Questions to Ask When Choosing a Pouch Laminator
By Jeff McRitchie
If you are looking to purchase a pouch laminator I am sure that you have discovered that there are a plethora of options available on the laminating pouches market. In order to sort out the options and decide what laminator is right for your application there are a few decisions that you will need to make. Here are some questions that you should ask yourself when choosing pouch laminators:
What size of documents do you need to laminate? - Pouch laminators are available with throats as small as 4" and as large as 24". Depending on the size of the documents that you intend to laminate, your options for laminating pouches will be narrowed. If you plan on using letter sized laminating pouches you will need at least a 9" throat. If you plan on using Menu Size or Double Letter Sized Laminating Pouches you will need a 12 - 13" throat. Poster sized laminating pouches would of course require a laminator with a larger throat.
What thickness of laminating pouches do you intend to use? Laminating supplies are available in a variety of thicknesses including 3mil, 5mil, 7mil and 10mil laminating pouches. Many lower end laminators will only run 3mil and 5mil laminating pouches. If you expect that you might need to run heavier laminating pouches in the future you should consider choosing a laminator that is capable of laminating 7mil and 10mil laminating pouches.
What type of materials do you plan on laminating? - Most of the lower end laminators on the market are designed to do an excellent job in laminating standard paper thin cardstock. However, if you plan on using your pouch laminator to mount documents, to laminate thicker materials or to laminate photographs you might consider a higher end laminator. Some of the better laminators include both heated rollers and heated plates to provide even heat distribution for thicker substrates. These laminators and other laminators with multiple sets of rollers are the best choices for photo lamination.
What other features does the laminator have? - Several other popular features that you might want to look for on your laminator could include: A reverse function which comes in handy in case a laminating pouch gets jammed in the laminator machine. Variable speed and temperature controls can be helpful in making small adjustments for variations in laminating pouches and differences in substrate thicknesses. Some laminators also come equipped with silicone rollers to prevent laminating pouches from getting stuck to the rollers when running through the machine without a carrier.
These questions are simply meant as a starting place when evaluating various pouch laminators. Ultimately, factors such as brand, machine construction and warranty will most likely also play into your decision concerning what pouch laminator you will ultimately choose. However, if you know the right questions to ask, you will have a much greater chance of choosing the right laminator for your needs.
About the author
Jeff McRitchie is the designer and Director of Marketing for MyBinding.com. He has written several articles on pouch laminators, laminating pouches, roll laminate film and more. from http://www.FreeArticlesAndContent.com
|
|
Copy This Article
For FREE!!!
You can use this article and copy it on your own website
for free! All you have to do is make sure the article
is copied with no changes and includes the "About
The Author" text. Also please ensure that all url's
are hyperlinked according. Thank you. |
Link To This Article - And We'll
Link Back To Your Website!
You are more then welcome to link to this article! All
you have to do is copy this webpage address from the
address bar and create a link on your website. Please
use the title of this article for your link text. Please
get in contact once you have linked to this article
and we'll link back to you! Thank you. |
|
|
|
Other great articles from this category...
|
Related Sites
|
|
