you to pass it around people and not worry about dirty fingerprints or spills staining the paper. They can simply be wiped off. That’s especially useful when preparing information for a class. You can create enough copies for every student to have one and then keep the copies for reuse every year.
Of course, a laminated document is easier to keep hygienically clean, just wipe it with an antibacterial wipe. This allows you to use laminated documents as presentation aids. That’s useful when training employees or conducting meetings with prospective clients.
But, once you start looking at laminators you’ll realize there is an array of options on the market. It’s time to find out more about your options and then contact the best suppliers of laminating equipment
The Hot Laminator
All laminators use sleeves, the paper is inserted into the sleeve and the laminator closes the sleeve, ensuring the document is safe.
However, there are different ways to seal a document. The hot laminator uses heat. It’s effective and fast but you do need to give the machine time to warm up first. The heat simply melts the glue imprinted onto the plastic, allowing the two pieces to bond securely together.
Cold Laminators
These machines adopt the same approach with one crucial difference; they don’t use heat in the sealing process. Instead, the machine uses pressure to bond the cold plastic. Again, it is coated with a special adhesive but this is activated by pressure.
The machine is just as easy to move and doesn’t require warming up time. It’s also the best option if you’re dealing with pictures or have ink that may run when heated.
Size Of the Laminator
When considering the right laminator for your office or classroom you need to think about how much space you have available. This will control the size of the machine you can buy. It’s rare for a laminator to be able to handle more than one sheet at a time. But, if you need to laminate larger sheets you may want to invest in a machine capable of doing this.
Perhaps more important is the size of the laminate pockets. There are different size pockets which can accommodate paper of different thicknesses. Make sure you buy the right pockets and that the laminator can handle the thicker setting.
It should be noted that pouch laminators are the smallest options available. You can also get roll laminators which use large rolls of film. The machine pulls as much off the roll as needed to laminate the item. These are generally better options for offices and classrooms but it does depend on what you want to laminate.