Processing your items with a pouch laminator is
one of the best ways to strengthen and enhance your documents. These
machines can be used to laminate a large variety of materials including
business cards, photographs, signs, calendar pages, and much more.Try out these tips:
Processing your items with a pouch laminator
is one of the best ways to strengthen and enhance your documents. These
machines can be used to laminate a large variety of materials including
business cards, photographs, signs, calendar pages, and much more. In
general, laminating is easy, but there are a few things you can do to
make it easier. Try out these tips:
Consider pouch thickness.
If you've been laminating for a while, you probably already know that
the thickness of your laminating pouches should be considered. In fact,
you really need to pay attention to he thickness. For one thing, thicker
pouches will give your documents more protection. However, your
laminator might not be able to handle all different pouch thicknesses.
Make sure you're using the appropriate pouches with your machine so you
can get good results.
Use a carrier. To
make laminating as easy as possible, you should use a carrier. A
carrier looks just like a folded piece of cardstock and you can find one
in your package of pouches. Once your document is in the pouch, place
the pouch in the carrier, and run it through the laminator. The carrier
will help keep your document flat as it's laminated. It will also keep
the interior of the machine free from melted adhesive which will reduce
the risk of pouch jams and extend the life of your laminator.
Don't laminate three-dimensional items (with one exception). There
are some pouch laminators that are capable of handling mounting boards.
These boards are obviously thicker than regular paper and they're used
to create signs, mockups, and so on. Mounting boards are the only
three-dimensional thing you should process with your laminator (as long
as the device can handle it). Trying to laminate three-dimensional items
can be really hard on your laminator and your project can end in
disaster. So avoid it!
Use bigger pouches for smaller items.
If you need to process some small items such as business cards and you
don't have small pouches, don't worry. You can use a larger pouch to
process the item and then trim the excess film when you're done. If you
have more than one thing to laminate, you can use the same pouch to
laminate all of them, depending on size. This can help you save time and
you won't need to run to the store for more pouches in the middle of a
workday.
Maintain your laminator.
Finally, maintaining your laminator can go a long way towards making
laminating easier. Be sure to turn the laminator off when you're done
using it and to clean the rollers as necessary. Depending on the make of
your machine, you might have to use a cleaning sheet. You might also be
able to open the machine up to do your cleaning.
Using
a pouch laminator is easy but these tips will help make the process
even easier. You might even find laminating fun after trying out these
tips. Good luck and happy laminating!
Jeff McRitchie is the Vice-President of Marketing for MyBinding.com.
He regularly writes articles, reviews, and blog posts on topics related
to bookbinding, laminating, paper shredding, and office equipment. More
than 2,500 of his reviews have been published in thousands of locations
on the Internet. If you're looking for information about laminators, his articles are a great place to start.
