Preventing and Dealing with Pouch Laminator Jams

Pouch laminators make it possible for everyone to protect and preserve important documents. Using one of these machines is pretty easy but you might encounter pouch jams. Here are a few tips on how you can prevent and deal with jams:

One of the best ways to deal with pouch jams is preventing them from occurring in the first place. You can do this by placing your document in a carrier before running it through the laminator. Just about every package of laminating pouches comes with a carrier so they're easy to get. Using the carrier will prevent adhesive from seeping out of the pouch so you can be sure that your document will exit the laminator without any problems. Also, make sure you don't laminate items such as leaves and pressed flowers. Your laminator is designed to only laminate certain things such as paper documents and photographs. Trying to laminate anything else will just lead to problems.

Despite your best efforts you might end up having to deal with a pouch jam anyway. Luckily, it's not too difficult to fix the problem. Here's what you need to do:

• Make sure you stop the machine and/or turn it off. You need to do this because if the laminator is jammed and it's still operating, there's a chance that the motor will overheat. If the motor overheats, you may end up needing to repair or replace your machine which can be inconvenient and expensive.
• Now that your laminator has stopped, you can take a look at the jam and see how bad it is. If it's not too bad, you can try tugging on your document to remove it. You should do this gently so you don't damage the machine.
• If the document is wrapped around the laminator's rollers, you will need to turn the machine back on and use the reverse mode. As the laminator is working, you should grab a hold of your document and try to free it. (Again, be gentle when you do this.)
• There are some laminators on the market that can be opened up like an ink-printer. If you have one of these machines, you can open it up to remove your document. You should make sure that the power is off before doing this so you can stay safe. You can also do maintenance while the laminator is open, such as cleaning the rollers. In fact, cleaning the rollers can help reduce the likelihood of jams occurring. If you don't have a machine that can be opened up, don't gather a bunch of tools and try to take the machine apart yourself. You could damage the device and void the warranty.
• Unfortunately, some pouch jams turn out to be rather serious and you might not be able to solve the problem by using the reverse mode or tugging on your document. If this happens, you should call a technician. Hopefully the professional can solve the problem. If not, you might need to get a new laminator.

Dealing with pouch jams isn't too difficult but you're better off preventing them in the first place. Now that you know how to do it, laminating should be easier than ever. Happy laminating!

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Written by Jeff McRitchie
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