I put off buying a laminator for awhile. I was really afraid I would go a little laminator crazy, spending all my money on laminating sheets.
With Walmart giving 10% back this year, I decided to jump in! I bought the Scotch Thermal Laminator. It really wasn’t very expensive.
And at the risk of sounding like I don’t have a life- WOW! I love having a laminator at home!
It is so convenient. I printed my materials, sat in the floor and laminated!
Tips & Tricks
1- Get everything cut out and in the laminating pouches before you start! I may have gotten a little excited and plugged it in before I was ready. Then I ended up sitting in front of a hot laminator cutting things out.
2- Put a dab of glue (from a gluestick) on the back of what you are laminating so it stays where you put it. I did not think of this by myself but read it in a blog somewhere. They mentioned using glue to keep small pieces in place, but I found it helpful even with the bigger pieces.
3- Remember to put the sealed end into the laminator first. I don’t even want to think about the potential mess involved if you didn’t.
4- Don’t waste lamination. If you only need half of the sheet, let the materials go through the laminator until you are sure it is all the way through. When you have enough of a sealed edge around it, turn the laminator off and push the release lever.
5- I really struggled getting the laminating in the feed correctly at first. I found that pushing the tray down slightly helped me line the laminating up!
6- Remember that not everything you own has to be laminated!
In the end, I don’t think the expense will be any greater than having it done. The Scotch laminating are a higher quality than the ones I have access to at school and the price is pretty close to paying to have it done.
I’ll still have to have larger pieces laminated in a bigger machine- but sitting on the couch cutting out a stack of things that are paper sized is a lot easier than sitting on the couch with a never ending roll of laminate!
