Why do they make printers, laminators, and cutters in different widths?

[dsstrainer]

I'm new to the game and the biggest issue I've been running into is why they don't standardize the widths for all these different machines.

From what I've seen,
popular printer widths are: 24", 30", 54", 65"
popular laminator widths are: 25", 27", 38", 44", 51", 67"
popular vinyl cutter widths are: 28", 34", 47", 53", 59"

So I print on my 30" printer but need to cut it down for my 27" laminator, or waste a ton of excess for the 38" laminator?

Also the media sizes often don't match up with the machine sizes or have much more limitation in sizes. Seems like a hot mess but maybe there's something I'm not understanding about it.

 

[Solventinkjet]

Many of these machines are designed and manufactured in places that use the metric system. They simply convert to the closest imperial measurement when marketing to the US. That's at least part of the issue. I'm sure there is more going on.

 

[unclebun]

If you have a 30" printer, you need at least a 30" laminator. And a 30" cutter. I've never seen a 28" or 34" cutter.

They make different sizes because people want to be able to fit the machines in different places. Or because they have different requirements for the output they will be producing.

 

[iPrintStuff]

You get a 38” laminator and you get a 30” roll of lam and 30” roll of printable vinyl. No wasted excess.

You seem to just be looking at the max width of the machine. Remember you don’t need to put that size of media in. We have a 64” printer but generally run 54” media and 54” lam. Sure, we have some 64” media but 9 rolls out of 10 are 54”.

Fair enough our laminator is 64” and the summa is 62.5” I believe.

 

[White Haus]

A lot of the sizes you're mentioning don't exist with the mainstream manufacturers, and I personally wouldn't worry about anything that isn't 54" / 63" wide.

Think of the biggest size you need now, then go up a size or two.

Personally I wouldn't look at any equipment smaller than 63" - otherwise you're just limiting yourself. (Assuming you want the ability to do banners, vehicle graphics etc)

If you're happy with keeping it small, then 30" may just do the trick, but no option to even do 4' x 8' prints.

Just a thought.