The decision to buy a roll laminator is often a serious one. Roll laminators take your laminating ability to the next level and tend to be expensive. Not to mention, most take up a lot of room, so you want to make sure you buy the right one. First, we recommend you start with our article “What Should I Know About Laminating,” to go over all the basics that apply to all laminators. This article will take a deeper dive into roll laminators specifically. We will introduce you to four different types of roll laminators and some key features that you may want to consider when choosing. Continue reading to find out which type of laminator is best for you and your company, and discover some of the best models in each different category.
School Laminators
As the name indicates these durable, affordable laminators are perfect for use in schools. They can be used to laminate posters, reference materials, art projects, and more. School laminators are often easy to use which means anyone can learn how to use one, even the technologically impaired.
Generally speaking, school laminators are designed for use with thinner laminating films, such as 1.5 and 3 mil thicknesses, and are almost always strictly thermal machines. Often times school laminators are not as customizable as other laminators. The select heat and speed settings that are offered keep them user-friendly and also help to keep costs low for laminating on an economical budget.
Top School Laminators
- GBC HeatSeal Ultima 65 - The bestselling school laminator in the United States.
- MyBinding MY2700L
- Tamerica TCC 27000
Commercial-Grade Laminators
These laminators are frequently used by companies that laminate a lot of documents and need a fairly rigid product. Machines in this category often feature higher laminating speeds, silicone rollers, and other advanced features. The settings on commercial laminators also tend to be highly adjustable for both hot and cold lamination so you can utilize specialty laminating film. They allow you to laminate anything from signage to marketing materials or menus. They’re perfect for print shops and other organizations that need to produce high-quality lamination in-house.
Top Commercial-Grade Laminators
- Matrix 370DP – A fully automatic laminator and foiler
- Dry-Lam CL-27PR
- Pro-Lam Pocket Rocket
Wide-Format Roll Laminators
If you’re in the graphics arts or signage business or simply want to laminate something that’s wider than 40 inches, a wide-format laminator is what you need. These machines are a great choice when laminating maps, posters, banners, and large signs. They offer high-quality hot and cold lamination and can vary in size. Some machines can laminate items that are up to 65 inches wide, so the laminating possibilities are endless.
Top Wide-Format Laminators
Pouch Board Laminators
When making signs, sometimes you need to mount your document onto a board and there’s no better way to do that than with a pouch board laminator. These machines are designed primarily for mounting and laminating in one easy motion with the help of pouch boards. However, if you need to do some laminating without mounting they can also be used to do specific types of encapsulation. They are definitely ideal for those primarily mounting signs or prints.
Top Pouch Board Laminators
Our favorite pouch board laminators are from Smooth Mount
Key Roll Laminator Features
- Speed & Temperature Control – The ability to adjust your heat and speed can be essential to accomplishing a superior lamination finish. The more fine tuning your machine allows the better.
- Tension Control – We recommend you never touch your machine’s tension adjustment if you don’t have to. However, being able to fix it when it is off can save you from funky wavy edges on your laminated projects.
- Hot & Cold Functionality – As with all laminators, when you can utilize both thermal and pressure-sensitive lamination it opens up all the possibilities of what you can laminate and what film you can use to laminate.
- (For Cold Laminators) Heat Assist – When using pressure-sensitive laminate it can be helpful to have a laminator that can apply just a little bit of heat while applying the film to prevent silvering and give you a perfect finish.
- Easy Load Functionality – The number one problem people run into with their roll laminator is accidentally loading the film incorrectly, causing the film to wrap around the rollers creating a jam. The easiest way to prevent this is to choose a machine with features that prevent incorrect loading. This can come in the form of color-coding laminate rolls or even machines that are only able to be loaded one way.
- Mounting Capability – If you aren’t going to choose a pouch board laminator but still want to mount projects be sure to check your laminators mounting capacity. Roll laminators can have anything from no mounting capability to being able to mount onto board multiple inches thick.
With all of that in mind hopefully, you are now closer to making a decision on which laminator to choose. If you want to dig deeper into brands and their best machines, you can check our article on the best laminator manufacturers. If you have any other questions always feel free to reach out to us and we are happy to help guide you.