A Basic Guide to the Home Laminator

Until recently, the laminator (or laminating machine) was only found in offices and office supply stores. The closest you could get to a laminator at home would be the self laminating pouches that were sold in machines and at department stores, known as butterfly pouches. These were primarily used to laminate pictures. These self laminating stickers were very small and not at all versatile. The world of home laminators has changed and there are a lot of benefits to having a laminator in your home.

There are three main types of laminators. There are pouch laminators, heated roll laminators, and cold roll laminators. There are smaller home versions of all three on the market today. Of the three the pouch laminator is by far the most popular laminator for home use.

The heated roll laminator is often used by schools and offices to preserve decorations and important documents. It has to be heat up for a certain amount of time, usually around 10-15 minutes prior to operation. Once the laminator is heated a set of electronic rollers will pull whatever it is you want to laminate through the machine. A layer of laminate will be simultaneously rolled out along the top and bottom of the object. These two layers of laminate are sealed together using heat. Once the two layers seal together from the heat the object inside is permanently covered with laminate plastic and is protected from sun damage, wrinkling, and tears.

The cold roll laminator works similar to the heated roll laminator but without the heat. An object rolls through the cold roll laminator and the laminate film backing is removed by the machine. This exposes the object that is being laminated to cold adhesive laminate film. The film sticks to the object directly and does not have be melted to it the way heated laminate does. After, the object is protected from damage, just like the objects that are heat laminated. Due to the rise in ink jet printers, which provide documents that often do not do well under heat, the cold roll laminator is becoming more and more popular. This type of device ranges from small hand cranked versions to large motorized versions that are used for industrial operations. Aside from the fact that they can be used on objects that are not intended for heated services, these devices use little or no electricity and there is no waiting time to heat them up.

The pouch laminator is often used in homes. It is typically much smaller than the other two laminating machines. It is also far cheaper. You will have to wait a few minutes for the pouch laminator to heat up but the wait is nothing compared to a traditional heat roll laminator. This type of laminator requires the user to purchase pouches instead of rolls of laminate film. The object that is to be laminated is placed inside the pouch and then run through the laminator. The pouch laminator typically uses heat to activate the adhesion on the pouch.

There are a million different uses for a home laminator. They can be used to preserve family photographs and mementos. They are also great for saving children's art from kindergarten and preschool. They can also be used around the home to make chore charts, protect important documents, and decorate. They are very versatile and users are often surprised by how much they use a home laminator after they purchase it.

If you found this article helpful or interesting, be sure to check out my used office furniture, A3 printer, and binding machines articles.