MyBinding Knowledge Base
How do I use a mounting board with my roll laminator?
One of the best ways to create eye-catching and helpful visual aids is by using mounting boards with your roll laminator. Luckily, using mounting boards is easy. This article will fill you in on everything you need to know.
If you want to use mounting boards, you’re going to need a roll laminator that can handle them. Most of the lower end school laminators won’t work with these supplies, unfortunately. However, there are plenty of machines that will. To figure out if your laminator can do mounting, look at it to find out if you can gap the rollers. The machine might even have a mounting board setting you can use. If you determine that your device can work with mounting boards, you can continue.
There are three ways to use mounting boards. Here’s a quick rundown of them:
- You can use pre-treated boards that already have adhesive applied to them. It’s easy to use these supplies but they’re not recommended for archival use. Also, it can be difficult to find boards that are the right thickness, color, and/or size. You might need to hunt for a bit to find the right supplies for your needs.
- If you want, you can pre-treat your boards with your roll laminator. To do this, you’ll need mounting adhesive on the top roller and nothing on the bottom one. Feed the board through the machine but be careful when doing so. It’s easy to get adhesive all over the place which can be rather messy.
- Finally, you can put a roll of adhesive on the bottom roller and a roll of overlaminate on the top one. You run your document through the machine and then carefully apply it to a board. (This method basically turns your document into a giant sticker.) Pulling this off can be challenging. You need to get the tension just right to prevent curling. However, if you use an adhesive and overlaminate with similar melting temperatures, the process is a bit easier.
Once your board or document is ready, you can begin mounting it. Peel back about an inch of the release liner and attach your item(s) to it. After you do this, make sure the machine is operating at a low temperature (about 100 degrees Fahrenheit) and run the board through it. The release liner will come off as the board moves through the machine. When the board comes out, trim away any excess if necessary and admire your work.
< 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)
