A laminator is a great machine to have in the office or even at home. Laminators make printed documents look even more impressive and professional, while helping to preserve the documents and increase their strength as well. Lamination is the process of covering a document or item in transparent plastic, then sealing it. There are hot laminators and cold laminators. Hot laminators are heatseal laminators, the most common type. They use heat to seal the plastic around the document. Cold laminators use a sticky adhesive that seals itself to the document when the laminator places pressure on it. They are safer to use than hot laminators, but less durable. These are more commonly used in the home.
There are different types of laminators. Pouch laminators are the most common in offices. It is a desktop machine that is lightweight and easy to move. It uses pre-cut pieces of laminate called ‘pouches’. Roll laminators are perfect for high volume runs. It is fairly large and heavy-duty. It uses two rolls of laminate and then the sealed products is trimmed away from the rolls. Then there are foliant laminators, which provide single-side laminations. They are commonly used in libraries. Laminators can range in size, but usually take up a lot of space.