What is a Laminator?

Laminating documents is a process of preservation used to extend the life of paper materials. Over time, documents can fade, tear and become damaged from everyday use or the effects of the environment. The lamination process protects the document from these elements and thus increases the lifespan of printed materials. Laminating documents requires the use of a laminator and laminating supplies.

A laminator is used to bond two protective materials together with the document to be preserved in the middle. The most common bonding material is a clear plastic. This machine will use either heat or adhesive to bond on sheet of plastic to another. The document in the middle is then protected from damage and can be kept in its original condition for many years.

The two most common types of lamination are hot and cold. Hot lamination requires the use of heat to bond the clear plastic together around the document being protected. Cold lamination utilizes adhesives around the edges to seal in the document. Among hot and cold laminators, there are wide format laminators, roll laminators and pouch laminators. Wide format laminators are used to protect larger documents. The roll laminator utilizes high heat to press the two plastic sheets together and pouch laminators are created for use with smaller documents that can be inserted into a plastic pouch.

The cold laminator can be used to preserve documents that are not highly sensitive. The bond between the plastic sheets may not be as secure as the bond produced with a high heat laminator. The heat laminator, on the other hand, should be used with caution when protecting documents that are sensitive, as well. The roll laminator will work well for larger documents, but the heat on the rollers may only cover a given width, which could leave a portion of the document unprotected. The pouch laminator is good only for use with small documents.

When choosing a laminator to best fit your needs, it is important to determine the size of the document you will be protecting the majority of the time. If posters and large documents need to be protected, a wide format laminator will be the best choice. If business cards and smaller documents will be the only documents laminated, a pouch laminator could prove more useful.

The price of a laminator will depend on the size of the machine and whether or not the machine will use heat. Heat based laminators will be more expensive than cold laminators. Wide format laminators will also tend to be more expensive than their smaller counterparts. Home and office laminators can be priced as low as $60 with the upper price reaching $700 or more. Larger laminators can cost in the thousands of dollars.

Buying a personal laminator or office laminator takes only an Internet search. Retail stores will often carry smaller, personal laminators as well. For larger lamination needs, an office supply business may be able to help pair the perfect laminator to your needs.