MyBinding Knowledge Base
Comparing Fellowes Saturn and GBC Heatseal Laminators
A good pouch laminator is a great item to have on-hand if you want to protect your letter- and legal-sized documents and photographs. Two machines that can help you out are the Fellowes Saturn SL-95 and the GBC HeatSeal H212. Let’s compare these two machines and see which one you should get.
The Fellowes Saturn SL-95:
- This device is capable of hot and cold lamination. It has three temperature settings that are easy to choose from. The cold setting is ideal for fragile documents and photographs.
- This machine’s feed opening is 9.5 inches wide, so it’s great for laminating documents that are letter- and legal-sized. There are two rollers to ensure your documents will look their best.
- The SL-95 warms up in 5 minutes so you can begin using it pretty quickly. (You will know it’s ready because you will hear a “beep.”) It’s capable of laminating up to 12 inches of material per minute, which means a letter-sized document will be laminated in less than 60 seconds.
- This laminator can accept pouches that are up to 5 mil thick. For cold lamination, it’s compatible with self-sealing pouches.
- This machine has dimensions of 3.5625″ (height) x 16.5625″ (width) x 7.875″ (depth) so it won’t take up very much room in your office. It has a sleek design and there’s even a carrying handle to make moving the machine easy.
- This laminator is equipped with Fellowes’ popular HeatGuard feature. It’s double-walled insulation that helps keep the heat inside the machine so you won’t burn yourself.
- This machine has a reverse mode that you can use if a pouch jam occurs.
- Each SL-95 comes with a starter pack of supplies to help you get to work.
The GBC Heatseal H212:
- This device has a rotary temperate selector that includes a cold setting. The machine will warm up more quickly the SL-95: in 4 minutes as opposed to 5. A light will go on and a sound will go off so you know you can begin work.
- Like the SL-95, this machine has a 9.5″ throat opening so you can laminate legal-sized paper easily. It can laminate a document of that size in just one minute. It has two rollers so you’ll get flawless results.
- The H212 can accept the same types of pouches as the SL-95, including GBC cold-process supplies.
- This laminator will shut off on its own after it hasn’t been used for an hour. It has a jam release lever to use if your pouch becomes jammed in the machine.
- This device is very modern-looking and will look great in your office. It’s not too big either.
- Each one of these laminators comes with a free 12.5″ trimmer that you can use to both cut paper and trim away excess laminate.
Conclusion:
Both the Fellowes Saturn SL-95 and GBC HeatSeal H212 laminators are very similar in so many respects. They both have ways of preventing and resolving pouch jams, and they produce great results and come with free supplies. However, the H212 has a slight edge over its competition because it will automatically shut off when you don’t use it for a while. Such a feature will prevent the motor from overheating, which can save you a lot of money and frustration. So if you’re going to purchase one of these laminators, the H212 is the one to get.
< Over the years, a number of customers have asked me whether they can use twin loop wire with their plastic comb binding machine. These customers often don’t want to have to buy a brand new machine but like the look and feel of twin loop wire binding. However, the answer to their question isn’t as simple as it seems. You see, they actually do make twin loop wire that is designed to work with the plastic comb binding hole pattern. With that said, if you want to use these wires you are going to need a way to close the wires. What is Spiral-O Wire? Let me explain a little bit more…There is a product that we carry called Spiral-O Wire. This wire has 19 loops and is designed to work with the hole pattern from a plastic comb binding machine. Spiral-O Wire is sometimes called Wire Combs or Ibico Wire and was originally designed for use with some of the older Ibico binding machines. A number of the older Ibico plastic comb binding machines also included a twin loop wire closer on the front of them to allow users to use both plastic combs and wire. This 19 loop wire was designed for this purpose. What Equipment is Needed? As the Ibico brand has been phased out by GBC and all of the older Ibico plastic binding machines have been replaced with new models, they no longer have the twin loop wire closer on the front of them. This presents a problem in trying to use these spiral-o wires since you can’t use the wires without a way to close them. One of the only options left is to purchase a Twin Loop wire closer. However, since twin loop wire closers are not incredibly cheap this option usually only appeals to users who have larger electric plastic comb binding machines. Otherwise, it is often advisable to simply buy a low end 3:1 pitch twin loop wire binding machine (the supplies are cheaper). This being said, if you have one of the older Ibico binding machines that has a wire closer included you are in luck. The Spiral-O binding supplies that we carry will work perfectly with your machine and you will be able to use both plastic combs and wire depending on your needs. These Spiral-O binding supplies are available in Black, Silver, White, Blue and Red and in sizes up to 1″ in diameter. If you aren’t sure what type of wire binding supplies that you need to work with your machine simply give us a call. Our trained sales representatives will be glad to help you find the correct supplies for use with your machine.(Read More)
