The GBC Heatseal H310 pouch laminator is an entry level pouch laminator designed for small offices, home offices and medium sized businesses that want to laminate all sizes of documents up to 11" x 17" in size.
The H310 was introduced by GBC to replace the older Heatseal H300 and has several new and improved features that are worth looking at.
This review will take a quick look at the features and strengths, limitations and weaknesses and provide a recommendation concerning the H310 laminating machine.
Strengths and Features:
The 12.5 inch throat on the H310 allows you to use letter sized laminating pouches that are sealed on the long side. Running these pouches with the 11" side going first into the machine (you should always put the sealed end into the laminator first) helps to almost double productivity by increasing the number of documents that can be laminated per minute.
The H310 pouch laminator has GBC's patented ReadyGlo technology. This means that after the laminator warms up for approximately six minutes the throat of the laminator will glow green to let you know that it is ready for your documents.
The Heatseal H310 has a special Jam release lever that allows you to quickly and easily separate the rollers in order to remove a jammed pouch from the machine. This feature can help you save the motor on the laminator from burning out since the motor on this machine will not stop if a pouch gets jammed in the throat.
The Heatseal H310 has a cold laminating setting for use with pressure sensitive GBC Selfseal laminating pouches and can also accept 3mil and 5mil laminating pouches.
Weaknesses and Limitations:
The H310 requires the use of a laminating pouch carrier for all materials. This will prevent pouches from becoming wrapped around the rollers or jammed inside of the machine. Although I recommend the use of a carrier with all pouch laminators, not all machines require the use of one. This machine does.
The H310 does not have the ability to handle either 7mil or 10mil thick laminating pouches. These thicker pouches are commonly used for laminating signs, name badges, ID cards and other materials that will be handled frequently. If you anticipate the need to laminate documents with thicker laminating pouches then you will need to step up to GBC's 400 series of pouch laminators.
The Heatseal H310 has a variable temperature control that allows you to adjust the laminator. However, the H310 runs at a fixed speed of 13" per minute which is fairly slow, especially if you are laminating large documents. The lack of a speed adjustment on this model makes it a little bit more difficult to troubleshoot problems with the finished laminate.
Recommendation:
This machine is great for an office that needs to laminate all different sizes of documents and wants a small machine that is both easy to use and reliable.
The fact that it can not handle 7mil and 10mil laminating pouches and has a fairly slow speed does not make it an ideal candidate for offices that do a lot of laminating or anticipate the need to laminate materials that are frequently handled. For these offices, a machine that will do all of the thicknesses of laminating pouches may be a better fit.
Still the H310 comes with the GBC name and a generous 2 year warranty and would be a good fit for almost any organization that is looking to start laminating some of their documents or for a home user that is looking to laminate larger documents that wouldn't fit in a smaller laminator with a 9" throat.
Overview:
The GBC Heatseal H312 jam free pouch laminator (part number 1702770) is designed to replace the GBC Heatseal H310 pouch laminator and includes several new features and improvements over the old model.
The H312 is part of the new GBC Jam free line of pouch laminators and is designed to laminate documents with both 3mil and 5mil laminating pouches without a carrier.
The H312 pouch laminator even includes a free trimmer to help you trim your documents after you have laminated them.
Strengths / Features:
The Heatseal H312 is designed to laminate documents with both 3mil and 5mil laminating pouches. It has a 12.5" wide throat for laminating documents with menu sized and large menu sized laminating pouches.
The H312 laminator includes a variable temperature control that allows you to adjust the temperature of the machine for cold laminating with SelfSeal cold laminating pouches or for picture perfect laminating using either 3mil or 5mil laminating pouches. This allows you to adjust the laminator so that you get perfect lamination no matter what type of paper you are using.
The H312 offers several features to help keep the laminator from jamming. It has a jam release lever that allows you to temporarily pull the rollers apart so that you can remove a jammed laminating pouch. It also includes a special pouch cleaning sheet that is designed to help you remove any excess adhesive that may build up on the rollers.
The H312 comes with a convenient small trimmer that is designed to help you quickly and easily trim your laminated documents. The trimmer included with the H312 uses a fixed razor blade that slides back and forth to quickly and easily trim off excess laminate from your laminated documents. This is a great bonus for users who want to trim the output from their laminator.
Weaknesses / Limitations:
The GBC Heatseal H312 is the highest level laminator that GBC makes that does not accept 7mil and 10mil laminating pouches. Although 3mil and 5mil laminating pouches are the most commonly used thicknesses of laminating pouches, the inability of this machine to run thicker pouches is something that should definitely be considered especially considering that if you simply choose the next model up you will have this feature.
The H312 boasts carrier free and jam free lamination. However, if you read the small print on the box you will find out that this only applies if you use GBC brand laminating pouches and regularly clean the rollers of the machine. If you do not run the cleaning sheet through the laminator on a regular basis or if you use laminating pouches that happen to contain a higher concentration of adhesive you may end up wrapping laminating pouches around your rollers and ruining your machine.
The H312 has a variable control that allows you to adjust the temperature of the machine. However, it does not offer a variable control for speed. The speed of the H312 is fixed at a fixed speed of 14" per minute which is average for this type of laminator.
Recommendation:
The GBC Heatseal H312 pouch laminator is a great choice for a small office or home office that does light to moderate amounts of laminating.
The only major drawback to the H312 is the fact that it cannot be used with 7mil or 10mil laminating pouches. For only a little bit more the next model of GBC laminator has this capability.
If you do decide to buy the H312 you need to remember to run the cleaning sheet through the laminator on a regular basis to prevent adhesive from building up on the rollers. If adhesive does build up it can cause pouch jams and potentially ruin your machine.
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