If you’re a K-12 school, chances are you laminate a lot of stuff. Most schools use laminators for protecting, enhancing and improving maps, posters, signs, banners, flash cards and educational material. If you’re looking to expand or upgrade your laminating capabilities, this guide is for you. I would like to answer a few questions and point out a few features you should have in your school laminator (found here).

Before I go too much further with this guide, I would like to point out that there are two primary types of laminators. These are pouch and roll. Here is the definition of each:

• Pouch Laminators (found here) – This is a laminator that uses “pouches” to laminate material. These pouches open up like a file folder, allowing you to insert your photo, card, letter, sign or other material. These pouches range in size from just a few inches to 12″ x 18″ in size. These types of laminators are ideal for laminating smaller items and the laminators themselves usually fit on any table or desk.
• Roll Laminators (found here) – These laminators are designed for either laminating larger material, such as maps and posters, or for laminating multiple smaller items at the same time. Simply put, these laminators are designed to laminate more than a pouch laminator. These types of laminators can be used on a desk or table, but are also often put on a laminator card or workstation.

Here are ten features I recommend considering when purchasing a school laminator:

1. Laminator Width – Laminators come in all sizes and shapes. Be sure you buy a laminator that accommodates the largest item you need laminated. The most common sizes schools use are 25″ and 27″ wide roll laminators (found here). That’s because these laminators handle posters, maps, signs and banners.
2. Film Thickness – Lamination film is available in different thicknesses, referred to as the mil (a thousandth of an inch). The thinnest available is 1.5 mil for roll laminators and 3 mil for pouch laminators. The thickest common film available for all laminators is 10-mil. The most common film for schools is 3 mil, although 1.5 and 5 are also very popular. You can find our laminating pouches here and our lamination rolls here.
3. Mounting Capabilities – Some teachers like to laminate a poster or sign onto ¼” foam core board. In the laminating industry, this is referred to as mounting. Many roll laminators come with the ability to mount material while laminating. The thickness tolerance varies, so be sure you know what the laminator can handle if mounting is a required feature.
4. Speed – If you need to laminate a lot of stuff in a short period of time, you may want to take the laminator’s speed into account. Laminators all have a set maximum speed. Some have a variable speed. The speed is usually rated in feet per minute.
5. Options – A few options you may want to consider in a laminator includes things such as side margin trimmers or a built in slitter for cutting off film after it leaves the laminator. These are purely optional, and many require factory installation, but are definitely something to be aware of prior to making a purchase.
6. Adjustable Temperature – Most laminators will allow some sort of temperature adjustment. How much control you have, however, varies from one machine to another. Some simply have you select the mil thickness and the temperature is adjusted accordingly. Others offer a dial that allow you to specifically select a temperature. I personally like to have the ability to select a wide range of temperature settings as different types of lamination film require different temperatures.
7. Analog or Digital – Laminators are now available with analog and digital controls. This means a dial or switch, versus a button or even a touch-capable control. This is often more aesthetic than critical in a laminator. Some laminators with digital controls, however, offer even more control over the laminator’s functions than analog controls.
8. Brand – Do I have specific brands I like and recommend? You bet! I highly recommend laminators from Laminators Specialties (formerly Banner American), Ledco, Intelli-Lam, Tamerica and Ledco all make top-notch products.
9. Switches – I’m not a big fan of the “one switch does all” design. I like to have different switches (or buttons) for different functions. I highly recommend you buy a laminator with independent heat and motor switches. By allowing the laminator to warm up, without the motor running, will help extend the life of your laminator.
10. Cooling Fans – This isn’t a critical feature to have for a school laminator. Cooling fans help quickly cool the lamination film as it leaves the machine, which helps cut down on curling, warping and other lamination artifacts and defects.

I hope this guide helps you out. We have been selling laminators since 1980 and are well versed when it comes to laminators. We have years of information we would love to share with you, so please feel free to give us a call at 1-800-658-8788 with any questions. Many schools also like to pay on terms using a Purchase Order. You’ll be happy to know that we accept school purchase orders. They can be faxed or e-mailed in to us.

You can find our entire selection of laminators here. Please feel free to post your comments and questions.

If you have the need to bundle paper, business cards, brochures, money, paper towels and other products together, you should consider using a banding machine. Banding machines can use either plastic or paper bands to quickly bundle items together. This is excellent for storage, retail, shipping and other purposes. One of the most affordable and durable banding machines we currently offer is the Preferred Pack TZ-888 (found here). This particular banding machine is available in two different versions, depending on the size of the items you are trying to package. This is my review.

Many people get strapping machines and banding machines mixed up. They are actually two totally different machines. Strapping machines are use hard plastic strips to keep boxes closed during shipping. Banding machines use wide strips of paper or plastic to bundle multiple items together. While similar, they are two very different machines used for very different purposes.

I recently handled a product in the wild that had been bundled. Have you ever seen a stack of paper towels that need to be put into a dispenser? These towels are often bundled together using a banding machine. You have to tear the paper band off in order to use the paper towels. Other products that are bundled, as mentioned earlier, includes literature, business cards, pamphlets, brochures and much more. The size of banding machine you get depends entirely on what you are bundling together.

I highly recommend, when shopping for a banding machine, to be sure the machine can accommodate your biggest item and that it can handle your future banding needs as well. These machines are versatile and can be adjusted to accommodate a variety of items, but they all cap out at a maximum size. The TZ-888 can bundle packages from 0.25″ H x 1.5″ W up to 5.5″H x 9.5″W. The larger TZ-888A can bundle packages from 0.25″H x 1.5″W up to 6.7″H x 10.5″W. Both of these machines use tape rolls up to 500 feet white that are made from paper (white / brown) or plastic (clear).

Bands can be applied in a variety of positions, based on what you are bundling and where you need the most security. Here is a video of the TZ-888 in action:

Both of these banding machines are compact and both can be used on just about any desk or surface. They both plug into any standard wall outlet. Both have an operational speed of about 20-25 bundles per minute. Speed is really limited by the experience of the operator and the size of the package being bundled.

So how do these machines work? It is very simple. There are three different ways to run it. You can switch it to automatic mode where it will bundle when something triggers the photo sensor. You can also press a button to bundle or press an included foot pedal. This machine will wrap the band around the product, tighten it, cut it and seal the open ends shut. The process is fast, accurate and remarkably secure.

The build quality on the TZ-888 and TZ-888A (with arches) is tough and excellent for daily use. If you need something even bigger, we also offer the TZ-889 and TZ-889A banding machines (found here).

Please feel free to give us a call at 1-800-658-8788 with any questions. We would love to help you out. You can find our entire selection of banding machines here.

If you want to be able to create your own in-house business cards quickly and efficiently, I recommend you use a business card cutter (found here). These cutters are far faster than using a pair of scissors or a pair cutter and create straight and accurate lines every time. One of the most affordable ways to do this is by using the Cardmate business card cutter. We have just added a new video demo to our site (which I will include in this article) that shows exactly how it operates.

Before I continue to the video, I would like to cover exactly how the Cardmate works. To begin with, this is a 10-up business card cutter. That means that it will cut 10 total business cards from a standard 8 ½” x 11″ sheet of paper. Ten up and 12-up are the two most common cutting patterns. There are 10-up business card templates available online in the event you don’t already have one. We also offer a 10-up PDF template for the Cardmate that you can find here.

Most people simply use their own computer and laser / inkjet printer to create the business cards. Using a 10-up template, data is entered such as contact information, logo and other pertinent information. Once these have been printed out, the can be cut down on the Cardmate. Most people print their cards out on standard paper or light card stock. The Cardmate can cut cardstock, but I recommend not going too thick or using slick / glossy paper.

Using the Cardmate is extremely easy and anyone should be able to use it. It is manually operated, which means you don’t need any power source to use it. It weighs in at only 6 pounds and it sits nicely on most desk surfaces. Rather than using an electric motor, the Cardmate has a hand crank located on the side of the machine. This crank is actually turned in a clockwise motion to advance the paper through the machine.

Creating a business card on this machine takes two steps. First you load your paper vertically in the machine and turn the hand crank. Once the paper has made its way through, you can take the two cut columns (two columns of 5 cards each) and insert them horizontally into the machine. This is where the sheets are cut into individual cards. I have used this machine and it is remarkably easy to use and I personally feel that the results turned out very well.

Here is a video demo of the Cardmate business card cutter in action.

As of the writing of this article, you can buy this business card easily for under $100. For this price, and considering what you would otherwise have to pay at a print shop, this handy device will quickly pay for itself. You also can’t overlook the convenience factor on this machine. You can make your own business cards on the fly. You won’t ever have to worry about running out. While people may say business cards are a thing of the past, the fact is that they are still commonly used and won’t be going away anytime soon.

Please feel free to give us a call at 1-800-658-8788 for with any questions you may have about this machine. A comparable machine to the Cardmate is the Akiles CardMac (found here). It also has a hand crank and is available in a bleed and no bleed version. You can find our entire selection of business card cutters here.

If you were a big fan of the Minipack Galaxy, the Minipack Mini or other compact Minipack shrink wrap machines, you may be finding it hard to find an affordable replacement. If you’re stuck in this boat, I would like to recommend that you consider the Truline TP-48ST (aka PP-48ST and 48-ST) found here. We have been offering this machine for a few years now and have found it to be an affordable and comparable replacement. Here are a few reasons why.

There are a lot of reasons why I really like this machine. Here are just a few:

• Power Supply – Many people want a shrink wrap machine that they can simply plug into a wall and use. They don’t want to have to call in the electrician or have to deal with special power requirements. The TP-48ST can be plugged into a standard wall outlet. This means it can be used almost anywhere a wall outlet is available. This is a huge plus. As of this article, Minipack doesn’t offer any shrink wrap machines with a 110-120 volt power supply.
• Chamber Size – The TP-48ST has a 12″L x 18.5.”W x 6″H sealing chamber. This is ample room for packaging small boxes, CDs, DVDs, chocolates and other products. This is a nice well-rounded size for most people. If you need a bigger chamber, you may want to consider the Truline TP-76ST (found here).
• Heat Tunnel – I-bar sealers and many shrink wrap systems use an independent heat tunnel or heat gun. The TP-48ST uses an integrated heat tunnel. This helps save on space and is extremely convenient for single step operation. Simply place your product in the film, pull down the hood and the TP-48ST will seal the product and shrink the film down in a single pass. A clear hood lets you see what is going on during the packaging and sealing process. It also includes a magnetic lock that keeps the hood down during the sealing and shrinking process.
• Controls – The controls are right in front of the machine and are pretty straightforward. They are located on the front of the machine and can be used to adjust the heat, tunnel time, sealing time and more. The results are very professional.
• Film Compatibility – The TP-48ST can be used with both PVC and Polyolefin film. Polyolefin film, sometimes called poly film, can be used with food. Both types of film are very professional and can be used to package a wide range of products. The TP-48ST is designed to be used with centerfold shrink film and even includes a film dispenser, a film perforator and a film opener.

This machine is available from Truline as the TP-48ST and Excel Packaging as the PP-48ST. They are the same machine just with a different label slapped on them. This machine is also sometimes referred to simply as the 48-ST.

Here is a video demo of the TP-48ST in use:

Besides the fact that this machine comes equipped with a lot of nice features, it is also really compact. For what it is and considering what it does, it really doesn’t take up a lot of space. It also sits on casters, making it really easy to move around. Two of the casters can be locked into place, keeping the machine stationary.

If you’re on a budget, and need something that produces reliable and professional results, this is definitely the machine to consider. You can find the TP-48ST here and our entire selection of shrink wrap systems here.

When it comes to packaging products such as medical tubing, tape and other medical supplies, it is helpful to use a vacuum sealer that is designed for use in a clean room. For many of these packaging applications, a gas purge system is required to keep things as sterile as possible. At ABC Office we recently added several new vacuum sealers (found here) that are cleanroom safe, many of which include a gas purge. I would like to explain how these work and point you to a few models.

When medical supplies, devices and accessories are being packaged, cleanliness is an absolute must. Tubing, tape and supplies have to be sterile for the safety of the patient. For this reason, there are many vacuum sealers designed to be used in a particle-free clean room. These sealers are clean, sterile, don’t produce particles, are electrostatic safe and comply with the strictest cleanroom requirements. They are also designed to work in a temperature and humidity controlled environment.

I mentioned earlier that many people like to package medical devices, supplies and accessories with a gas purge system. So how does this work? A gas purge flushes the bag being sealed with an inert gas and removes life-giving oxygen, which can sustain the life of a lot of nasty bacteria and other things you don’t want on your medical instruments. The inert gas is almost always nitrogen.

The process of sealing a bag is extremely fast. Simply insert your supplies / items into the bag, insert the top of it into the sealer and activate it. Most cleanroom vacuum sealers include a foot pedal. The seal created is usually around ¼” thick, which is more than enough to maintain a solid seal. Most of these vacuum sealers allow you to adjust the seal time, volume removed / added and much more.

Before I list some of our new clearoom vacuum sealers, which include a gas purge, I would like to point out our entire selection of external bag sealers here.

I am going to sort these vacuum sealers by price:

• AccVacs E 1000G (found here) – This sealer includes a gas purge system and a built-in compressor. It can handle bags up to 10″ wide. It is clean room compatible and includes an electronic footswitch. This is one of the most affordable options we offer.
• AccVacs E 1500G (found here) – This machine is very similar to the above-mentioned machine, but has a 15″ wide sealing width. This is more than enough sealing length for most medical bag packaging needs. It produces a ¼” seal and is clean room compatible.
• AccVacs E 2000G (found here) This clean room safe vacuum sealer has a 20″ sealing length and is available in a white unit and a stainless steel unit. As is the case with the above two mentioned models, this sealer has a retractable nozzle and digital smart controls.
• Mighty Mutt MPV-18 (fond hear) – This clean room ready vacuum sealer has been around for years and is a time-tested classic. It has a 17.5″ sealing length and produces a 0.25″ seal. This sealer is tough.
• AccVacs E 2500G (found here) – If the above mentioned vacuum sealers are just too small for your packaging needs, consider this model. It has an extremely wide 25″ sealing length while still providing a gas purge ability, ¼” seal and clean room compatibility. This sealer works great on a table.
• AccVacs E 3000G (found here) – This massive 30″ vacuum sealer is excellent for packaging medical supplies, tools, devices and accessories in bulk. It can be used with huge bags and is still clean room compliant. It is fast, effective and still produces a nice ¼” seal along the entire width of the bag.
• AmeriVacS AVN Series Sealers w/ Gas Purge (found here) – These AVN sealers are designed to be plugged into an existing compressor or compressed air outlet. These sealers are nice because they are very quiet and come in sealing widths ranging from 20″ all the way up to 50″!
• AccVacs E 3500G (found here) – This sealer is available in a standard gas purge version and in a touch screen version with gas purge. This is the largest AccVacs brand sealer available that is clean room safe. This sealer is 35″ wide. If you need something bigger, you will need to go with the AmeriVacS AVN.
• AmeriVacS CAVN Series Sealers w/ Gas Purge (found here) – These sealers are available in either a 20″ or a 30″ design and include built-in compressors and gas purge systems. These sealers are designed for commercial / industrial use on a daily basis and are some of the heaviest-duty clean room compliant vacuum sealers we offer.

I hope I didn’t overwhelm you with too many different machines, but these are all solid units and can all be used in a clean room. If you need more information, have some questions or simply need a quote, please feel free to call us at 1-800-658-8788. We have been selling these for years and have specialists that should be able to help you out.

Do you have one of these machines or do you have experience packaging medical supplies? Post your thoughts as a comment. I would love to hear from you.

Have you ever wondered how many pieces of paper your document is cut up into when run through a shredder? You might be surprised. I know I was when I first found out. In this article I would like to cover the different security levels and just how much difference there is from one particle size to another. I would also like to provide you with some pictures on just how different one level is to another. You can find our paper shredders here.

Modern paper shredders are broken up into six different security levels with Security Level 1 being the least secure and Security Level 6 being the most secure. This scale was originally based on DIN 32757 specifications. This has since been updated with DIN 66399, which I will cover later in this article.

So here are the size requirements for DIN 32757 security levels, which is what all US paper shredders are currently classified under:

Security Level 1:
(10.5mm Strip Cut)
(11.8mm Strip Cut)
(10.5mm x 40-80mm Cross Cut)

Security Level 2:
(3.9mm Strip Cut)
(5.8mm Strip Cut)
(7.5mm x 40-80mm)

Security Level 3:
(1.9mm Strip Cut)
(3.9mm x 30-50mm Cross Cut)

Security Level 4:
(1.9mm x 15mm Cross Cut)

Security Level 5:
(0.78mm x 11mm Cross Cut)

Security Level 6:
(1mm x 4-5mm)

As you can see, the higher the shredder security level, the smaller the particle size is. While these may seem like minor adjustments in particle size, each increase in security level equals a huge increase in total particles. I have taken the smallest size requirements for each of these six security levels and have broken them up into particle sizes based on a single sheet of 8 ½” x 11″ letter-size paper. Just look at how many more particles you get as the level goes up:

• Security Level 1: 166 Particles
  
• Security Level 2: 237 Particles
  
• Security Level 3: 667 Particles
  
• Security Level 4: 2,660 Particles
  
• Security Level 5: 7,991 Particles
  
• Security Level 6: 19,148 Particles

Obviously the more particles the harder the material is to read or re-assemble. Many people ask me which security level is needed for a typical business. I recommend a Security Level 3 for most businesses. This seems to provide adequate capacity and security. Keep in mind, the more particles the lower your capacity as this creates more strain on the shredder. If you don’t mind taking a small cut in capacity, a Security Level 4 (aka Micro Cut) isn’t a bad option either.

DIN 66399 Shredder Specifications

As mentioned earlier, the DIN 32757 has been superseded by the DIN 66399. DINE 66399 has 7 security levels divided into three protection classes. As of this article (May 2013), I have yet to see any manufacturers using the new DIN 66399 to label their shredders in the USA. The biggest reason for the change in DIN standard is due to the changing world in which we live. Many people are now shredding optical discs (CDs, DVDs, Blu-rays), credit cards, film rolls, hard drives, USB drives, flash memory and much more.

DIN 66399 is broken up like this:

• Security Level 1: General documents to be rendered illegible or invalidated.
  
• Security Level 2: Internal documents to be rendered illegible or invalidated.
  
• Security Level 3: Data media with sensitive and confidential data as well as personal data subject to high
  protection requirements.
  
• Security Level 4: Data media with highly sensitive and confidential data as well as personal data subject to
  high protection requirements.
• Security Level 5: Data media with confidential information of fundamental importance for a person, company
  or institution.
• Security Level 6: Data media with confidential documents in the case of extraordinary security precautions.
• Security Level 7: For strictly confidential data with the highest security precautions.

DIN66399 consists of 6 data media types. These are P (paper), O (optical data), T (magnetic media), E (electronic data), F (information in reduced form) and H (hard drives).

Data media P, which is paper, has these Security Level Specifications with DIN66399:

• P-1: Max strip width of 12mm
  
• P-2: Max strip width of 6mm
  
• P-3: Max particle size of 320mm squared.
  
• P-4: Max particle size of 160mm squared.
  
• P-5: Max particle size of 30mm squared.
  
• P-6: Max particle size of 10mm squared.
  
• P-7: Max particle size of 5mm squared.

At ABC Office, you can find our entire selection of paper shredders here.  We have decades of experience with paper shredders and would love to help point you in the right direction. Our Specialists are knowledgeable and won’t try to push you into a sale.

I hope you have found this article helpful. Please feel free to post your thoughts on this article in the form of a comment. Have a great day!

Does your business deal with stacks of papers, contracts, invoices or other paperwork and are looking for an effective way to package and archive this material? One of the most popular tools used to do just that is shrink wrap (found here). ABC Office has been selling shrink wrap machines for decades, with several models recommended for doing just this. I would like to answer a few common questions and offer a few machine recommendations.

Over time, businesses and organizations begin to accumulate paperwork such as invoices, contracts and other material. While it is a good idea to keep some of this paperwork accessible, eventually it becomes cumbersome and takes up too much space in a filing cabinet. Because most businesses don’t need paperwork going back more than a few years, many opt to archive older documents. Even here at ABC Office we eventually have to remove old invoices from our filing cabinets and archive them.

Shrink wrap has quickly become one of the most popular tools for archiving documents. This is because shrink wrap helps bundle and hold paperwork tightly together (thanks to the shrinking properties of the film). The plastic barrier created by shrink wrap also helps keep the paperwork protected, helping provide a barrier against insects, animals, moisture, dust and much more. We have customers that often use shrink wrap to bundle invoices and contracts alphabetically by year. They’ll take all of the invoices that are sorted by the letter “A” and shrink wrap those together. Customers will then take this paper and write on it with a marker or slap a label on it. These stacks of paper can then later be opened (if needed) and re-wrapped with shrink wrap film.

There are several factors to consider when buying a machine and film. I would like to answer a few common questions.

• How much paperwork are you archiving? If you are only packaging a few hundred documents a day, a machine like an I-bar sealer (found here) may be adequate. If you are packaging a lot of paperwork per day, perhaps in the thousands of sheets per day, I recommend you use a shrink wrap system (found here) that includes an integrated heat tunnel. Keep in mind that an I-bar sealer uses a heat gun, which does require the operator to manually shrink all four sides. If you are dealing with a cumbersome stack of paper, you may need something more robust than just a heat gun (especially when shrinking the bottom of the stack).
• How large are the documents you are packaging? The size of the stack of paper you are packaging will be one of the biggest determining factors in which machine you purchase. You need to take into account the length, width and height of the stack you need to package. I recommend once you have established the width in height, that you add a few inches on top of that to ensure there is ample room. When it comes to establishing the sealing width you need, I recommend you add the width of the stack plus the height of the stack and add four inches to that number (Width + Height + 4″).
• What type of film should you use? I would say this also depends on the size of the paper (length & width) and the height of the stack. If you are only packaging letter-size paper no more than a ream thick, you are probably going to be fine using 75 gauge PVC film. If the stack is thick, or the size of the paper sheet is large, you may want to use polyolefin film. Poly film has more flexibility to it (much like stretch wrap) and won’t break or tear nearly as easily as PVC film. You can find both our PVC and our Polyolefin film here.

At ABC Office we use the Compack 5800 (found here) to package our old letter size invoices. It is ideal for medium to higher-volume use. Again, the machine you use will depend on the job you need to do. Just be sure to take into consideration how much your volume may increase over the years. Please feel free to contact us at 1-800-658-8788 with any shrink wrap or document archival questions.

If you run a farmers market, operate a coffee shop or need an effective way to weigh food for packaging or sale purposes, you may want to use a food portioning scale (found here). These scales are remarkably affordable and most are totally digital. These scales come in a wide variety of designs, depending on the weight capacity you need, measurement increments and much more. Here are a few things you may want to consider when shopping for a food portioning scale.

At ABC Office we sell a lot of scales. We offer food portioning scales, bench scales, warehouse scales, precision balances, mechanical scales and much more. Our most popular lines of scales are those made by Ohaus and Optima.

Having sold scales for many years, I have had the opportunity to speak to a lot of customers. As a result, I have come up with a list of common features and common questions that will help you sort through the huge ocean of scales currently available.

Maximum Weight Capacity – The first thing you will want to do is find a scale that will measure your heaviest item and go from there. All scales have a maximum capacity. Usually the higher the weight capacity, the larger the measuring increments, whereas the lower the capacity, the smaller (and finer) the measuring increments become.

Weight Increments – Different scales are capable of weighing and displaying weights in different increments. What you get depends on what you are measuring. If you are weighing something huge, you probably don’t need precision down to 0.1-gram increments. If you are measuring something small, however, you usually want finer weight increments. For example, a scale with a maximum weight of 3 kilograms may have weight increments of 0.2 grams, where a similar scale may have a maximum weight of 30 kilograms offering increments of 2 grams.

Weights Displayed – Here in the United States, people like to have their weights in pounds or ounces. Others may like kilograms and grams. Be sure the scale you buy displays the weight in the scale you prefer. Most scales will do both, but just be sure to double check.

Type of Display – You should be aware that the LCD screen may or may not be backlit. If you are using the scale in a dark or dim room, you may need something with a backlight. If you want customers to be able to see the weight measurements, you may even want to consider using a scale with a tower mount display.

Build Design – When buying a food portioning scale, I highly recommend you buy one with a stainless steel pan. Why is this? It is more sanitary. Stainless steel can easily be cleaned and wiped down and provides a very sterile environment for weighing food. You may even want to consider a scale that is entirely made of stainless steel if the food you are weighing has the potential of spilling over onto other parts of the scale.

Internal Storage – Some scales have built-in memory storage that can be set up to handle a variety of custom weighing jobs. This may involve tare values, weighing values or PLU values. This is especially helpful when selling fresh produce at a farmer’s market or in a store setting.

Printer – If you need to provide a receipt to a customer, you may want to consider a scale with a built-in thermal printer.

Ingress Protection Rating – You may have noticed that many scales have an IP rating. Our Optima scales, for example, are rated IP-65 and IP-67. The IP stands for Ingress Protection (by ISO), which is a rating designed to determine how well an electronic handles conditions such as dust or rain. The first number after the IP is how well the electronic handles protection from solids. This is based on a scale fro 0-6, with 6 being the highest.

The second number is how well it handles an intrusion by water. This is based on a scale from 0-8. A rating of 7 means it can handle immersion in a meter of water for about 30 minutes, where an 8 means it can be continuously immersed in a meter of water. This rating is often applied to such electronics as outdoor cameras as well.

Our IP-65 scales are splash proof, where our IP-67 scales are washdown proof (waterproof). You can read a lot more about Ingress Protection Ratings by visiting this helpful site.

Here is a nice chart (courtesy of 2mcctv.com) that shows exactly what the two IP numbers cover:

Do you still have questions? I wouldn’t be surprised if you do, especially if you are new to food portioning scales or food bench scales. Please don’t hesitate to give us a call at 1-800-658-8788. We would love to help you out. You can find our entire selection of food portioning scales here.

Have you ever wondered how food, such as tortillas, is packaged in those bags you see at the grocery store? Much of it is done by using a gravity drop sealer (found here). These same sealers are also used to package T-shirts, towels, books and much more. If you are in the market for a drop sealer, or if you are just curious how they work, I would like to introduce you to two new models we just added to our site. These are the Preferred Pack PP615-402 (found here) and the PP620-405 (found here). I would like to cover exactly what these machines do and include a video.

Gravity drop conveyors are special packaging machines that use gravity to help package products in a bag. In a nutshell, a product is placed in a bag, then sealed and finally dropped into a catch tray or bin. This process is repeated over and over as products are packaged throughout the day.

The new Preferred Pack drop sealers we just added take this process a step further by automating much of it. Our drop sealers include the addition of a bag opener, to help facilitate the packaging process. The bag sealer takes a bag from the top of a stack and opens it using forced air. A product is then inserted into this bag where it is slid down a gravity slide. Special holding pins help prevent the bag from sliding the rest of the way down. A sealing jaw then seals the bag shut and cuts off excess plastic. These machines then use a burst of air to clear off the excess plastic, after which the holding pins are released, allowing the bag to continue its journey into a catch tray.

Here is a video demo of one of these new drop sealers in action with tortillas:

As you can see the process has been streamlined and is remarkably easy to do. This is a must have tool if you are packaging a lot of food (or non-food) items on a daily basis. The packaging is extremely professional and the end results (including the seal) hold up well with handling.

We currently offer two different versions of this drop sealer on our site. These include:

• Preferred Pack PP615-402 (found here) – This version of the drop sealer includes the bag opener and includes a sealer that can be used with bags up to 15″ wide. It can be operated at a speed of up to 25 bags per minute. It can be used with a bag up to 10 mil thick.
• Preferred Pack PP620-405 (found here) – This version of the drop sealer also includes a bag opener and features the ability to seal bags up to 20″ wide. Like the smaller model, this can also be used to package about 25 bags a minute. This model can also be used with packaging bags of up to 10 mil thick.

Both of these gravity drop sealers feature a warranty that guarantees they will be free from defects in materials and workmanship for two years. If you have any questions about these sealers, please feel free to call us at 1-800-658-8788. You can find our entire selection of packaging machinery here.

If your business or organization deals with literally thousands of coins on a daily basis, you probably need a coin counting machine (found here) that is fairly heavy duty to keep up with the daily volume. One of the most common errors I find when customers purchase a coin counter is under estimating their volume, which often results in a short lived machine. Using the wrong machine for a large volume of coins will eventually burn out the motor. If your coin counting volume hovers around medium to high-volume amounts, you may want to consider using a coin counter and sorter like the Semacon S-140 (found here)

Before I go into too much detail on the S-140, I would like to go into just a small history of Semacon. Semacon has been around since about 1998 and has built a reputation for making some of the highest quality bill counters and coin counters in the industry. Unlike many competitors, Semacon burns in their machines prior to sale to ensure they will work right out of the box. We have been selling Semacon products for years and I can say that they are easily in my top three favorite brands of money handling equipment manufacturers.

I bring up the history of Semacon prior to this revue because I feel it offers some insight into this particular product. Semacon machines often do cost a little more than the competition, but the quality and manufacturer backing (in my opinion) justifies the slightly higher price. I figure it is better to buy a machine that will last for many years than one that will last for one or two years.

The S-140 is a heavy-duty coin counter and sorter. It is the type of counter you want to have if you bag or roll large volumes of coins. It includes an attachment ring that allows bags to be connected and optional coin tubes can be used for coin rolling. This particular model is very popular with vending machine businesses, car wash businesses, arcades and other businesses that handle thousands of coins a day.

The Semacon S-140 is particularly popular because it is extremely fast, operating at 1,800 coins per minute, and it has a very large tray capacity (4,000 coins based on dime diameter). The S-140 will display the amount of coins counted, the total value and allows for coin batching via a keypad. It includes an offsort bagging attachment and an offsort tray.

So how does this machine work? You will see on the picture that there are two dials. One dial sets the thickness of the coin and the other sets the diameter of the coin. Once these two settings have been adjusted, you can begin sorting and counting. If you are counting quarters, all other denominations will be sent out the side of the machine via the offsort tray or offsort bag. It is designed to count and sort one denomination at a time, which is a must for proper bagging and coin rolling. Once one denomination has been counted, sorted, bagged or rolled, it can be adjusted for the next denomination.

The standard S-140 can be used for counting US pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters, 50-cent pieces and dollar coins (1¢, 5¢, 10¢, 25¢, 50¢, $1 SBA). It can also be used to count other sizes and diameters of coins, tokens, Euros and other coins by adjusting the two dials. A Canadian version of this is also available with pre-defined settings for use with Canadian coins. The diameter variance ranges from 14 to 34mm and the coin thickness variance ranges from 1 to 3.5mm.

We have been selling this machine for some time now and I can vouch for the fact that it is a solid and reliable machine. It has Semacon’s guarantee, which is invaluable, and features a one-year warranty that covers parts, labor and shipping.

Do you still have questions about this coin counter? Please don’t hesitate to call us at 1-800-658-8788. We would love to help answer your questions. You can find the Semacon S-140 here and our entire selection of coin counters and sorters here.