Heat assist needed?

[SameDay Signs]

After moving into a shop 3x's the size were on a tight budget and need to add a laminator and we've looked at a US TECH cold lam which is crazy cheap at $2600 but then it intrigues me to see a lam on ebay with heat assist for same price. Granted I know these are chinese and all that good stuff but being on a budget its what we have to work with so just looking for input on rather HEAT ASSIST IS NEEDED OR NOT? We are just laminating prints and such with it and more then anything will be using it to mount boards but weren't quite sure on the silvering and how bad that could be without the heat. Feedback is appreciated.

 

[Drip Dry]

We have a GFP with heat assist. Except for a couple of times in the beginning, we never use heat.

Wasted our money on the option

 

[SightLine]

I like the idea of it and we bought US Tech with heat assist a few months back but like jtrube we have yet to use the heat assist capability. In at least a couple of months of daily use we have not once used the heat capabilities and prior to this machine, we got by just fine for 10 years with our older GBC with no heat just fine....

The additional cost was minimal so I went ahead and got the one with it "just in case". Do also keep in mind, if is anything more than "assist" and even many heat assist models, you will also need to have a 240v power circuit for it as well.

 

[AF]

Heat assist is useful. Silvering is trapped air, so heat assist vastly diminishes this. Plus you can deliver your product looking good right away instead of waiting several hours for the silvering to fade. Heat assist is not required to laminate but it has a specific purpose that some people benefit from more than others. Full heat is a different beast for use with thermal laminates.

 

[31legen]

Heat assist

I have a seal 54 base and always use heat when laminating.

 

[MaxiKyle]

We find that UV ink can build up pretty significantly in certain areas of prints and that using heat can help get the laminate "down" in those tented areas where printed area meets non-printed area.