good inexpensive home laminator - not sure best place to post

[eeyoremommy]

Hey everyone!

I am looking to laminate some cardstock items for FE gifts. None is more than 1 sheet of cardstock thick. What would be the best, inexpensive laminator to purchase? I do not have a Costco membership, and they are on the other side of Tampa anyway. I know that several have gotten deals there on the Purple Cows one. I think I may need one that can handle 5 mil, at least for one project. I have about 45 sheets to do. It would be cheaper to buy a machine than go to Staples or Office Depot and pay $1.49 plus tax a page for them to do it.

Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated. TIA.

Sherry

 

[JohnsonsLoveDisney]

HI,

They have some decently priced ones at staples and home depot, sometimes even at walmart. Or you can buy a box of the self laminating sheets, I have used those in the past and they worked pretty good

 

[JandJ]

I wanted a laminator for a long time and a couple Christmases ago DH got me one. Obviously, you don't know him, but take my word for it, he is the BEST at searching for quality at a cheap price. He got me a Scotch brand, model TL901 from Amazon. It has an option of 3 mil or 5+ mil (it will handle thicker than 5 mil). It came with laminator sheets (maybe 10?) and he got me another box of sheets. Those you can get anywhere, just search out the best price. It takes several minutes to heat up, but apparently that's the nature of the beast I'll turn it on and make a cup of tea or start a load of laundry and then it's ready to go! I love it!

 

[eeyoremommy]

JandJ
Can you cut what you laminate? For example, I have four bookmarks to one sheet. Can I laminate the whole page and then separate them? Thanks for the advice. That is what I was looking for...a brand.

 

[JandJ]

Definitely you can cut it. You can use a paper cutter, scissors, even a Cricut. It comes in handy more than you'd think. I found a "weekly menu" sheet on-line, printed it out, laminated it, and I use dry erase markers to write our nightly dinners and post on the fridge.

 

[eeyoremommy]

Last question jandj...do you use pouches or pockets? Does it matter? I think Walmart or Target (can't remember which) only had 1 kind.

 

[JandJ]

Hi Sherry,

This is the laminator I have:
http://www.amazon.com/Scotch-Therma...office-products&ie=UTF8&qid=1334267389&sr=1-1
and I believe the pouches listed on the same page are the ones I also have. I don't think sheets vs. pouches matters.

DH put through part of a cereal box for a project he did and it worked fine, so I know from personal experience that thick paper will go through it without problems.

 

[eeyoremommy]

Awesome. Thank you so much JandJ. PM me if I can ever return the favor or do anything Pixie Dust related for you.

 

[kristina87]

I have the same Scotch Thermal one and I love it! It's from walmart and I want to say when I got it a few years ago it was only 25 dollars. The laminating things are like half pouches. They are open on one short side and one long side and you can easily separate things after laminating. Hope that was helpful!