3M Scotch brand TL909-50 Thermal Laminators Overheat and Ignite Your Documents. #scotch #laminator #overheating #fires #burns #recall
https://www.instagram.com/p/DQdrFKFDxXX/

@crafters Well it looks like one tip for #Laminator care is to use "cleaner sheets" every now and then. Apparently, traces of the heat-activated adhesive can build up on the rollers inside the machine, causing it to slow down or jam. Putting a cleaner sheet through the machine picks up that gunk, cleaning up the rollers.

This makes sense to me, because the repeated pattern of people complaining about their laminator breaking after a certain amount of use, no matter what brand or make of laminator it was, speaks of something common to ALL laminators -- and breakdown due to lack of maintenance was high on my list. Which is exactly why I've been searching for information on laminator care.

And, surprise, surprise, NONE of the laminator how-to's I've seen so far, say ANYTHING about cleaner sheets. I only found this tip because I made my search broader.

I can has a #Laminator! After reading the reviews on the website, where practically every laminator that had a review got trashed (some were praised, but they ALL were trashed by somebody), I decided to go with a more expensive one in the hopes that it breaking as soon as the warranty expired would be less likely. I shall also try to be aware that laminators are temperamental, and find out some laminator-care tips.

Why did I get a laminator? Because I want to get into #HotFoil application. Sucked in by YouTube videos showing how pretty it is. AND, if I get toner-reactive foil, I can use my already-existing (ancient but still robust Hewelett-Packard) laser printer to print *whatever designs I want*! And I have a LARGE library of SVG files to choose from. Much more versatile than relying on stamps or dies. Woo-hoo!

If you have any laminator-care tips, please share them with me.
@crafters

With my new laminator I've made a dry-erase gamesheet for VOYAGES by Postmark Games. Not only that, but it's double sided so it has both the first two maps for the game.

There's less glare off the plastic in real life than in these photos; they're very usable.

https://www.postmarkgames.com/voyages

#laminator #postmark #voyages #boardgames #RollAndWrite

Reading the first issue of the Laminator Zine curated by @jennylam. It's delightful and I hope there are more. But this ending stanza from Angela Townsend is so brutally brave and beautiful, I felt compelled to share.

#Laminator #Zine #Poetry

@tazgetroete Und wo ist der #Laminator?

Got a laminating machine, and I'm so excited!!! So many plans!!! Squeeee!!!!

#art #illustration #bookmarks #laminator

Improve Your Front Panels

For many of us, the bane of electronic projects is making a professional-looking enclosure. Sure, 3D printing has made it easier to make the actual enclosure, but there's still the problem of labeling it. [Richard Langner] has the answer with something he calls easy front panels. You can read about it or watch the tutorial video below.

The concept is easy enough. You create your beautiful artwork in your choice of graphics programs. The example uses Inkscape, but you could do it in anything, even PowerPoint. You print it out and cut it to size. You could, of course, print it in color or -- as the example does -- color it in by hand.

Even if you print in color, [Richard] suggests you print a black border around holes and then use a black marker to color it to hide any imperfections in cutting. For the next step, you place the artwork in a laminator pouch and laminate it. We wondered if any of the self-laminating pouches would work as well.

After lamination, you trim almost to the edge. The instructions say to leave 1 mm to avoid losing the laminate seal. It is best not to cut holes in the laminate (for example, for the display window) unless absolutely necessary. One thing missing was how the finished front panel attaches to the box. We presume some glue that sets thin would do the trick.

The box looks great and this seems easier than using, say, waterslide paper to create labels. You could also get fancy by using laser printer foil or other printing tricks as long as they will survive the lamination step.

A laminator can have many uses around the shop. You can even use it in your PCB fabrication.

#3dprinterhacks #frontpanel #laminator