What good is a laminator?

[ghwellsjr]

Tomorrow, Tuesday, November 16, 2010, Staples will be selling their $100 laminator for $30 (one day only).

Will laminated photos be protected from UV and ozone (or whatever) just like putting them under glass or in an album? I'm wondering if I should get one and include laminated test specimens in my upcoming fade test next year.

 

[ghwellsjr]

Doesn't anyone have any experience with a laminator?

 

[fotofreek]

I "bought" a laminator when it was essentially free after getting rebates. I had no immediate use for it but thought It would be interesting to have if a project came up for which it would be useful. A few months later we were taking an extended trip and needed new luggage tags. One of the laminator products was a package of luggage tags with a cutout for an elastic loop to attach it to a suitcase. I used a laser printer to print on red paper stock so they would stand out when on the luggage carousel. They came out quite well.

I"m not sure what it would do for a photo print. The edges of the laminating "bag" have to extend past the document being laminated. Once laminated you have to leave the plastic beyond the edge of the ducument you've laminated. For a sign or instruction sheet it would work out well. I haven't tried it for a photo print as the glossy prints under glass in a frame are esthetically pleasing to me. Would they be preserved better when laminated? Depends on several things including the compatability with the plastic lamination material itself with the photo paper/ink combination, the UV transmission through the plastic, etc .

 

[ghwellsjr]

Thanks for the info. The Staples laminator I linked to says it will laminate up to 8.5 inches wide. Does that mean it is actually wider to accomodate the extra width you mentioned? You talk about a "bag". The plastic sheets on the Staples webpage are called "pouches". So does this mean you slide your stock inside this "bag" or "pouch" and then run the whole thing through the laminator so that it is actually laminating both sides? I presume that it is heating the plastic to the paper inside to make it one solid piece of material. So when they say 3 mil thick, does that mean 6 mil total, plus the thickness of the paper?

 

[errante]

I do some printing and (hot) laminating, using standard paper (not photo), cheap pouches and a standard laminator like that (in my case, a fellowes one).

I can't explain the process better than wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pouch_laminator

More in http://www.laminators.com/laminating_pouches.htm and the links at the bottom of that page.

Only one of the two "leafs" that form the pouch is taken into account to measure the thickness. This is true for supplies and laminators.
For instance, I use mostly 80 micron pouches (maybe it equals to 3 mil roughly) so the thickness of the resulting work would be 2x80 + the artwork. The thickness range accepted in the laminator specifications is understood to follow the same rule.

For home use, you don't need to use a "carrier" outside the pouch, you can insert the pouch (with your artwork inside) directly to the laminator. Maybe with smaller pouches, like ID card, it would make more sense. You can always put various small sized papers in a regular size pouch and cut it afterwards. Only you must leave enough extra space between them.

Standard size pouches are slightly bigger than standard size paper sheets, allowing that extra space needed. The same for the laminators, at least in Europe you can find models that are enough for "slightly bigger than A4" or "slightly bigger than A3".

From my experience:

- I have never had a problem related to ink and temperature (boiling inks, etc). I have used canon printers with refilled carts and mostly standard paper.

- After hundreds of pouches, including some "creative uses" that certainly would not be supported by the warranty :-D I can remember only one incident with a pouch wrapped around the roller. It wasn't a big trouble either.

- Some pouches could be more sensitive to temperature than others. Thicker pouches need hotter temperatures; cheaper laminators without temperature selection would work fine with thin pouches. If the laminator gets too hot (i.e. too much time turned on without work) or too cold (i.e. if you use it before it shows "ready"), the laminated sheets can get a bit wavy or show some glitches. 95% are trouble-free

- Standard pouches don't offer extra protection against uv, sunlight, etc. There are some special-purpose, but a fast google search throws:

Plastic Laminating Pouches with UV Protection

These pouches contain special UVA and UVB inhibitors that reduce fading caused by ultraviolet light. But no transparent laminating pouch can provide full protection against visible light, so some fading will still occur.

I would like to bring more measurable results, but I haven't used it for photos. After one season, the laminated drawings that were kept indoor remain acceptable. Other drawings faced direct sunlight and didn't stand the color fading (reds and blacks faded terribly).

 

[fotofreek]

Thanks for the info. The Staples laminator I linked to says it will laminate up to 8.5 inches wide. Does that mean it is actually wider to accomodate the extra width you mentioned? You talk about a "bag". The plastic sheets on the Staples webpage are called "pouches". So does this mean you slide your stock inside this "bag" or "pouch" and then run the whole thing through the laminator so that it is actually laminating both sides? I presume that it is heating the plastic to the paper inside to make it one solid piece of material. So when they say 3 mil thick, does that mean 6 mil total, plus the thickness of the paper?

Yes to all questions. I just cut one of my laminated luggage tags apart. The laminating material from which the pouch is made seals to the surface of the enclosed paper and also seals to itself beyond the edges of the paper. Because I wanted the tag to show printing on both sides I had inserted two pieces of paper that were printed with my name and email address. When I cut the plastic edges away I ended up with the two separate pieces of paper laminated on one side only. So --- if you were to want only the printed surface laminated you could place two prints in the pouch back-to-back and cut the edges off after laminating. You don't get the same smooth surface appearance that is on unlaminated glossy paper as there are very small ripples that don't reflect light absolutely evenly. I don't know if they make pouches with leses glossy surfaces.

 

[The Hat]

There are also matte pouches available through most stockists..

 

[stratman]

ghwellsjr:

Did you get the laminator? Your opinion?