The Essentials of Laminating: What You Need to Know
The Essentials of Laminating: What You Need to Know
TLDR
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Trying to choose the perfect laminating machine can be overwhelming, to say the least. Pouch or roll? Hot or cold? Automatic or manual? Not to mention the different types of film and supplies. The questions can be endless. In this guide, we&#;ll cover the essentials of laminating machines and supplies so you can ditch the overwhelm and make an informed decision that aligns with your needs.
First impressions count when it comes to professional documents, and the quality of your presentations can make or break a deal. This is where the power of document lamination can&#;t be denied. Whether you&#;re safeguarding cherished student artwork, enhancing the vibrancy of your graphic display, or making your restaurant menus withstand the test of time (and spills!), a laminating machine can elevate your projects to their highest potential. But with so many options at your fingertips, how do you find a machine that perfectly meets your needs?
We&#;ll give you all the essentials you need to know in this guide, covering:
The types of laminating machines
How to choose the right laminating machine
The
lamination process explained
How to choose the right laminating supplies
Common applications of laminating machines
Types of Laminating Machines
So, how do you choose the right laminating machine? It all starts with knowing the type of machine you need and what features to consider. Let&#;s take a deeper look at laminating machines so you can make an informed decision.
Types of Laminating Machines
No matter the project, there&#;s a laminating machine for you. Each has its capabilities and applications, so a successful project starts with choosing the right machine. Available lamination machines include:
- Pouch laminator
: Pouch laminators are small laminators that use pre-sized laminating pouches to encase your document, then seal the pouch with heat and pressure. Offices, classrooms, and small businesses typically use them to laminate small to medium-sized documents.
- Roll laminator
: Also known as school laminators due to their popularity in the educational industries, roll laminators heat and press two rolls of laminating film together to apply laminate to larger-format, high-volume materials and documents. They can laminate materials ranging from 1.5-10 mil thick, making them ideal for educational materials, packaging, book covers, posters, photos, and even mounting boards.
- Automatic laminator
: Automatic laminators get rid of those inefficient days of feeding, laminating, and trimming each document by hand. They allow you to choose a setting, press a button, and do something else while it laminates and trims the sheets for you. That&#;s why they&#;re so popular in high-volume industries like manufacturing or publishing where high-speed performance and consistency are so important.
- Wide format laminator
: A
wide format laminator
is made for laminating film rolls anywhere from 38 inches to 65 inches wide and up to 10 mil thick. Some ultra-wide format laminators can even handle documents 80 inches wide and higher. They&#;re perfect for industries like architecture, engineering, signage, and advertising, where businesses frequently produce large documents and large-format displays.
- Cold laminator
: Unlike thermal laminators, cold laminators use pressure-sensitive film to laminate sensitive materials like photographs, vinyl, and digital prints.
- Foil laminator
: These special laminators are specially made for use with specialized laminating foil to make inked sections of a project glimmer. They use pressure and heat to adhere the foil to the project, making them perfect for any business seeking to elevate the look of certificates, business cards, packaging, and more.
- Mounting board laminator
: These laminating machines can use both lamination film and mounting boards to protect precious photographs and displays from damage and wear and tear. They&#;re available as hot, cold, electric, manual, standard, and wide format machines so any school, business, sign shop, or print shop can laminate their photos no matter the size.
- Single-side laminator
: A single-side laminator is a specialized machine for use with single-side laminating film. It allows you to save money by only laminating one side of prints, maps, posters, book covers, and more.
How to Choose the Right Laminating Machine
Once you&#;ve narrowed down the type of laminator you need for your material, there are several considerations for choosing the right machine to get the job done:
- Ease of use
: A laminator should be intuitive and easy to set up and operate, with clear settings and controls.
- Document size
: Make sure the laminator can accommodate the size of all your documents. It&#;s best to base the size you pick on the size of the largest item you plan to laminate.
- Laminating volume
: Consider how much and how often you&#;ll be laminating. If you&#;re running a busy print shop that laminates various items often, an automatic roll machine designed for heavier use would keep up with the pace much better than a lighter desktop pouch laminator.
- Film thickness
: Different laminators handle different film thicknesses. Thicker films offer more protection, but the machine must be able to handle their heft. For example, a school using 1.5 mil school film would be okay with a school laminator, while a hospital laminating signs and ID badges would need a more robust roll laminator.
- Speed and efficiency
: Time is of the essence if you&#;re laminating multiple items. Look for a laminator that warms up quickly and processes items at a speed that keeps your workflow smooth and efficient.
- Maintenance and durability
: Your laminator should be built to last and easy to maintain for maximum reliability and cost-effectiveness. Pay attention to the machine&#;s build quality, availability of replacement parts, and level of customer service support.
- Brand quality
: It&#;s best to opt for a laminator from a reputable brand. Research different brands, read reviews, and consider the level of support and customer service to get the best quality for your money. Investing in quality may have a higher upfront cost, but it&#;s well worth the cost when you consider the efficiency, satisfaction, reliability, durability, and peace of mind you&#;ll enjoy. A brand like
Spiral is a top-choice for pouch laminators
.
- Budget
: How much a laminating machine costs can vary widely based on its capacity, features, and durability. Always weigh the initial investment against your laminating needs and expected volume, considering not only the purchase price but the cost of essential supplies and accessories. Aim for a laminator that offers the best mix of necessary features and reliability so you get the most bang for your buck.
There are also some important precautions to take for successful lamination, including using the correct pouch or film settings, aligning projects precisely, allowing the machine to warm up completely, and doing test runs before the final project.
Laminating Machine Features to Consider
After evaluating your project needs, you also need to compare what your desired laminators offer to make sure you get the most value for your purchase. Other common features to look out for include:
Adjustable
speed control
Laminating speed
Adjustable
temperature control
Capability to do hot and cold laminating
Auto shut-off/
standby mode
Reverse
Built-in cutter
Rolls vs heat plates
Memory capabilities
Choosing the Right Laminating Supplies
The lamination film, method, and supplies you use can make or break your lamination processes, so it&#;s essential to understand these factors. When you know exactly what to use with your project and how to use it, you can choose the right supplies for success.
Types of Lamination Film
There are several types of lamination film, each with its own applications and type of material it can laminate. The determining factor of a lamination film is the type of adhesive it uses because the adhesive is what gets applied to the paper to adhere to the protective laminate layer.
What you use to print on your paper determines what adhesive is best for your application. So it&#;s very important to choose the right type of film to make sure your laminate&#;s adhesive is compatible with your material. The six types of laminating materials are:
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Standard Laminating Film
This is a regular monopolymer film with the highest melt temperature range of 260-290 degrees. Standard laminating film is generally referred to as &#;school film&#; because schools often use it due to its low price. It&#;s available in thicknesses of 1.5 mil and 3 mil, and 1.5 mil is the most common thickness for school use.
Premium Laminating Film
Premium laminating film is a copolymer film, which means it has a specialized blend of adhesives to create a more aggressive bond. It has a lower melting temperature of 230 degrees, so it typically runs at 220-270 degrees in a laminator. It&#;s one of the most popular films for businesses thanks to its strong sticking power and wide thickness range of 1.5 mil to 10 mil. This makes it perfect for various uses such as:
Point-of-purchase displays
Presentation folders
Video boxes
Book covers/jackets
Menus
Color Bond Laminating Film
This premium-grade film is compatible with toner-based copies or graphics, so it&#;s commonly used to laminate digital printing color copies. It has the strongest adhesive and a wide thickness range of 1.5 mil to 10 mil.
Color Bond laminating film can laminate various types of media, from paper to plastics to vinyl. It&#;s also available in both matte and gloss and has a very low melting temperature of 185 degrees. It is typically run at 185-230 degrees depending on the laminator speed.
Gold-Lam Wide Format Film
This premium polyester base film is designed for large documents that are between 38 to 65 inches wide. Gold-Lam wide format film comes in one thickness of 5 mil and is typically used for graphics used with inkjet, solvent-based, or latex-based printers. It&#;s typically laminated at lower speeds around four feet per minute and a low melting temperature of 185-230 degrees.
It can laminate a wide variety of media, from paper to plastics to vinyl, but it&#;s typically used for thermal laminating on paper-based graphics. This film doesn&#;t have UV inhibitors to prevent fading from sun exposure.
Platinum-Lam Wide Format Film
This low-melt film is the same as Gold-Lam film, but it has added UV inhibitors in the adhesive layer to reduce color fading from UV light. Unlike the Gold-Lam film, Platinum-Lam wide format film is available in gloss, satin, and matte finishes and thicknesses of 3 mil, 5 mil, and 10 mil in three-inch cores.
Pressure-Sensitive Adhesive (PSA) Film
Also known as cold adhesive film or pressure-sensitive mounting film, this film is used with wide-format applications for vinyl-based graphics. PSA film is most commonly used in the sign industry to mount graphics for display. You can precoat mounting boards or create large decals by applying the film to the back of the print. They may even be used for creating window graphics, floor graphics, outdoor signage, and removable applications.
Single-Side Film
This thin, polypropylene (OPP)-based or nylon-based film is commonly used for book covers, packaging, posters, photos, and maps. It is only used with a specialized single-side laminator and is available in thicknesses of 1.1 mil, 1.3 mil, and 1.5 mil.
Hot vs. Cold Lamination
Hot lamination uses a combination of pressure and heat to adhere laminate adhesive to an item. It&#;s typically used for polyester-based, OPP-based, and nylon-based film for two-sided lamination.
On the other hand, cold lamination only applies pressure to adhere a pressure-sensitive adhesive to laminate documents. It uses a special vinyl lamination film to protect heat-sensitive materials like photographs, vinyl, and inkjet-printed documents.
Essential Laminating Accessories and Tools
Last but certainly not least, you need the right accessories and tools to round your laminating process out and provide that perfect finish. Some essential tools you&#;ll need include:
- Pouch carriers
: Pouch carriers are a must when your laminating pouches are smaller than your laminator&#;s maximum width (which is pretty much all the time). Adhesive can seep out of the pouch and make your rollers sticky in these cases. Pouch carriers encapsulate your pouch and document to protect them. They&#;re available in thicknesses between 3 mil to 10 mil.
- Trimmer/Cutter
: If your laminator doesn&#;t have a built-in trimmer, this is an essential tool for cutting lamination and other plastics. It&#;s available as a cutter bar or a rotary-style cutter and can handle material more than 100 inches long.
- Carts and stands
: If you&#;re in an office or business and struggle to find the perfect place to keep all your laminating equipment and supplies together without taking up too much countertop space, laminator carts and stands are a necessity. These workspaces come with plenty of space and storage areas for heavy laminating machines and materials. They&#;re also built at a universally comfortable working height so you can store and use your laminator with ease.
- Cleaners
: It&#;s easy for laminator rollers to get dirtied and clogged with adhesive and dust particles, especially if you use your machine regularly. Cleaning accessories like laminator roller cleaning bars or erasers, liquid cleaners, cleaning boards, and tack dusk removers make keeping your rollers clean and functioning their best a breeze.
- Roll lifters
: High-volume print shops and businesses that print extra-wide materials often have to store and move extremely heavy laminate rolls. Roll lifters make lifting and moving heavy laminate or fabric rolls safe and easy, with many able to lift rolls weighing almost half a ton!
- Dust covers
: Dust and debris can accumulate in your laminator&#;s mechanisms and sneak onto your adhesive, gunking up your rolls and lowering the quality of your projects. Dusk covers protect your machine when it&#;s not in use so you can laminate with confidence.
Industry-Specific Applications
Laminating allows a variety of industries to protect and preserve important documents, boost their aesthetics, and demonstrate their commitment to quality and professionalism. Consider some industry-specific applications for lamination.
Restaurant Menus
Restaurant menus go through a lot of handling, dropping, abrasions, and spilling. Lamination can protect them from damage and wear and tear while elevating their look. Not to mention the need to clean between customers.
Educational Materials and Tools
Durability is key in classrooms where little hands frequently use materials. Laminating is a teacher&#;s best friend for making materials last longer and withstand the rigors of a hands-on learning environment.
Teachers benefit from preserving documents with lamination, protecting anything from precious student artwork to reusable teaching aids and flashcards. Teachers can even use foil laminators to make dazzling wall posters or for students to make beautiful projects like cards for friends and family.
Healthcare Materials
Cleanliness is paramount in medical environments like hospitals and clinics. Laminated items are easy to sanitize, helping to maintain hygienic standards. As a result, the healthcare industry often uses lamination for materials such as signs, instructions, IDs, and more.
Retail Displays
Retail businesses often have fast-paced environments with many people coming and going and touching things. Laminated point-of-sale displays, loyalty cards, and price tags are resistant to damage and more durable, maintaining a clean, professional look that enhances the shopping experience and brand image.
Graphic Design and Advertising
Graphic design and advertising is all about making banners, posters, and signage pop and wow the viewer. Laminating adds gloss or matte finishes that do just that. But it does more. It also protects them from environmental factors like sunlight, heat, and rain so they remain vibrant for a long time.
Promotional Real Estate Materials
Real estate companies often use laminating to create a polished look that withstands the elements for marketing materials, property listings, outdoor displays, take-home brochures, and more.
Government and Public Services
Government sectors often use laminating for papers such as vehicle registrations and informational pamphlets so they can withstand frequent use and handling. They also use wide-format laminating for educational signage.
These are just some examples of industries that tap into the benefits of laminating documents. It can be used by virtually any industry to safeguard and prolong the life of important documents, making it perfect no matter what you need.
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With the right machine, tools, and supplies, you can create beautiful, well-protected documents that stand out and last the test of time. Here at Binding101, we provide high-quality laminating machines and supplies so you can create the best project for your unique needs.
Are you ready to start your laminating journey on the right foot?
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AquaSEAL AS Liquid Laminator - Roll to ...
This is an automated liquid coater and is ideal for coating all solvent and inkjet images that have been printed onto pretty much any media - papers, vinyls, wall coverings, billboards, canvas, vehicle and building signage, promotions, trade show, fleet graphics and many other substrates. It will apply a smooth liquid laminate coating for a wide range of outdoor (or indoor) materials up to 60" / mm wide.
It's a very simple operation, the liquid laminate is basically squeezed through a grooved bar (Meyer bar) and then passes under UV heaters on the top of the machine that dry the media at a user preset temperature.
You can laminate a 50m roll in approx 40mins and it is instantly dry.
As standard these were supplied with the #32 meyer bar but I also have the #22 which enables a different depth of coating.
To see one fully operational please see this video on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vwgeK3PEc4
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You can view the operation manual here:
http://www.largeformatsupport.co.uk/use ... 600_EN.pdf
The only small issue with the machine is the tank where the sealant is held. The fitting has been damaged but could probably be replaced. I spoke to the support team at Neschen about this and they advised me that most people who use one of these actually just use a jug to add the laminate to the 'trough' and don't use the bucket anyway.
- SealAS.jpg (1.34 MiB) Viewed times
Since I have owned this laminator it remains virtually unused. I make sure it is powered up frequently just to make sure it's OK and it is in full working order apart from the broken adaptor on the bucket (as in the images below) which I'm sure could be easily sorted. I am selling this machine because I bought it for laminating canvas prints but had a lot of problems with getting an automated site developed and have never got to the point where my volumes are high enough to warrant using it.
Here's a link to a video of my actual laminator that I have recorded. It doesn't show a lot other than it being switched on and getting up to temperature and the speed being adjusted:
https://youtu.be/h9eTAp5uFio
On the YouTube video that I linked to at the top of the page you will see that the chap appears to waste a lot of material on the roll but you can easily make a 'leader' using banner material for example to fix to the front of the roll to prevent this, ensuring that the full roll can be printed without the waste on the front end.
I'm hoping for something like £ for this but am prepared to consider any sensible offers. Collection only from Melton Mowbray (Leics) which is pretty close to both the A1 and M1 (less than 20 miles from both)
Thanks for looking!
Phil
I am the 2nd owner of this machine. It was originally purchased at a cost of over £18k. I bought it just over 2yrs ago.This is an automated liquid coater and is ideal for coating all solvent and inkjet images that have been printed onto pretty much any media - papers, vinyls, wall coverings, billboards, canvas, vehicle and building signage, promotions, trade show, fleet graphics and many other substrates. It will apply a smooth liquid laminate coating for a wide range of outdoor (or indoor) materials up to 60" / mm wide.It's a very simple operation, the liquid laminate is basically squeezed through a grooved bar (Meyer bar) and then passes under UV heaters on the top of the machine that dry the media at a user preset temperature.You can laminate a 50m roll in approx 40mins and it is instantly dry.As standard these were supplied with the #32 meyer bar but I also have the #22 which enables a different depth of coating.To see one fully operational please see this video on YouTube:I only have a very small amount of coating left, as shown above so you would need some more.You can view the operation manual here:The only small issue with the machine is the tank where the sealant is held. The fitting has been damaged but could probably be replaced. I spoke to the support team at Neschen about this and they advised me that most people who use one of these actually just use a jug to add the laminate to the 'trough' and don't use the bucket anyway.It requires 30amp single phase supply, so it's basically the standard 240 power supply but with an industrial socket so very easy to install.Since I have owned this laminator it remains virtually unused. I make sure it is powered up frequently just to make sure it's OK and it is in full working order apart from the broken adaptor on the bucket (as in the images below) which I'm sure could be easily sorted. I am selling this machine because I bought it for laminating canvas prints but had a lot of problems with getting an automated site developed and have never got to the point where my volumes are high enough to warrant using it.Here's a link to a video of my actual laminator that I have recorded. It doesn't show a lot other than it being switched on and getting up to temperature and the speed being adjusted:On the YouTube video that I linked to at the top of the page you will see that the chap appears to waste a lot of material on the roll but you can easily make a 'leader' using banner material for example to fix to the front of the roll to prevent this, ensuring that the full roll can be printed without the waste on the front end.I'm hoping for something like £ for this but am prepared to consider any sensible offers. Collection only from Melton Mowbray (Leics) which is pretty close to both the A1 and M1 (less than 20 miles from both)Thanks for looking!Phil