MyBinding Knowledge Base
What should I know about Roll Laminators?
The decision to buy a roll laminator is often a serious one. Roll laminators tend to be expensive and they can take up a lot of room, so you want to make sure you buy the right one. This article will introduce you to four different types of roll laminators, such as school laminators and wide-format machines. Continue reading to find out which type is the best for you and your company, as well as discover some of the best models in each different category.
School laminators. As the name indicates these durable, affordable laminators are perfect for use in schools. They can be used to laminate posters, reference materials, art projects, and more. School laminators are often easy to use which means anyone can learn how to use one, even the technologically impaired.
Generally speaking, school laminators are designed for use with thinner laminating films, such as 1.5 and 3 mil thicknesses. GBC makes a number of school laminators, including the HeatSeal Ultima 65 which is the best selling school laminator in the United States.
These laminators are frequently used by companies that laminate a lot of documents and need a fairly rigid product. Documents laminated by these machines tend to be less than 27 inches wide and include menus, signs, and marketing materials. Machines in this category often feature higher laminating speeds, silicone rollers, and other advanced features. They’re perfect for print shops and other organizations that need to produce high-quality lamination in-house. Royal Sovereign produces some good commercial-grade laminators, such as the RSL-2702 and the RSS-685. These machines will feature adjustments that are not available on most school laminators allowing you to use specialty laminating films for specific applications.
If you’re in the graphics arts business or simply want to laminate something that’s wider than 27 inches, a wide-format laminator is what you need. These machines are a great choice when laminating maps, posters, banners, and large signs. They offer high-quality hot and cold lamination and can vary in size. Some machines can laminate items that are up to 65 inches wide, so the laminating possibilities are endless. GBC and Royal Sovereign are two of the leading manufacturers in this category, producing the 44DT 43″ laminator and the high-speed RSS-1050N 41″ machine, respectively.
Sometimes you need to mount your document on to a board and there’s no better way to do that than with a pouch board laminator. These machines are designed primarily for mounting but can be used to do specific types of encapsulation as well. They are good for companies that need an array of document finishing options. Some pouch board laminators to check out include the Phoenix wide-format laminator and the ProSeal 25″ and 44″ models.
If none of these types of laminators sound like what you need, you might want to consider a pouch laminator. Pouch laminators are smaller than roll laminators, and are great for small laminating jobs including ID cards, snapshots, legal documents, and so on. This type of laminator is also usually a lot less expensive than a roll laminator, so if you’re on a budget, you should check out this type of machine.
< 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)
