The opening on both pouch and roll laminators into which documents are inserted is called a “throat.” A laminator’s throat size indicates its maximum laminating width – the larger the throat size, the wider the sheet that can be accommodated.
Pouch laminators most frequently have either a 9″ or 12″ throat, both of which easily accommodate letter-sized documents. Laminating machines like the Akiles Pro-Lam 100 that are designed for laminating ID cards, business cards, and luggage tags have throats as small as 4″ wide. Premium or professional pouch laminator models often have 13″ throats or larger. In addition to being able to laminate wider documents, laminators with large throats also increase laminating productivity when used with small documents, since you can run multiple pouches side-by-side.
Roll laminators have throats as small as 12″ wide or upwards of 60″ wide (in which case they are referred to as “wide-format laminators”). Roll laminating machines with 27″ throats are often used in school settings or small print shops, because they allow two letter-sized documents to be laminated simultaneously with ease (in addition to laminating larger documents such as signs and posters).
If you have any questions about laminating machines, leave them for us in the comment section – we’ll give you an answer!