The Many Uses Of A Laminator!

Believe it or not, laminators come in all shapes, sizes and formats, and while all have a similar end result – to protect and enhance your work – choosing the best laminator for your needs, requirements and purpose can be a tricky task.

Pouch laminators are the versatile choice for school, home or business and are the most commonly used models worldwide. Perfect for almost any task from business presentation to home arts and crafts projects. The “GBC Fusion” range are among the best available in the market.

Roll lamination focuses on speed for professional print finishing, creative agencies, or the educational sector, and deal with large volumes and deadlines. If this is the area you are looking for, a range of roll laminators from the “GBC Ultima” Roll Laminator or “GBC RollSeal Ultima 35” are more than capable of doing the job for you.

Laminating is quick and easy with GBC machines and once you’ve mastered the basics you can really start to get creative and get the most out of the benefits for home, school or the workplace.

Laminating in the Workplace

Laminators provide versatility no matter where you are working from. Whether white or blue collar, home office business or a start-up professional, the laminator is equally as useful.

For workplace lamination, we suggest considering what model based on:

–          Size of business – more users will need a bigger and better machine

–          How regularly it will be used – regular use will require a more feature packed machine

–          Task in hand – different laminators offer different thickness capabilities and entry widths vary.

Here’s some ideas of what you can laminate in the workplace:

Lamination for offices	Lamination for agencies	Lamination for the commercial sector
ID badges and membership cards	Press clippings	Signs in retail stores
Phone lists	Instruction sheets	Table top displays
Check lists	Maintenance procedures	Training materials
Reference sheets	Sales and marketing materials	Photos
Inventory lists	Event posters	Maps
Presentation or report covers	Banners	Menus
Awards	Signage	Training manuals
Price lists		Store hours
Policies and procedures
Signs around the office

 

With over 40 years’ experience in the sector, GBC experts have had time to address and resolve the key pain points as raised by employees who laminate using regular off-the-shelf models. We have tailored our range of Fusion laminators to combat these problems, ensuring a quick, consistent lamination every time.

The biggest pain point is: Speed – slow performance can impact on productivity

Our solution:

Decreased time to laminate. We provide up to 50% less time spent laminating when compared with models in a similar price bracket, with some Fusion models laminating an A4 sheet in as little as 15 seconds. This is also aided by our high speed laminating pouches, which feed through on the long side, meaning it gets fed through the laminator in much less time.

Top Tip:

One of the most common uses for a laminator in the workplace is to create signage. For specific all-in-one sign creation, we recommend the Rexel SignMaker, which encompasses all aspects of sign making for workplace safety and compliance.

Purchasing the SignMaker gives you access to a web portal where you can download and customise any safety sign that you need in order to keep you compliant with health and safety legislation.

Compared to buying ready-made signs, the SignMaker can save you over half the cost. This is based on an average annual purchase of 20 pre-made signs at a cost of £359.40/ €413.40 over 3 years, compared to SignMaker 3 year cost of £180.72/ €122.50 over the same period. Find out more information on the SignMaker at www.rexeleurope.com/signmaker

 

Laminating at School

As teachers can attest, laminating in schools usually falls into two categories: admin lamination for day-to-day work, display, circulars and posters, and creative school projects…that are proudly taken home to show Mum and Dad.

Creative uses of a laminator in the classroom includes:

Primary School	Secondary School	General Use
Placemats	Reading lists	School lunch timetables
Colouring in projects	Math and spelling learning sheets – draw on and wipe off	Dinner planners
Learning charts	Educational activities	Home school planners
Flash cards	Charts	Calendars
Game boards	Banners	Reference guides
	Science projects	Posters
	Syllabus	Displays
	Periodic tables	Notices
	Times tables	Timetables
		Calendars
		Bulletin board aids
		Class schedules

 

Top Tip:

Many schools laminate weird and wonderful things that can range from paintings to leaves! For odd shapes and sizes, consider a laminator that requires a carrier. This gives the laminator’s internal rollers protection from bumps and spikes, and therefore can be used for more heavy duty products. We would recommend the Rexel Academy laminator – the robust and durable laminator for the classroom.

Laminating At Home

School holidays and weekends provide the perfect opportunity to take part in a “crafternoon” – especially in miserable weather! For home use, a pouch laminator is the ideal choice for any number of organisational projects, child-friendly craft ideas, or ways to help you around the house. When laminating from home, the sky is the limit as to what you can do!

While laminators were originally made as tools to help preserve, protect documents for business – the idea was quickly adopted by homes and families – and a whole host of intuitive, laminating geniuses have found clever and exciting ways of using the GBC range of laminators at home.

We can think of four core ways to use laminators at home (but that’s not to say there aren’t more!).

Everyday organisation	Protecting keepsakes and mementos	Arts and craft	School and educational from home
Recipe cards	Baby mementos	Bookmarks	Reading lists
School lunch timetables	Kid’s artwork	Make your own games	Educational activities
Dinner planners	Flowers and leaves	Personalised placemats	Home school schedules
To do lists	Photos	Paper dolls	Calendars
Shopping lists		Flowers and leaves
Luggage tags		Banners
Calendars
Babysitting instructions
Birth Certificates
Household rules
Emergency numbers
Chore lists

 

From simple DIY laminating projects such as transforming your child’s artwork into an easily cleanable placemat, to creating medication tables or dinner schedules…the possibilities are endless, and only limited by the imagination!

We challenge you to come up with new ideas for your laminator. DIY lamination projects are great fun for all the family. Create your arts and crafts ideas then preserve them with a GBC Laminator.

Too many models! Which is the best laminator for me?

We recommend a regular or moderate sized machine such as the Fusion 1100L or the Rexel JOY laminators – A4 laminator designed for home or home office.

Top Tip:

For arts and crafts, you will often be laminating different shapes and sizes. Consider a trimmer or a new pair of scissors to finish the job. Rexel X3 scissors are perfect for crafts. They have a curved blade, which keeps the cutting angle at 30 degrees all the way through the cut, which makes cutting 3 times easier than a normal pair of scissors!
For more information on any products in the GBC or Rexel ranges, visit www.gbceurope.com or www.rexeleurope.com

 

Article text provided by GBC and Rexel