| If your school or business has a roll laminator, chances | | | | you'll be ready to start laminating again. |
| are it's used quite a bit and could use some routine | | | | As for how often you should clean your roll laminator, |
| maintenance. Caring for your laminator is pretty simple, | | | | every three to six months is a good rule of thumb. Of |
| but it's important to do it regularly and correctly. Here | | | | course, if you're using your laminator a lot and the glue |
| are some maintenance tips to help you care for your | | | | is really starting to build up, you should clean it more |
| roll laminator. | | | | often. And if you improperly load your laminating film or |
| First, you need to clean the machine's rollers. Every | | | | you accidentally wrap film around the machine's rollers, |
| time you laminate, a little bit of adhesive seeps out and | | | | you'll have to clean your machine before you can use |
| coats the rollers. As time goes by, the adhesive builds | | | | it for anything else. |
| up, which can cause jams and possibly damage your | | | | Other things that will keep your laminator in good |
| machine. It's not hard to clean the rollers, but you need | | | | working order include always following the |
| to be careful when you do it. For on thing, you should | | | | manufacturer's instructions and not using the laminator |
| never use anything sharp and pointed to clean your | | | | to laminate things other than paper and photographs. |
| machine. If the rollers get nicked by the sharp object, | | | | For example, you should never laminate |
| they'll get damaged and they're pretty expensive to | | | | three-dimensional objects such as wood, plastic, and |
| replace. You should clean the rollers on a regular basis, | | | | the like. Also, don't ever laminate items that have glitter |
| not only to prolong the life of your machine, but | | | | on them. Glitter can be very bad for your laminator as |
| because it's a lot easier to remove newer deposits | | | | it can get imbedded in the rollers and then they'll be |
| than hardened, older ones. | | | | useless because they won't be able to transfer heat |
| To clean your laminator, remove the film from the | | | | anymore. Then you need to either repair or replace |
| machine, and then preheat the laminator to get it | | | | you machine, which could be costly. |
| warmed up. Then use a 3M Scotch-Brite scrubbing | | | | Roll laminator maintenance is pretty easy and just |
| pad and scrub off the hardened adhesive with the | | | | about anyone can do it. All you really need to do is |
| rollers rotating on the lowest speed. Be very careful | | | | scrape the old adhesive off the rollers and you'll be |
| when doing this - the rollers will be very hot and it's | | | | ready to start laminating again. If it's been a while since |
| really easy to burn yourself. The actual cleaning part | | | | you took care of your machine, do it today and enjoy |
| isn't that hard, but it will take a little bit of patience and | | | | having a long working relationship with your roll |
| work to get rid of all traces of the adhesive. When | | | | laminator. |
| you're done, re-load the film (or insert a fresh roll) and | | | | |