Pouch Laminators and Pouch Laminating Supplies
Filed under: lamianting pouches, Laminating, laminating supplies, Lamination, laminators, pouch laminators
Pouch Laminators and Laminating Pouches
With trending demands for pouch laminators, pouch laminating equipment and pouch laminating supplies (laminating pouches) on the rise, finding the right pouch laminator for your specific needs can be tedious. Today’s post is about pouch laminating equipment and laminating supplies including: pouch laminator manufactures, types of laminating pouches, types of pouch laminators and our recommended pouch laminators and laminating pouch supplies highlights.
Types of Pouch Laminators
Generally speaking, there are only two predominate types of pouch laminators on the market today: cold pouch laminators and heated 
pouch laminators. Cold pouch laminators are (in our opinion) a large waste of money due to how cheap most cold pouch laminators are made. Also, cold pouch laminators never provide a long lasting laminate finishing; however, cold pouch laminators are efficient for extremely simple and low quality pouch laminating applications. On the other side of the pouch laminating spectrum, heated pouch laminators are ultimately the preferred way to go for any type of pouch laminating project, task or job. Heated pouch laminators are often constructed of higher grades of materials than cold pouch laminators, are used for extended periods of time (mostly for commercial and personal use), and can last a lifetime with proper maintenance. The best part of using a heated pouch laminator is the fact that it works for any type of pouch laminating (photo pouch laminating, simple ID laminating, certificate laminating, cover laminating, etc…), very well. More often than not if you see a type of pouch laminator, it’s a heated pouch laminator.
Most pouch laminators today range from 6 inches to up to around 40 inches in handling widths. Also, most heated pouch laminators require the use of laminating covers to protect the pouch laminator from over use and to ensure an overall quality of display of your final pouch laminated product.
Pouch Laminator Manufacturers
As the print finishing and laminating markets have shifted over time, a few provident pouch laminator manufactures are in existence today. Some of the most well known, and well trusted, pouch laminator manufacturers include: Akiles, Tamerica, Banner American (now known as Laminator Specialties), GBC, Lamitek, Fellows, Ledco and Purple Cows. Most of the pouch laminator manufacturers today offer both cold and heated pouch laminators.
Akiles is a well trusted brand in today’s print finishing industry. Aside from their extensive line of specialty binding machines, Akiles offers quality pouch laminators for any type of pouch laminating project. We actually love using Akiles pouch laminators more than using any other type of pouch laminator. This is mostly due to the fact that they are extremely durable and are very easy to use!
Tamerica also makes a very fine line of pouch laminators and other pouch laminating equipment. Our favorite part about using any of Tamerica’s pouch laminators is the fact that run like a steam engine. They are very fast and highly efficient when it comes to power consumption and laminating pouch supply usage.
Laminator Specialties pouch laminators are some of the most widely used commercial and home office heated pouch laminators today. Being that they were previously Banner American pouch laminators, their excellent quality and high durable use has not changed in the slightest.
Types of Laminating Pouches
Laminating pouches today come in all sorts of sizes and dimensions for both standardized and custom pouch laminating uses. The most common laminating pouches on the market today include: letter size laminating pouches, military size laminating pouches, jumbo size laminating pouches, card size laminating pouches, legal size laminating pouches, key card size laminating pouches, school size laminating pouches, menu size laminating pouches, photo size laminating pouches, special size laminating pouches, circulation size laminating pouches and extended circulation size laminating pouches.
Laminating pouches also come in a variety of thicknesses such as: 3mil, 5mil, 7mil and even 10mil as the generally accepted thicknesses in the industry.
Pouch Laminator Highlights
Today our featured pouch laminator is the Akiles Prolam 320 12.5in heated pouch laminator. This pouch laminator is one of our absolute favorites! With a 12.5in width most applications of pouch laminating are easily done with no problems, and best of all with no down time and very fast up time. Here are the quick specks of the Akiles Prolam 320 12.5in:
- Extruded Aluminum Heat Plates: Guarantee a good and consistent heat distribution.
- Four Silicon Rollers: Eliminate the need to use carriers while ensuring a constant feeding speed.
- Built-in Electronic Circuit Board: Allows quick and exact temperature adjustments.
- Gradual Temperature Control Allows an easy temperature adjustment when changing pouch thickness, pouch composition, or laminating different materials.
- Independent Heat and Motor Switch: Allows the machine to be left on stand-by (heat ready) for hours without depreciating the motor, while eliminating the warm-up time when you need to laminate again.
- Heavy-Duty Motor: Does not get tired or over-heat, even under the hardest working conditions.
- Steel Gears: Guarantee strength and durability.
- Easy To Use & Practical: It laminates with or without a carrier (we recommend the employment of carriers only when using 10mil (4/6) laminating pouches).
- Durable:Given its heavy-duty motor, steel gears, silicone rollers, metal cover, etc., the Akiles ProLam is made to last.
Pouch Laminator and Pouch Laminating Supplies Distributor
If your searching for the best of the best of pouch laminators and laminating pouches, then look no further than lloydsofindiana.com! They offer an excellent tech support service (that’s free of charge), a 100% satisfaction guarantee on all the laminating pouches and pouch laminators they sell and even fast and easy ordering. Also, we were very pleased with their large selection laminating pouches and other fine print finishing equipment and supplies.
All American Laminating
As consumers today are searching for more local and American made products, laminating machines and other laminating equipment has been difficult to find. However, we’ve managed to locate several different types of laminating machines, laminators and additional laminating equipment that is produced and sold right here in the United States of America.
Our favorite laminator/laminating provider is Lloyds of Indiana, Inc. They offer a wide range of American made laminators and have an excellent selection of American educational laminators both heated (thermal) and pouch types of laminating machines. Below is just a small a summary of what lloydsofindiana.com offers for competitive, American laminating machines and American laminating solutions.
American Pouch Laminators
Banner American PL4A Pouch Laminator
The Banner American PL4 pouch laminator is ideal for laminating ID cards and badges, membership cards, luggage tags, etc. Laminate up to 4″ wide and as thick as 10 mil pouches! The PL4 Features a 4 roller system to provide the highest quality laminating results. Easy to operate and a short warm up time make this laminating machine one of the best selling pouch laminators. The PL4 has been the consumer choice for many years.
Banner American PL135-4 Pouch Laminator
The PL135-4 pouch laminator is perfect for laminating ID cards and badges, membership cards, luggage tags, etc. In addition to cards,The Banner American PL135-4 will laminate larger documents up to 12″ x 18″, or A3 in size.
American Heated/Roll/Educational Laminators
Banner American Entry 4500
The ENTRY 4500 Laminating and Mounting machine is the ideal laminator for large-format imaging services. The ENTRY 4500 is capable of mounting, laminating and encapsulating output from 36″, 42″ and 44″ inkjet printers. Affordable and functional, the ENTRY 4500 is loaded with features important in giving you the highest level of results for each and every project.
The ENTRY 4500 Laminating/Mounting machine offers carefully designed features intended to quickly get you up and profitably running without the added expense of more advanced machines. The easy-to-use design makes the operator’s job simpler.
25″ Ledco Educator Laminator
The 25″ Ledco Educator laminator 110V / 220V is designed for teachers to protect and enhance posters, dry erase charts, flash cards, bulletin board graphics, games, visuals and teaching aids of all kinds.
The Ledco Educator offers simplified controls to help eliminate many common errors often associated with complicated thermal laminators. With added options for use with 1.5 mil, 3 mil and 5 mil the Ledco Educator laminator 110V / 220V is designed to handle and produce a multitude of projects with ease for the many requirements that face today’s teachers.
For more American made laminating machines, laminating equipment or laminators; or for any American made binding machines, American uv coaters and supplies or other print finishing needs please visit lloydsofindiana.com and review their “Made in America” section of their web site.
Printing Types vs. Protective Mediums
Filed under: information, Laminating, Printing, Supplies
There are as many ways to print your photos as there are photos themselves, and likewise, nearly as many ways to preserve them. Ink jet and dye sublimation, as well as traditional methods of printing photos will each benefit from some form of protection from the elements. Sunlight, chemicals like the acid residue found on most papers and temperature extremes can cause pictures to fade, discolor.
Coatings can be applied to the finished photo, which will put a well distributed coating of a chemical base on the surface of your photograph , which dries to a thin film to protect your photograph. The protective film is not thick enough to protect the photo against water damage or acid residue, but provides a degree of protection against fingerprints and ultraviolet damage.
Albums also provide reasonable protection for photos – so long as they are stored in a temperature controlled, dry place.. Albums provide great protection with acid free paper and thin film pages, but do not protect against humidity or water damage.
For the ultimate in protection, consider laminating your photographs. Lamination protects against high light, humidity, chemicals, fingerprints (you can actually wash a laminated picture with soap and water) and nearly any other environmental factor. Laminating works by encasing the photo in a transparent plastic shell. The degree of protection provided by photo laminating can be adjusted by altering the thickness of the laminate used.
The supplies necessary to protect your photographic memories with lamination are minimal. Usually all it takes is a pouch laminating machine, and special photo pouches. Photo laminating pouches such as LoydsofIndiana.com’s PhotoPouch brand are specially sized and formulated to work with traditional photograph prints as well as inkjet, laser prints and dye sublimation prints. PhotoPouches will protect your professional or personal quality photographs, are easy to use and provide for your photos protection at a cost that is more than reasonable for home or business use. Laminating machines can be purchased which will coat and seal photographs up to 13 inches in width. The machines themselves are easy to use.
The cost to laminate your photos will be about 10 cents per photo, which seems a very small price to pay for the peace of mind you get back knowing your business or home photos are protected from the elements that might damage or destroy them. In comparison to losing the photo of a lifetime, or losing critical photographic evidence makes that 10 cent investment seem tiny.
PhotoPouch brand laminating pouches are exclusively available from Lloyd’s of Indiana (www.lloydsofindiana.com) and select distributors. Lloyd’s can provide for your laminating needs with machinery and photo pouch supplies, purchased from an easy to search web site which will keep track of your cumulative orders and any discounts you may have coming, to assure that not only your photos are protected, but so is your time.
New Year, New Plans
Filed under: Binding, Corner Rounders, Corporations, Cutters, Events, Finishers, Folders, Laminating, Products, Sales and Marketing, Trade Show Displays, UV Coating
As the holidays approach this season, many businesses are looking for that special gift of holiday spirit to send to their clients, business partners, employees and/or affiliates. However, finding that “special gift” has become increasingly more difficult as time progresses–and with a new year approaching, companies need a “special approach” to remain competitive, efficient and prepared for the new fiscal quarter (Q1 2012).
With the dawn of cloud-computing now in full swing (and with the over-commercialized use of the internet), many people feel as though society has become less involved, and less interactive on an offline-basis than in years previous…
When holiday seasons begin, businesses are asking themselves:
HOW CAN WE. . .
- Increase our production efficiency
- Expand our consumer awareness
- Improve our customer loyalty
- Maintain & Develop our business relationships
- Strengthen our strategy for the next fiscal year
Well, as people are moving away from the offline-basis of communications, hosting a corporate event may be the “special gift” your company needs. Providing a nominal, relaxed and seasonal event is an excellent way to boost overall business reputation and a great way to reward your hardworking team of hands. But why not go the extra step, why not surprise your employees, your loyal clients and your long standing business partners. With the new fiscal year approaching, and with the tax incentives of Section 179, your business has the potential to prepare well, in fact, so well you may change your nominal, seasonal corporate event into an astounding New Year’s Celebration.
However, to pull this off your going to need visit lloydsofindiana.com for all of your laminating, binding, paper handling and graphic finish needs, and then you may want to gather some invitations from GoPromoting.com to keep your event planning at its best. ‘And for the remainder of your party supplies, you may try a friendly, sociable store around your local area. Or you could just visit CustomPrintProducts.com for all of your specialty printed signs, banners and displays.
No matter what your plans are for this year’s events–time is still ticking–and great savings and Section 179 Advantages end this year! So hurry up and get your planning done, and finalize those year end sales, its your time for fun.
Wide Format Laminators and Dry Mounting Systems
Filed under: Laminating, Sales and Marketing, Sign Shop, Small Biz Printing
Wide Format Laminators and Dry Mounting Systems
Wide format laminators are disigned for digital and inkjet printers. Banner American and Ledco manufacture wide format laminating equipment from 38″ to 60″ machines. If you own or operate a sign shop or digital reproduction facility a large format laminator for finishing and dry mounting your prints is a must.
Wide Format Laminators for digital printing
Laminate and dry mount trade show displays, signs, vehicle graphics and much more. Apply gloss, matte, and textured laminate. Wide format laminators are available that run hot (thermal) and cold (pressure sensitive) material and dual application. Quickly switch from thermal to pressure sensitive materials with the Ledco Digital 42 or 60 model without waiting for heat up or cool down time.