Amazon Basics 12-Inch Thermal Laminator Machine, White

I have an Etsy shop and one of the products I carry is gold foil prints. I purchased this laminator after I got tired of dealing with the "professional" laminator I had been using for the past 9 months, which incidentally, I also purchased from Amazon, for nearly 7 times the cost of this one. I was tired of the noise, not only from normal function of the rollers turning, but also from the squeaking, as well as the occasional "grinding" noise that would occur whenever the rollers got stuck. I was tired of having to keep the machine on for what seemed like forever to let the rollers cool down afterward. I was tired of it taking up so much precious real estate in my work area with its gigantic foot print. Not to mention the fact that getting a good, solid, gold foil print would almost always take me dozens of tries before I could get one without a lot of black spots (if you've ever tried foiling, you know what I'm talking about!).Enter the AmazonBasics Thermal Laminator, which just arrived today. I had my doubts because of the incredibly low price tag, but I was ready to try something else and couldn't wait to give this one a try.THE FOOTPRINT:The first thing I noticed is that this thing is really, really small. It has such a tiny footprint (about 13" wide by 4.5" deep), I'll definitely be able to find a permanent place for it in my workspace.HOW LOUD IS IT?The second thing I noticed is that it's SO quiet! I was worried at first that it wasn't working because all I could hear was a very quiet hum after I turned it on, but as I discovered, it works perfectly fine.THE S.L.O.W. FEEDIt really does feed very S.L.O.W.L.Y., as others have pointed out. Much, much more slowly than the other one I have. I'll comment more on that later.HOW DOES IT PERFORM (specifically for gold foiling):I haven't tried it yet for laminating, so I can't speak to that, but as far as the foiling goes, I put it on the 5mil setting, as recommended by others, and let it warm up for about 15 minutes. The first couple of prints came out beautifully, except for a few black spots here and there. Probably my fault, because I was relying on some tricks I had learned from my previous laminator (use sticky notes at the top of the print to hold the foil in place). The black spots occurred only over the sticky notes. So the third time, I ditched the sticky notes and tried one of the other tricks I learned, which is to fold a narrow strip of paper (about 1" in width) in half and place it over the leading edge of the print, sandwiching the print and the foil together so they feed into the laminator evenly. This time, the results were perfect. No black spots whatsoever. Not sure if I just got lucky, but I'm very optimistic, given the way the two previous prints turned out. I suspect that because the print feeds so slowly through the laminator, the toner reactive foil spends more time under the heat, and seems to adhere better to the print. It may take it longer to feed a single print through than my other laminator, but if I only have to do it once, then I've definitely saved a considerable amount of time. Also, I'm thrilled to be able to just turn it off when I'm done, instead of having to wait for it to cool down. I'm still going to have to keep my other laminator for wider prints (Amazon, please make one that will accommodate widths up to 18"!) but I am so happy I gave this one a shot. It will be the only laminator I'll use from now on for smaller gold foil prints. And if it quits working in 6 months, I can buy another one (or two, or three!) and I'm still way, way ahead on the price of the other one. Oh, and I'll come back and post an update if I discover that the perfect print I achieved was just beginner's luck.

I am using this laminator not for its intended purpose, but rather to do thermal toner transfer to PCBs for etching. Out of the box, it will not fuse the toner to the circuit board. However, it is very easy to modify it so it will work. I read about this mod on the internet somewhere, and it is the easiest one -- you don't need to replace thermostats or disable safety features -- you just slow down the motor so that the fuser can heat everything up better.I used an arduino and a relay. The relay I picked is a Panasonic Electric Works JVN1A-4.5V-F. I just opened up the laminator -- there are four screws on the bottom (two are under the foot pads (side with the LEDs)). There are some plastic snaps that unsnap with little effort -- this is not like trying to get an Apple product apart. Once inside you will see two wires, red and black going to the motor. I just uncrimped the red bundle, then inserted the relay between the motor and power by crimping in leads running to the relay. Then I closed it up and led the coil leads that come off the relay sticking out through one corner (I trimmed the black plastic a little to accommodate an exit path for the coil leads).The program is dead simple, just fire up the arduino IDE and modify the "blink" example. What seems to work for me is to set the write pin high for 500 ms, and low for 5000 ms. Connect the relay coil leads to the arduino -- if using the blink example, then one lead goes to ground and the other to pin 13, and then let it run. With these edits to "Blink", the motor turns for half a second, then pauses for five seconds. Yeah, it takes a while to run it through, but one time is good enough and if you are into serious manufacturing, you aren't even considering this process or product. But for hobby boards, you can't beat the price.Note, there are two settings on the laminator's power switch, one for 3 mil material and one for 5 mil. I presume the 5 mil setting is hotter than 3 mils because of the thicker materials, so I am using that setting.I suppose I should add, doing this is not recommended by me or anyone else because you can probably burn yourself, burn your house down, or electrocute yourself or someone else either in an injurious or fatal manner. I have no doubt it terminates the warranty with extreme prejudice as well.

The Amazon Basics 9-Inch Thermal Laminator Machine in White is a versatile and easy-to-use tool for laminating documents, photos, and other materials. With a compact design and simple operation, this laminator is suitable for home, office, or classroom use.Key features of the Amazon Basics 9-Inch Thermal Laminator Machine include:- 9-inch laminating width: This size is ideal for laminating letter-sized documents, photos, ID cards, and more.- Two heat settings: The laminator offers two heat settings for 3 mil and 5 mil pouches, allowing you to choose the right setting for your specific laminating needs.- Quick warm-up: The machine heats up quickly, so you can start laminating in minutes.- Jam release lever: In case of a jam, the jam release lever makes it easy to clear the pouch and resume laminating.- Compact design: The sleek, white design of the laminator easily blends in with your workspace and is easy to store when not in use.- Compatible with most laminating pouches: The laminator is compatible with most standard laminating pouches, so you can choose the best ones for your projects.Overall, the Amazon Basics 9-Inch Thermal Laminator Machine is a reliable and user-friendly option for protecting and enhancing your important documents and projects. Whether you're preserving photos, creating signs, or making flashcards, this laminator can help you achieve professional-looking results with ease.