Select Laminating Supplies

Why Laminate?

By laminating, you are protecting and preserving your print. This could be anything from a certificate awarded to children at school, to a vehicle wrap advertising your company on a fleet of vans.

Lamination also improves appearance by enhancing almost any type of printed materials. It deepens & brightens colours and improves contrast.

Laminated materials also provide a higher quality finish, an important factor to so many businesses throughout the world as a professional looking brochure, leaflet or business card can improve a companies image and help to generate more sales.

There are a number of different films and pouches available. 2 of the most popular are matt and gloss, but laminator film is also available in finishes including soft touch, sandtex, anti-graffiti for outdoor use and eco-friendly biodegradable.

Hot Laminators, Cold Laminators and Microns Explained

Hot laminators, whether film or pouch, contain rollers that heat up when used. The temperature generated from the rollers heats the plastic laminate film or pouch and then bonds the print to the film or pouch.

Cold laminators are also known as pressure sensitive laminating machines. They too have rollers, but the rollers stay cold and instead apply pressure to the laminating film to bond the film to the print. Cold lamination systems are used more for vinyls and adhesives where heating the print at the lamination stage might damage the print.

A Micron is a measurement of thickness. If you use a laminating pouch with 150 micron, it will be thicker and stronger than a laminating sheet with 75 micron.

Pouch Laminators

Pouch Laminating Systems are thermal machines. They use the heat to melt the glue within laminating pouches and then fuse the pouch together to seal the document. This makes the print waterproof and protected from grease & spills and also brightens the colours within the print. This process is also known as ‘Encapsulation’.

Pouch Laminators are used in schools, colleges and universities to laminate certificates, report covers and ID cards. They can also be used in the office to protect documents and in the home for photos and recipes.

Laminating Pouches

These are available in micron thickness from 150 mic to 500 mic, finishes including matt, gloss & self adhesive and sizes ranging from credit card size through to A5, A4, A3, A2 and A1 sizes.

Our Select range of laminating sheets are a superior quality compared to cheap alternatives.

Film Laminators

There is a lot more choice with roll laminators. This is due to the number of options and uses of printers within the market.

Dual Sided Film Laminators

The best choice and most economical for printers and copy shops who supply their customers with short run prints. This is because these types of Thermal Film laminating machines can laminate single sided, as well as encapsulate. Single side lamination is popular for business cards, leaflets and flyers. Many restaurants will need their menu protecting so it can be used many times. Encapsulation is therefore a great option for many food outlets.

The Matrix Duo Laminating Machines will laminate litho and digital prints using OPP film. O.P.P. stands for Orientated PolyPropylene. It is sometimes referred to as BOPP (the “B” standing for “Biaxially”).

Encapsulation Film Laminators

Often referred to as ‘Encap’, encapsulation using a film laminator has all the benefits that a pouch laminated print has, but is more flexible. Because the film has a much greater length than a pouch, longer items can be protected, for example long banners or posters.

Our Linea range of Encapsulation Laminating Machines are available from A3/11×17” to A0/34×44” size options. They’re ideal for laminating maps and blueprints

Single and Double Sided Film Laminators

With the advent of digital printing in the 1990’s, sheet fed printing became more economical. Digital print is more economical than traditional Litho (or Lithographic) printing, as Litho involves a more costly production of plates made of metal or polyester.

This meant that a print run of just one print job was now possible.

The Matrix Laminating Machines are the best-selling SRA3/12×18 inch laminating system in Europe. Litho Printers, Copy Shops, Digital Printers and Print Finishing Companies use them to laminate all kinds of print, including Business Cards, High School & College Year Books, Brochures, Birthday Cards, Post Cards and Photo Books.

The Matrix is also a great partner with Digital Print engines, including Xerox, Konica Minolta, Ricoh and Canon.

The Matrix is compatible with litho printers from the likes of Heidelberg, Komori, MAN Roland and KBA.

Wide Format Laminators

Sign Makers use wide format printers from manufacturers including Roland, Mimaki, HP, Epson and Canon. They can be used to print all sorts of large graphics, including posters, signage, roll-up banners and window graphics.

Many companies are now diversifying into more areas of wide and grand format, including pop-up displays, exhibition & trade show graphics and vehicle wraps for cars, motor bikes, buses & even planes!

These still prints need protecting however. Lamination provides protection so they become weather resistant from the rain and sun. A laminated print will also save the customer money, as materials can be re-used and valuable graphics are protected and signs & posters are stiffened.

The Easymount range of Wide Format laminating machines are available in cold, single hot and double hot options, with widths starting from 650mm/26 inches up to 2100mm/83 inches. They can laminate print as well as mount print to foam boards and lay down application tapes & vinyls.