What Is Cold Laminating

Something you absolutely must think about before getting a laminator is what you plan on laminating.

What is cold laminating.

What you re going to be laminating. Low melt films have heat activated adhesives that can applied at 185 to 195 degrees. The downside to hot laminators is that some items for example some photographs can not handle the heat required to apply the lamination. Both methods deliver results so depending on your needs you may want to get one that can fit your home or office well.

Cold lamination increased in popularity with the rise of wide format inkjet printers which often used inks and papers incompatible with hot lamination. Lamination is the technique process of manufacturing a material in multiple layers so that the composite material achieves improved strength stability sound insulation appearance or other properties from the use of the differing materials such as plastic a laminate is a permanently assembled object created using heat pressure welding or gluing. Cold laminators range from simple two roller hand crank machines up to large and complex motor driven machines with high precision rollers adjustable roller pressure and other advanced features. Hot laminators use heat to melt the adhesive backing on the pieces of plastic film this bonds the plastic film around the item you are laminating to completely seal the item.

So going with the cold machine could end up costing you a bit more in the long run. Others also have cold laminating capabilities meaning the film and documents are pressed together. Some laminators only have thermal technology and use heat to seal the laminating film and documents together. Heat assist films have pressure sensitive adhesives psas and liners and are applied with hot roll laminators at 185 to 195 degrees.

Cold laminating is sometimes used for sensitive documents such as photos. Cold lamination on the hand uses pressured adhesive to get the job done without heating. It is better for special pictures and documents to be laminated on the cold setting. A large percentage of cold laminate for use in the print industry is pvc although a wide range of other materials are available.

A laminating machine distributes even pressure when laminating documents which is where the cold setting on your machine comes in handy. If speed is a factor the ideal laminator for you will be one that warms up quickly and can laminate more inches per minute. However laminators even for the cold process deliver the best quality. Hot laminating is the most common temperature usage as it provides the greatest durability and clarity.

If cold laminating is all you do use self adhesive laminating sheets without a laminating machine. Hot laminators use a heat activated adhesive that is heated as it passes through the laminator. The plastic film used with a cold laminator already has. The size of your materials will play a part because you ll need a roll laminator to process large items such as posters.