# Cold Laminator Tool Tutorial

Our Cold Laminator is 60" wide and can be useful for a variety of projects. The laminator is also extremely useful for applying masking to laser projects. Plywood, Acrylic, Leather, etc.

Another use for the laminator is for creating plaques/awards, where a base material such as solid wood is engraved and a sheet of glass/acrylic is laminated on top, using a clear double sided lamination film.

The laminator can be powered, but we have disabled that and use it manually - this is mainly for safety, but manual use is also slower and better for inexperienced users.

[![cold_laminator_anatomy.png](https://wiki.protohaven.org/uploads/images/gallery/2026-07/scaled-1680-/cold-laminator-anatomy.png)](https://wiki.protohaven.org/uploads/images/gallery/2026-07/cold-laminator-anatomy.png)

1. Roller height adjustment knob (left)
2. Roller height adjustment knob (right)
3. Top and bottom rollers
4. Manual hand crank
5. Spool holder

## Safety

- The material that is being laminated should not have raised sharp edges that will cut/damage the rubber rollers (like raised edges from plasma cutting or a burr from a band saw cut). Any sharp edges should be rounded over before using the machine.
- The adhesive should not squeeze out and contaminate the rollers. Any project that will end up with adhesive squeeze out should use a different process than the cold laminator.

## Basic Operation

We have traditional plastic lamination material available in 25" and 60" widths. The 60" is kept in the class storage room because it is rarely used.

Here is a good video on how to use the laminator manually: [Cold Laminator Video](https://youtu.be/tXaWiPmnvRg?si=fZxt6XKPs7cXckkH "Cold Laminator Video")

## Cleanup

- When done using the machine: the 2 rubber rollers should not be left in contact with each other, Raise the upper roller until there is a gap between the rollers.