• I want to thank all the members that have upgraded your accounts. I truly appreciate your support of the site monetarily. Supporting the site keeps this site up and running as a lot of work daily goes on behind the scenes. Click to Support Signs101 ...

Best use for a laminator

Jeremiah

New Member
What do you find the best use is for a Laminator. I dont use ours enough, or make enough money off its use. Thanks
 

James Burke

Being a grandpa is more fun than working
That's a no-brainer. Throw a roll of transfer tape in it and use it for an applicator.


JB
 

James Burke

Being a grandpa is more fun than working
I've got to ask... Did you not calculate ROI prior to acquiring the piece of equipment?

I've had situations where one special-run job will more than pay for a particular piece of equipment. If subsequent jobs don't require that piece of equipment, then ROI is a moot point. Not sure if this is the OP's case or not.


JB
 

Jeremiah

New Member
Money and comedy is not the point of this conversation. Creative use is more important. It may be of interest to several people.
 

Val47

New Member
After we got our Kayla, we put our old Royal to other use. As said above, we use it for transfer tape when we need to use the 54" roll. I use it to re-wind liner for re-use in other ways, like leader or wrapping up projects (like gift wrapping).

But the most use it gets - is putting rolls of laminated material on the top bar, to hold it, and we pull it out on the table to cut down. Makes it way less awkward to cut down 30' of stickers or what have you.

Edit: and we use it for mounting. Thnks Bubba :)
 
Last edited:

Dan360

New Member
I just realized we have 4 laminators...

And I'm tempted to put dough through one of the really hot ones to see if I get a cooked pita on the other side.
 

Johnny Best

Active Member
If your cooking up meth in your shop the laminator is good to push up against the door to slow the police down when they raid your place. Those things are heavy.
 

iPrintStuff

Prints stuff
Only came here for the replies and I was not disappointed.

You tend to buy a laminator for.. erm.. a pretty specific purpose!
 

White Haus

Not a Newbie
Hehe, good answers here so far.

All jokes aside....to answer your question, in order of frequency:

1. Laminating prints (who knew?)
2. Mounting prints, mostly to ACM
3. Applying premask/application tape
4. As a roll holder when weeding long runs of decals

We have a 12 year old GBC Titan that we use every day, and a 1 year old Mimaki laminator that we got for free when we bought our printer. (Sadly, the brand new one sits in a corner sulking most of the time)

They're definitely overlooked/underappreciated pieces of equipment but are essential for a sign shop.

I wouldn't worry your laminator making you money - they only go along with what the printers are sending their way.
 

Gino

Premium Subscriber
I guess my only question would be...... what kinda ideas do you want, if not about money or some really odd use for a kinda very job specific type of machinery ?? I mean making grilled cheese sandwiches or sanitizing some paperwork, what else can/could you do ??
 
Top