The emergence and increasing numbers if
digital printers has sparked an interest in laminating machines that
can work with high-quality photos and/or glossier printed pages. The
Lamitek Photosmart 13 is a laminating machine that is designed to meet
this demand. In this review, we delve into this machine, and
give you a list of what we consider to be some if its strengths and
weaknesses.
The emergence and increasing numbers if
digital printers has sparked an interest in laminating machines that
can work with high-quality photos and/or glossier printed pages. The
Lamitek Photosmart 13 is a laminating machine that is designed to meet
this demand. In the following review, we delve into this machine, and
give you a list of what we consider to be some if its strengths and
weaknesses.
Strengths:
We liked that everything
that we put through the Photosmart 13 came out free of air bubbles or
cloudiness. Lamitek claims that this is due to the Photosmart 13's
heating system that uses four rollers and heated plates. We have to say
that the finished product was rather impressive almost every time.
The controls for the Photosmart 13 are very simple and intuitive. We
were able to adjust the temperature with ease to match the thickness of
the pouch we were using, a pretty useful feature that not every
laminator in this price range offers.
Also fairly unique
for this price point, the Photosmart 13 gives the user the option of
doing his or her laminating project in thicknesses from 3 to 10mil. It
seems to us that a lot of machines top out at 5mil, so this is a great
feature that adds a lot of versatility to this machine.
You can adjust the Photosmart 13 to work at a temperature that is hot
enough to use with foil laminating. You will, of course have to use a
special foil designed to adhere to toner output for photocopier or a
laser printer.
The feed opening of thirteen inches is a
great feature, enabling the user to use the largest laminating pouches
on the market including the twelve by eighteen inch large menu size.
The heated plates of the Photosmart 13 are Teflon coated, meaning that
adhesive will not collect on them. Over time this feature should lead
to fewer paper jams and - even worse - wrapped pouches.
Weaknesses:
Though the Photosmart 13 is designed to process large menu pouches, we
had a little bit of difficulty trying to laminate the larger pouches
with some of the heavier paper stocks. Somehow, the weight was causing
the materials to go through the machine slightly crooked. Depending on
how you intend to use the Photosmart 13, this may or may not end up
being a problem for you. It is just something you should be aware of
before you purchase this machine.
The inclusion of a
temperature setting is a nice touch, but there are a lot of other
laminators out there that also have settings for speed (thought it must
be noted that, for the most part, these machines are more expensive).
The speed setting would allow the user to adjust for different
materials, and to increase productivity in most cases. The Photosmart
13 is still a great machine, but we do miss this feature.
The Photosmart 13 has a speed of eighteen inches per minute. This
should be an adequate speed for most uses, but for huge projects or
high volume use, you might want to find a faster machine.
If you are interested in more information about the Lamitek PhotoSmart 13 Pouch Laminator, you should really check out MyBinding.com.
They have a great price on this machine and they offer free shipping on
all orders over $75. Plus, they carry one of the largest selections of Laminating Pouches
and pouch laminating supplies on the internet. Choose from more than
twenty sizes in thicknesses ranging from 3mil to 10mil. Check it out
today!
