HIT: Hot wax machine

[Jeanne Clark <jeannel@swbell.net>]

Almost all of the comments about the hot wax machine were positive.
Thanks to everyone who responded! Not only will your answers help us make a
decision, but they give good advice on using the machine as well. Y'all are great!

I have used an art waxer at one of the schools I completed my practicuum in.
The librarian there loved it.  It worked great.  We hung everything up using
it.  She said there were some posters that had been up for 5 years and when
you took them down  the paint did not come off the walls.  She highly
recommended them.
---------

 We own this machine at our school. Our administration hated our teachers
putting things on the walls of the school with tape because sometimes the tape
and the paint came off. Our school is over 100 years old and the walls are a
pain to repair. This machine made everyone happy because in an instant we can
put the wax on the backs of posters, hand-made things, stories, etc. and post
them. We take them down and change in a flash. Now our halls look great and
the administration is happy.

My advice is if you have these concerns, or just want an easy way to put
things up without a mess, this is the machine!
---------

I used such a machine 25 years ago in a summer job as a "clipping clerk". I
worked for a government department, clipping newspapers and creating daily
alerts. We fed the clippings through a hot wax machine and applied them to
paper prior to copying them for circulation. It was a wonderful gadget; saved
oodles of time in preparing paste-ups, and was very flexible.
-----------

If this is the Artwaxer- yes and yes. I bought the smaller one at my old
school and loved it. The school I transferred to this year had the larger one.
Both faculties like them. However, I found I actually prefer the smaller one.
It stays more consistent with the heat and wax stays a better consistency.
---------

I wouldn't say it's a new machine...these have been around since the early
days of newspaper paste-up after we quit using lead type and before we went to
desktop publishing. Before computers we would run a column through the waxer
and place it on the master page layout of the newspaper. Would let you
reposition your stories if a later-breaking one took over front page.

I can see where it would work for lighter weight things. I don't know if it
would work for posters which were curled out of the tube, or heavier weights.
----------

we just got one in our bldg. Every morning teachers are always picking up
artwork from the hallway floors. Works most of the time though.
---------

We bought the Artwaxer from Portage last school year and it is invaluable
around our school. The teachers LOVE it. (However, I'm not so sure the
maintenance crew will sing its praises the next time they have to paint the
walls.) It is such a time saver and things don't fall off the walls  everytime
the weather changes. You can borrow a short video to show to your  staff if
they haven't seen one before. (Available from the company) We have  gone
through two 10lb. boxes of wax since this time last year. It was almost
mutiny last week when I let us run out of wax before reordering. If you are
getting the waxer from Portage you will love their customer service
department-they are so friendly and helpful.
----------

Our Tag class uses a wax machine for their newspaper they publish. The machine
is small, messy, and dangerously hot - it needs to heat to a certain
temperature before it's ready to use. The machine does exactly what they want
it to do - puts wax on the back of paper to adhere to the layout board.They
did find that they needed to use better quality paper - thinner paper ends up
a mess.
----------

Hi - Our school has two (big and small). They are messy but very effective.
Our NHS posts locker tags for all honor roll students 3 times/year. It has cut
our posting time by lots and lots. We are not allowed to use tape of any kind,
and that gummy stuff took forever and even then did not work. It takes no time
to swipe the papers through the machines and they can still be placed on top
of one another without gumming together. The finished product is not
necessarily pristine, but you will probably like it.
----------

Greetings!
This year I bought an Artwaxer. It really does the job! The only thing you
have to be careful of is the fact it will sometimes put wax on the front of
the poster, so you need to keep the rollers cleaned of excess wax. Also, one
teacher sent something through with crayon on it - melted the crayon, made it
real interesting for the next person using the Artwaxer.
I have three signs that I put up and take down daily - Artwaxed them one day,
and have used them ever since. Also sometimes it is necessary to use the
roller that comes with the machine to make sure the poster or whatever sticks
to the wall. My teachers really enjoy it, yours should too.
-----------

We have a hot wax machine -- in the cabinet stored in the workroom. None of
our teachers will use it. There were several problems. First, to use ours,
ArtWax, the wax has to be hot and it needs to be on all the time or it takes
too long to heat up. The wax builds up around the rollers and puts too much
wax on the paper. Also, the wax seeps through newsprint so it destroys the
artwork. I don't know if we were not using ours correctly or if all such
machines have problems. I could not recommend it at all based on our experience.

--
Jeanne L. Clark  (Library Media Specialist)
jeannel@swbell.net

Mission West Elementary
Houston, TX  77083

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