While pouch laminators have been the preferred choice for laminating small documents for many years, a growing number of organizations have been replacing their pouch laminators with compact roll laminators. With sizes from 12″ – 13″ wide, these office-friendly laminators utilize bulk film rolls instead of pre-cut laminating pouches, which can reduce your supply costs. In this post, we take a closer look at the Tamerica VersaLam 1300 – a heavy-duty 13″ roll laminator that can mount, laminate up to 10 mil, and even perform single-sided lamination.
The Basics
The VersaLam 1300 from Tamerica is a 13″ roll laminator that is capable of laminating with film thicknesses ranging from 1.5 to 10 mil. Unlike other comparably-sized roll laminators, the VersaLam has a 3″ core (using core adapters included along with the standard 1″ mandrel), which allows it to use larger film rolls (up to 500′) and a greater variety of film types. Many professional-quality films are only available with a 3″ core, making the VersaLam 1300 the only 13″ laminator able to use specialty films like DIGIKote, Super-Lam, and nylon laminating film. Though its laminating speed is a modest 4′ per minute, it can mount up to 3/16″, has high-quality heated silicone rollers, includes a rolling metal stand, and has a one-year warranty.
Furthermore, the VersaLam 1300 can perform both two-sided and single-sided lamination. It is equipped with decurling bars, which counteract the curling tendencies of documents that are only laminated on one side to help ensure a flat finished product. It also has an independent on/off switch for the bottom roller, so that the heat can be turned off during single-sided lamination.
In Review
Small roll laminators (with a laminating width of 13″ or less) are growing in popularity with schools, copy centers, churches, offices, and even home users, because they have lower supply costs compared with pouch laminators and can often increase output speed (since the documents can simply be fed into the machine instead of being manually inserted into pouches). While there are a number of quality, entry-level machines in this size, there are very few professional-level machines. The VersaLam 1300 is capable of laminating using films up to 10 mil thick, can utilize rolls with both 1″ and 3″ core sizes, mounts up to 3/16″ thick, and includes a heavy-duty, rolling, metal stand. It is also able to perform single-sided and double-sided lamination, thanks to built-in decurling bars and an independent heating switch for the bottom roller.
Though the VersaLam 1300 may be too large of an investment for small offices, it is by far the most affordable machine on the market when it comes to single-sided lamination. It is also the only 13″ machine that uses heated silicone rollers instead of heat shoes (which tend to leave small scratches in the film as it passes over them). If you’re looking for a robust roll laminator that is packed with features but doesn’t occupy a lot of space, then you’ll definitely want to consider the VersaLam 1300.