[LM_NET] HIT: ELEM: Purchasing a Laminator

[Jessica Jacobs-Broedel <jjacobsb@HOTMAIL.COM>]

Original Question:
I was wondering if anyone could recommend a quality laminator for an elementary 
school?  I just got word that there is equipment money left that they want to spend 
on a laminator - $2500-2900 is available (must include shipping).
 
Is that enough for a quality laminator? And what would you suggest.
 
Any advice would be greatly appreciative (as I've never had to purchase a laminator 
before).  
 

Responses:
 
Here are a couple of places you can try. We buy our film from laminator.com
https://www.laminator.com/default.htm
http://www.factory-express.com/laminators/roll-laminators_expanded.html 

We have an ULTIMA 25" from GBC.  It is old, but it is good.  On the other hand, we 
purchased an EZ Load 12"from them and have regretted it from the beginning. It 
takes special film that is expensive!  Be careful what you buy!


Our elementary school purchased a GBC Pinnacle 27 roll laminator this year and we 
have been very happy with it. It cost about $1895. You can view it at this web link:
http://www.gbc-machines.com/index/product/id/4423/?gclid=CIiuxcCF6aICFY845wodz3rGug

The amount you have available will certainly buy a quality machine. My 
recommendation would be a machine by Bienfang. They bought out Seal company which 
produced the MultiSeal 252 model that has been a standard in schools for many 
years. We purchased a new one 2 years ago and it was the same machine, just with 
Bienfang's name added. These machines are easy to load and easy to use, provided 
you can get your teachers to leave the heat/speed settings alone!

I bought a different brand of laminator for my elementary school, and have not been 
as satisfied with it as with the Seal brand.
 
Our school and many schools in our district use this laminator: GBC Heat Seal Ultra 
65
We order the laminating film from GBC, as it is from $20 to $25 for two rolls as 
you will need two rolls to load the laminator. The order information is: 1.5 mil 
for thickness, 25 inches by 500 feet for the thermal laminating film.

There is some helpful information on the GBC web site: 
http://www.gbc.com/index.html 
http://www.gbcimaginate.com/imaginate/main.jhtml?content=laminators.html 

GBC Heat Seal Ultra 65: Some helpful videos with instructions 
http://www.gbcimaginate.com/imaginate/main.jhtml?content=Ultima65.html 

NEW: New! HeatSeal(r) Ultima(tm) 35 EZloadTM 
http://www.gbcimaginate.com/imaginate/main.jhtml?content=Ultima35EZLoad.html 

We have used our laminator for at least eight years, and we really like it. Hope 
this will be helpful.
 
We got a LEDCO Educator 25" laminator at my HS library, and I loved it!

Easy to load with standard laminating film (no special brand-name-only cartridges 
required as some new GBCs do), 2 year warranty (most are 90 days-1 yr), USA made, 
could adjust temperature and feed-in speed (great when needing to slow down for 
thicker materials like file folders), user manual available online (it always gets 
lost). 

It's around $1,300-$1,500, try for a free shipping deal since it's heavy.

I tend to go with the GBC brand laminators. I've purchased a couple and have used 
several in the course of my career and have been very pleased. 
 
 
 
Thanks to everyone for your suggestions/advice - I really appreciated it.  I 
suggested to my business administrator a GBC Pinnacle 27.  Now I just have to wait 
and see.

 

Thanks again,
Jessica 

Jessica Jacobs-Broedel
E.R. Andrews Elementary
Morrisville-Eaton CSD
jjacobsb@hotmail.com







                                          
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