If you own a roll laminator and need to keep it up and running, you are going to need to roll lamination film. Roll laminators use two separate rolls of film. One is used to coat the bottom of the document and the other is used to coat the top of the document. Combined, the finished results look great and can be used with posters, signs, banners, maps and much more. So what are the most common roll widths, core diameters and thicknesses used today?

Roll laminators come in dozens of different sizes, however, the most common width is 27″, followed by 25″. These sizes of roll laminators are popular because they are affordable, can be used to laminate posters as well as multiple letter-size documents. You will find both 27″ and 25″ roll laminators in schools, churches, copy centers and businesses.

Being that 27″ laminators are extremely popular, most people looking for roll film need it in a 27″ width. The 27″ width is by far the most common and popular size with customers. This film comes with 1″ and 2 ¼” core sizes. The core is what slides onto the laminator’s mandrel. The mandrel is the metallic bar that the roll film slides onto. The 1″ core size is by far the most common size.

Now that we have determined the width an core size, what is the most common roll film thickness? While film comes in 1.5, 3, 5, 7 and 10 mil thicknesses, the 3 mil thickness is the most popular. This is because 3 mils (3 thousandths of an inch) is accepted on most laminators. Thicker 5, 7 and 10 mil sizes require laminators that are a bit more robust and capable of heating up the thicker film.

Most Popular Roll Laminator Film Specifications

• Roll Width: 27″
• Roll Core Diameter: 1″
• Roll Laminator Thickness: 3 mils

At ABC Office, we offer a great selection of roll film in a 27″ width. We also offer film with a 1″ core and 3 mil thicknesses. We also offer a great selection of 25″ film, 12″ film, 18″ film and much more. You can find our entire selection of 27″ roll laminating film here and our entire selection of roll lamination film here.

If you have a roll laminator, but don’t know the core size or the thickness it can accept, please feel free to give us a call at 1-800-658-8788. We are very familiar with most laminators including those made by Ledco, Banner American, Tamerica, GBC and many others. You can find our entire selection of roll laminators here.

If you have photographs that you would like to protect, enjoy scrapbooking or would like to create your own at-home signs and banners, you may want to use a home laminating machine. These small devices are easy to use, are extremely affordable and come in a wide range of shapes and sizes. Which machine should you use? Here are a few questions you may want to ask yourself prior to buying a laminator.

Laminating machines, that used to cost hundreds of dollars only 10 years ago, are now far more affordable, making it possible for more people to use and own a home laminating machine. These machines, sometimes referred to as pouch laminators, can be purchased for $110 or less for home and entry-level use.

Prior to purchasing your laminating machine, consider answering the following 5 questions:

• How large an item are you laminating? Try to determine the maximum width that you will need to laminate and use that to determine the width of the laminator you will purchase. Be aware that you will probably want something slightly larger that the maximum width you will be laminating to allow for some wiggle room. If you will be laminating 8 ½” x 11″ documents, I recommend going with a laminator that is at least 9″ wide or wider.
• What are you laminating? If you are only laminating basic copy paper, just about any laminator will work for you. If you will be laminating thicker items, such as cardstock, or perhaps photos, I recommend using a laminator with at least 4 rollers (versus 2).
• How many documents are you laminating per day? Volume can play a big determining factor in your purchase. If you are laminating a few dozen items per day, which is typical for home or small business use, most entry-level laminators will work for you. If you will be laminating dozens to hundreds of items a day, you may want to consider a commercial-grade laminating machine.
• Where will you keep your laminator? While laminators have varying capabilities, they also come in different sizes. Determine where you will be storing or using the laminator and make sure you have ample room. Most laminators will specify, on the product page, their length, width and height.
• What thickness of film would you like to laminate? Laminating pouches come in 3, 5, 7 and 10 mil thicknesses. A mil is a thousandth of an inch, which means the higher the number the thicker the pouch. While most people don’t use anything thicker than 5 mils, you may want to use 7 or 10. Most laminators will handle 3 or 5, but not all will handle 7 or 10. Be sure you know the laminator’s capabilities and the film you want to use.

Now that we have covered a few important questions, I would like to recommend a few nice “all around” good laminators. These machines have a proven track record, are designed for home or small business use and are affordable.

Recommended Home Laminating Machines:

1. Intelli-Lam IL300 Pouch Laminator
2. Intelli-Lam IL200 Pouch Laminator
3. Banner American QuikFinish PL100 Laminating Machine
4. Fellowes Cosmic CL-125 12″ Pouch Laminator
5. SircleLam SG-230 Pouch Laminator

While I have tried to answer all the important questions in this article, I understand that you may still have a few questions. If you need an answer to one of your questions, please feel free to contact one of our laminating experts by calling 1-800-658-8788.

You can find our entire selection of pouch laminating machines here.

If you need to staple 50 or more of sheets of paper together, you probably need a heavy-duty stapler. With dozens of models out there to choose from, it is difficult to find one that is up to the task of stapling on a frequent basis. At ABC Office, we offer a great selection of heavy duty staplers that are ideal for stapling stacks of paper, with many able to staple far into the paper for even packaging purposes. We have compiled a list of the top 5 best manually-operated heavy-duty staplers.

Heavy duty staplers come in two different configurations. This includes flat staplers, which is stapling paper horizontally, and saddle staplers, which staple paper (usually folded) along the spine. Some heavy-duty staplers can even do both. Regardless of the type of stapling you need done, we probably have a stapler for you. Our 2 most popular stapler brands are Staplex and Skrebba.

This is our list of the top 5 best heavy-duty staplers:

1. Staplex HD-350 Heavy-Duty Manual Stapler – This heavy-duty stapler can stake through up to 185 sheets of paper at a time and features a 4 ½” throat depth. An adjustable side guide and backstop makes alignment easy.
2. Skrebba W115 Heavy Duty Flat / Saddle Stapler – This stapler is great for flat or saddle stapling with a 55 sheet stapling capacity. It can be mounted to the side of a bench or table and is extremely affordable. It is excellent for frequent stapling operations.
3. Staplex HD-150P Heavy-Duty Stapler – This stapler can be used with 6 different sizes of staples and has a 140 sheet stapling capacity. It also features a nice 4″ through depth and an adjustable side guide for alignment purposes. Best of all, the price is affordable.
4. Skrebba W117L Long Reach Stapler – Skrebba  has developed a name for reliability and the W117L is no exception. This stapler can handle 150 sheets at a time and has an impressive 10″ stapling throat depth. Dual stops adjustfrom 1/8 inch up to 10 inches.
5. Staplex HD High Capacity Stapler – This heavy duty stapler is easy to use and offers a nice blend of capacity and price. It can handle up to 80 sheets of standard copy paper at a time and has a 5 ¼” deep throat depth.

All five of these staplers have developed an excellent reputation with our customers. We have been selling them for years and I can attest to the fact that they are made from high-quality materials and are all designed to last. These staplers can be used for packaging purposes, paper stapling and much more.

You can find our entire selection of staplers here.

If you have been shopping around for a manually operated stack paper cutter, you have probably noticed that many of them, especially those by Intelli-Cut, Triumph and Dahle, have massive sheet cutting capacities. Many of these cutters can handle up to 700 sheets in a single pass. So how is it that a manually operated cutter is able to handle so much paper? There are a few factors that make this possible.

I have used many stack paper cutters. I remember years ago shooting a video demo of the now discontinued MBM Triumph 3905 . For fun I placed half ream of paper in the cutter and pulled the handle down using nothing more than my pinky finger. I was able to cut several hundred sheets of paper using nothing more than my pinky finger and a little effort. German stack cutters, like Triumph, are nearly effortless to use.

There are 3 main points that make a stack paper cutter so effective. These points, in my opinion, are all factors that your stack paper cutter should have (especially if you cut paper every day).

• Angle – To begin with, a stack paper cutter should be comfortable to use, especially if you will be making multiple cuts every day. For this reason, the cutting arm on a stack cutter should be reasonably easy to access. Most stack paper cutters have an arm that comes up at an angle, but then turns at about 45 degrees to make the grasping handle easier to access. While this is usually the case, I have used stack cutters that had handles that were awkward and difficult to use.
• Leverage – One of the biggest factors that allow a stack cutter to handle so much paper is leverage. Have you ever noticed how long the handle is on a stack paper cutter? This long handle (or lever) is pivoted on a point that allows you to apply a significant mechanical force on the cutting blade. This leverage allows you to apply little manual force, while applying hundreds of pounds of pressure on the cutting blade. Not to get too technical, but this leverage (by means of a long lever) is expressed by using this mathematical formula: M=Fd. F is the force, d is the perpendicular distance between the force and fulcrum (in this case the lever) and M is the turning force (aka moment or torque).
• Gears - The torque, force and length of the handle are further enhanced by a series of pivoting points, mechanical linkage and gears (depending on the design of the cutter).

This blend of engineering expertise and design allows you to cut hundreds of sheets of paper in a way that you could never do with a pair of scissors or a knife. Stack paper cutters are used to cut down copy paper, report covers, card stock, plastic sheets and much more.

At ABC Office we offer a great selection of paper cutters. You can find our entire selection of stack paper cutters here. This selection includes manual, electric and hydraulic-powered stack cutters.

If you were to ask me which brand of rotary paper cutter is the best, I would have to say that Rotatrim is easily in my top 3 favorite brands. Rotatrim paper cutters, made in the UK, have taken the opposite approach of many other paper cutter manufacturers. While many companies out there are looking for ways to trim costs and replace metal with plastic, Rotatrim has kept their same high-quality process for decades.

While Rotatrim has literally a dozen or more different models of cutters, they are ultimately lumped together into 4 different categories. These are the Rotatrim Mastercut MC Series trimmers, Rotatrim Professional M Series cutters, the Rotatrim Technical T Series and the Rotatrim Powertech PT line of cutters. I will explain what these different lines of cutters are and why they may be what you need.

Rotatrim was founded in 1966 and is currently the largest specialist manufacturer of rotary action cutters in the world. These British paper cutters are internationally renowned for their durability, versatility and safety. Their cutters utilize extremely tough Sheffield tungsten steel and are known for their excellent build quality.

Types of Rotatrim Paper Cutters:

Rotatrim Mastercut MC Series Rotary Cutters – The Rotatrim Mastercut MC series cutters, formerly known as the Monorail series, is Rotatrim’s entry level cutter. A cutting wheel sits in a housing that slides along a single square-shaped bar. The base features a grid of common cutting patterns as well as a ruler for alignment purposes. This paper cutter is ideal for home or small business use. While it is Rotatrim’s entry-level cutter, it is still far superior to other brands when it comes to quality. You can find our Rotatrim Mastercut MC series cutters here.

Rotatrim Professional M Series Rotary Cutters – This is the most popular line of Rotatrim paper cutters. The Professional M series cutters, formerly known as Mastercut, are increadibly popular with photographers, copy centers, graphic artists and other people that require absolute precision when cutting material. This cutter has been around for over 40 years and features a solid laminated MDF gridded baseboard, as well as twin chrome plated steel guide rails and a hand-finished tungsten steel blades.

Because the Professional line of rotary cutters uses 2 rails, precision is about as good as you can get in a rotary blade style cutter. A self-sharpening blade keeps the blade sharp and a grid / ruler pattern on the base makes it easy to line up cuts. You can find our Rotatrim Professional M Series rotary cutters here.

Rotatrim Technical T Series Industrial Rotary Cutters – The Technical T series of Rotatrim paper cutters are designed for heavy-duty use and come in lengths up to 99″ long. These cutters feature a stainless steel 1 ½” square guide rail and a self sharpening Sheffield tungsten steel cutting wheel and counterblade. A built in transparent clampstrip keeps material in place during the cutting process. Most of the Technical cutters can handle up to 4mm of flexible sheet material. This includes pop-ups, posters, vinyls, banners and more. You can find our Rotatrim Technical T Series cutters here.

Rotatrim Powertech PT Electric Rotary Cutters – The Rotatrim Powertech PT electrically driven precision trimmers are some of the most powerful and capable commercial rotary cutters available. These cutters utilize a Sheffield tungsten steel blade that is powered by an electrically driven steel reinforced belt. A pneumatic foot pedal allows for easy hands-free operation. The longest Powertech cutter is 99″, which can be used to cut posters, banners, vinyls, maps, blueprints and much more (up to 4mm thick). You can find our entire selection of Rotatrim Powertech PT Series cutters here.

Regardless of the type of Rotatrim paper cutter you decide to use, you will be happy with it. I personally love it when a customer purchases a Rotatrim paper cutter because I know there won’t be any customer service issues later down the road.

You can find our entire selection of rotary paper cutters here.

If you laminate a lot of letter-size documents, you may be thinking a 9″ pouch laminator is exactly what you need. While a lot of pouch laminators can be used to laminate 8 ½” x 11″ documents, there are a few tips to keep in mind that will help cut down on jams and bad results. Here are just a few of those tips.

To begin with, while a 9″ laminator may be technically wide enough to laminate a letter-size document, you end up with only ¼” wiggle room on each side of the document. From what I have seen, that can result in a serious jam if you are not extremely careful.

If you feed the film in at an angle, even off just 1/8″, the document begins to get more and more crooked as it progresses through the machine. What will happen, as the error becomes more pronounced, is the side of the laminating film will begin to touch the side, creating tension and pressure. This will often cause stress on the laminator’s motor and can cause a jam.

I’m not saying you shouldn’t ever consider a 9″ laminator. Laminating letter-size documents can be done, and may even be feasible for many of you, but I recommend going with something a little wider.

I personally like the 13″ width for laminating 8 ½” x 11″ documents. This gives you ample room. The wider 11″ width also allows you to laminate smaller ID cards, multiple smaller objects and more. You can even use it to laminate 11″ x 17″ and 12″ x 18″ documents.

Here are a few 13″ pouch laminators that I personally recommend:

• Intelli-Lam IL400 13″ Pouch Laminator
• Tamerica TCC330 Pouch Laminator
• Tamerica C-Lam 3306 Pouch Laminator
• Akiles ProLam Plus 330 Pouch Laminating Machine
• Banner American PL135-4 13 ½” Laminator
• Akiles iLam 340 13″ Pouch Laminator

Here are two great 12″ wide laminators, which are still great for letter-size documents.

Fellowes Jupiter JL 125 12.5″ Laminator

Banner American PL12a 12 ¼” Pouch Laminating Machine

These laminators should all perform well and produce professional results. I have personally used all the laminators on this list and consider them to all be great machines. You can find our entire selection of pouch laminators here. If for any reason you are having trouble deciding on a specific make or model, feel free to call one of our experts at 1-800-658-8788.

You’ll be hard pressed to find someone that says the economy is booming right now. Most businesses and individuals are strapped for cash and trying to squeeze as much as they can out of their budgets. While I understand budgets only allow for so much, there is one piece of office equipment you shouldn’t be cheap with…paper folding machines. I’ll explain why.

I recently had a conversation with a customer who had a broken MBM 87M paper folding machine. They were looking at possibly buying the replacement model, the MBM 93M. They asked me if improvements had been made to make it better and fix previous issues. I was a little taken aback. The MBM 87M was considered to be a decent machine and had a great track record. I decided to ask a few questions.

QUESTION: What type of fold are you creating?

ANSWER: We create a letter fold. This is being used at a university.

I thought to myself, “No problem here.” The 87M was perfect for creating letter folds. I decided to ask another question.

QUESTION: How many sheets do you typically fold in a day?

ANSWER: We will sometimes fold 3,000 to 5,000 sheets a day and then nothing for the rest of the month.

It was then that I discovered the problem. While the 87M was a good machine, it was never intended to fold that many sheets a day. The 87M, a machine that only cost a few hundred dollars, was designed to fold a few hundred sheets a day. Folding 3,000 to 5,000 on the 87M in a single day was like using a 1970 AMC Gremlin to race in a Grand Prix.

I went on to explain that they would probably experience the same issues with the MBM 93M. They informed me that their university was cash strapped and they couldn’t afford much more.  I went on to explain that they needed to at least go with a folding machine like the Intelli-Fold DE-102AF. This folding machine, while not designed for high-volume paper folding, can handle a few thousand sheets in a day every so often without breaking down.

I can’t begin to stress enough how important it is to get a good paper folding machine. Trying to stretch a budget, and go with a cheaper product, will almost always lead to frustration and a short-lived machine.

If you are strapped for cash, and need to find a good machine for your money, please feel free to call us at 1-800-658-8788 and speak with one of our paper folding machine specialists. They are skilled and able to answer your folding machine questions and point you in the right direction. We want to provide you with a machine that is designed to hold up for years, not months.

You can find our entire selection of paper folding machines here.

If you’re shopping around for a binding machine, or even a laminator or paper cutter, one manufacturer you may want to consider using is Tamerica. Established in 1985, Tamerica Products Incorporated (TPI) has been manufacturing and distributing office machines for over 24 years. ABC Office has been selling Tamerica products for decades and they are considered a customer favorite.

Tamerica states that they operate under process-oriented principles of Kaizen, which is Japanese for “improvement” or “change for the better.” In true form, Tamerica is always making improvements and increasing the performance of their machines.

Tamerica is best known to our customers for their line of binding machines. Their 190PB, 210PB, 213PB and TCC 210EPB comb binding machines are particularly popular. These binding machines all utilize durable metal components and are known for their rich features for little cost. You can find our entire selection of Tamerica comb binding machines here.

A few years ago Tamerica released one of the first-ever alternatives to the GBC VeloBind bookbinding format known as SecureBind. SecureBind, found in their V2000-Pro, uses the same hole pattern and thermal process as standard GBC VeloBind machines, but at a fraction the cost. The V2000-Pro has an impressive 2″ binding capacity.

While Tamerica is extremely well known for their binding machines, they also manfacture an impressive line of stack paper cutters, roll laminating machines, pouch laminators, business card cutters, paper folding machines, laminating film and workstations.

Here are just a few of Tamericas most popular cutters, laminators and folding machines

• Tamerica TPF-42 Paper Folding Machine
• Tamerica Guillomax Stack Paper Cutter
• Tamerica C-Lam 3306 Pouch Laminator
• Tamerica TCC230 Pouch Laminator

Tamerica is continually developing new machines, so be sure to check back often to see what’s available. You can find our entire selection of Tamerica office equipent here. Please feel free to call us at 1-800-658-8788 with any questions.

If’ you’re binding children’s books, you probably want to use a format that is durable, tough and resilient. My 3-year-old son was recently given a book that was bound in twin-loop wire. As you might imagine, that book isn’t in such good shape anymore. When it comes to children’s books, a lot more needs to be taken into consideration than just looks. I will cover in this article the best binding machines you will want to use for binding kid’s books.

If you will be binding a child’s book using a binding element (i.e. Wire, Coil or Comb), you need something that is tough, can take an impact and will cut down on page tearing. The two most resilient binding formats are comb and coil. I’ll explain why I would personally use these binding styles for a kid’s book.

The one format I would never use is twin loop wire, unless you’re binding a teenager’s book. Wire, to put it simple, bends and looses its form when stepped on, thrown on the ground, stacked on with other books or is thrown in a backpack.  I have seen some books bound in thick-gauge twin loop wire. The thicker gauge stuff seems to hold up much better than your standard gauge twin loop wire.

As mentioned earlier, I would use comb or coil for a children’s book. Let me explain the benefits and the disadvantages of both.

COMB BINDING – This is my second choice for binding kid’s books. This format is made from tough plastic and will rarely break or bend. Comb binding supplies are cheap, costing very little for a box of 100 elements. Comb is also available in dozens of colors, making it a colorful choice for binding children’s books. The individual comb fingers are wide, providing added support to pages, making them tougher to accidentally rip out.

The biggest con to comb binding is the fact that combs can be re-opened, even without a machine. It is tough to do, and extremely unlikely to happen, but it is possible. I still don’t think this should count out comb binding.

Because you may be binding books smaller than 8 ½” x 11″, I would recommend that you use comb binder with selectable punching pins.

These are some comb binding machines I recommend for binding kid’s books:

• Intelli-Bind IB500 Comb Binding Machine
• Akiles EcoBind-C Plastic Comb Binding Machine
• Akiles AlphaBind-CM Comb Binding Machine

COIL BINDING – Coil binding is my first choice for binding kid’s books. Binding coils are made out of extremely durable PVC plastic. These coils won’t bend or break and can withstand the unforgiving wrath of a child. Binding coils are colorful, which kids like, and can be used to bind thick or thin books.

I personally recommend using 4:1 pitch coil for children’s books (4 holes per inch) as the wide hole pattern makes the pages harder to tear out. A 5:1 pitch hole pattern (5 holes per inch) have the holes too close together for kids, making the pages much easier to tear out.
As you will probably bind books in a wide range of sizes, I recommend using a coil-binding machine with disengagable punching pins and an electric coil inserter.

These are some coil binding machines I recommend for binding children’s books:

• Intelli-Bind IC310 Coil Binding Machine
• Akiles CoilMac-ER Spiral Binding Machine
• Akiles CoilMac-ECI Coil Binding Machine

Hopefully these recommendations help you in your book binding endeavors. We have decades of experience with book binding machines, so please feel free to call us at 1-800-658-8788 with any questions. You can find our entire selection of binding machines here.

I recently had a customer ask me a really good question regarding Lassco corner rounders. They wanted to purchase both a CR-20 and a CR-50B. Their question was this, “Can I use the CR-20 die on the CR-50B and vice versa?” This was a great question and one I didn’t have the answer to, so looked into it.

After doing some research I discovered that the CR line of corner rounding dies will work on the CR-20, CR-50B, CR-50, CR-50P and CR-50XP. For the customer asking the question, this meant that the CR-20 1/8″, ¼”, 3/8″ and ½” dies can work on the CR-50B and vice versa.

The customer was happy because they only needed to purchase 2 sets of dies rather than 4 sets of dies. This ended up saving them money in the long run.

Do you have a corner rounder question? Post your question as a comment or feel free to give us a call at 1-800-658-8788.

You can find our entire selection of corner rounders here.