Tamerica / Tashin SM330 13" Pouch Laminator

Staff Review

Tamerica Tashin SM-330 Pouch Laminator Review

Overview:

• The Tamerica Tashin SM-330 pouch laminator is designed to allow small and medium sized businesses to laminate documents as small as a credit card and as large as a menu.
• This machine is ideal for laminating photos, signs, posters, luggage tags, name badges and sales materials.
• The SM-330 includes a number of features not commonly found on similarly priced laminators. This review will take a look at the strengths, features, weaknesses and limitations of the SM330 pouch laminator.

Features/ Strengths:

• One feature that helps to set the SM-330 apart from other pouch laminators is the fact that the rollers on this machine are operated independently from the main power control. On most pouch laminators the rollers start moving the moment that you turn the laminator on. With the SM-330 you can wait until the laminator is ready before engaging the rollers. This can help to lengthen the life of the laminator by reducing wear on the motor and gears inside the machine.
• The SM-330 is capable of laminating documents with 3mil, 5mil, 7mil and 10mil laminating pouches. You can run pouches through the machine with or without a pouch carrier. Many other laminators either require a carrier or require carrier free lamination.
• This laminator has a throat that is approximately 13 inches wide. This means that the SM-330 is capable of laminating documents with pouches as large as 12" x 18". However, you can also use this machine for laminating items with small credit card sized and business card sized pouches.
• The SM-330 has a fully variable speed control that allows users to adjust the temperature of the laminator to troubleshoot problems with the laminated output. You can turn the heat up if the laminate is cloudy and you can turn the heat down if the items are wavy.

Limitations/Weaknesses:

• The SM-330 has a small chart on the top of the machine that shows you the correct settings for laminating items with different thicknesses of laminating pouches. You will notice that the chart does not show a setting for laminating documents with 10mil laminating pouches using a carrier. This means that if you want to run 10mil laminating pouches through your machine you cannot use a carrier. This is a potential problem since 10mil pouches are notorious for depositing adhesive on the rollers of laminating machines if they are run without carriers. If you do run 10mil pouches without a carrier you should be sure to run a cleaning sheet through your laminator on a regular basis to help keep the rollers on your machine clean.
• The SM-330 operates at a fixed speed of approximately 13 inches per minute. This is fairly normal for a laminator in this price range. However, for organizations that laminate large numbers of documents a faster laminator might be helpful.
• The top of the SM-330 becomes quite hot during lamination. There is a warning label on the machine to help remind you but it is still quite easy to burn your hand on the top of this machine. For this reason it is not an excellent choice for use around small children and users should be trained in using the laminator before operating the SM-330.

Recommendation:

• The Tamerica Tashin SM-330 laminator is an excellent choice for users who are looking for a full featured laminator that can handle small and large documents with thin or thick laminating pouches.
• It has several features that set it apart from other similar laminating machines on the market.
• However, the slow speed of the SM-330 and the fact that the top of this machine gets extremely hot during lamination may cause some users to consider another more expensive machine with similar features.