Laminating is so far the best way that you can protect your documents from damage. Most especially, laminating your document will make it waterproof, hence water will be unable to penetrate when they come in contact.
There are so many ways to laminate your documents, One of which is using a laminator machine. In fact, laminating documents in a laminator is so far the most common way of doing it. It is very common because it makes the whole process easy and fast compared to other procedures.
To laminate documents, either with a laminator or via other methods, you will need laminating sheets. They are sometimes referred to as laminating pouches and are very much involved in the whole lamination process.
If you are making use of a laminating machine, you will need to purchase these pouches in rolls. Most times, they come with new laminators, but you have to stock up more as you exhaust them. These laminating sheets are attached to the rollers of the laminating machine.
When you turn on your laminator, the rollers begin to move and will coat your documents with the laminating sheets. However, the laminating sheets will only attach themselves to your documents when their adhesive has been activated by heat from the laminator.
To activate this adhesive, the sheets will require a specific amount of temperature. If they don’t get up to this temperature level, the glue won’t be fully activated, and your documents might not get properly laminated. Usually, when you turn on your laminator, the rollers have to go through a preheat and warm-up stage before you can begin to laminate.
When the laminator is warm enough to start laminating, it will turn on a READY light to alert you. You can then begin to feed the laminator with your documents. If your laminator does not show this, then it has not attained the minimum laminating temperature; you should not rush to feed in your documents.
However, there could also be another problem when the laminating temperature is too high. If the temperature gets too high, there is a risk that it will melt the laminating sheets or pouches in the laminator; This can as well affect the documents inside the laminator.
So, to get the perfect result when laminating, you must do it at an optimum temperature. The manufacturer will specify the laminating temperature of your machine in the user’s manual. It would help if you made it a priority to read through before operating your laminating machine.
When laminating sheets melt in the laminator, you must clean them off as early as possible. Leaving melted sheets in the laminator can result in other complications. Let’s get to know a few of these complications.
What Happens When You Leave Melted Sheets In The Laminator?
Melted sheets shouldn’t be left in the laminator for too long. It can result in a number of complications. Firstly, it can cause jams in the laminator. Melted sheets will obstruct the passage of documents in a laminator and will bring about jams.
These jams could be very extreme to the point that you would end up wasting a lot of laminating sheets and possibly ruining your documents. As soon as you notice that some sheets have melted in your laminator, you should do well to clean them off. In the following subheading, I’ll show you how you can clean off melted laminating sheets off a laminator.
How Do I Clean Melted Sheets Off My Laminator?
When laminating sheets melt in a laminator, they get attached to the laminating film. Therefore, to take out the melted sheets, you will be cleaning the laminator film. So how do you go about this?
To clean the laminator film, ensure you switch on the laminator. However, you should confirm the rollers are closed before turning on the laminating machine. Run the machine and let the rollers get hot enough. Also, ensure that no film is threaded through the unit.
Once the rollers are hot, use a rubber eraser block to remove the plastic part of the film. Depending on how much the plastic has melted, it might take more time than usual. You should be careful when doing this, so you don’t end up burning your hands since the laminator will be hot.
How To Clean Adhesive Off A Laminator?
Sometimes, it could be some melted adhesive that will obstruct the passage of sheets in your laminator. It would help if you tried to get this off, so it does not cause jams in your laminating machine. To clean off the adhesive on the laminator rollers, you need to follow a simple procedure.
First of all, close the laminator rollers and turn on the laminator; doing this will heat up the glue on the roller. When the laminator is hot, use imaging oil or mineral spirits to remove the adhesive with a soft cloth carefully. However, you will have to clean the top roller when you are done, as the glue will transfer in the process.
Precautions To Take When Maintaining Laminators
Caring for laminators is not really a big deal. In fact, the only thing you need to do to maintain your laminator is to clean the rollers periodically. There is always a 70% chance that adhesive will build up after each session.
It is a must that you keep the rollers clean so that your laminated items will not be damaged by these dirt and adhesive build-ups in the rollers. While cleaning these rollers periodically, you should take note of a lot of things. Once you are aware of all these, you won’t have any issues.
Firstly, the whole cleaning process is usually done when the laminator is hot. Therefore, you need to be extremely careful as you clean the rollers. I mentioned this earlier, so you don’t burn yourself.
Also, do not apply cleaning fluids or solvents to your laminators. While some laminators may allow for cleaning solvents, there are many that wouldn’t allow for that. To be safe, you should stay away from cleaning fluids when it comes to your laminator or the rollers.
In addition, no matter how hard the melted debris may look, do not get tempted to use metal scouring pads to clean your laminator rollers; you will end up damaging it. As long as your laminator is hot enough, it will make it easier to clean off such debris instead of using a scouring pad.
In conclusion, if you want to clean the side covers and feed table, you can use a lint-free cloth and mild detergent. Ensure the detergent is not too strong so it does not bleach the colors that come with the feed table.