3-in-1 Laminator Review

I haven't blogged in a while. I guess I have no flair for fancy words or just the commitment of blogging doesn't entice me as much as other people find them to be. But today, I felt very compelled to share this post with everyone, especially primary school teachers with this new teaching tool of mine.

I would like to insist here that I am not affiliated with the company, and I am not being paid to endorse this particular product but just the sheer joy and fulfillment of sharing teaching ideas and accessories. 

So I'd like to present... 

Biosystem's 3-in-1 A4 Laminator. 

I stumbled across this product in a facebook group DGUG: Dari Guru Untuk Guru. This is what the ad looks like. 

I have to say, it looks very tempting for only RM150 plus postage. According to the ad, it laminates A4 sized cards, comes with a sliding cutter, and a edge rounder to trim the edges of the cards. So I placed an order immediately. As soon as I banked in the money to the teacher's account on Monday, 18th August, I received a tracking number and received the product on Wednesday. Very quick business transaction and done through facebook. However, it's not only till Friday that I get to un-box the item and play around with it. 

So product looks exactly as advertised. Rather smaller than I expected and came in good condition. Product also comes with online warranty and manual.

So let the experimenting begin! For the first time I used normal printing paper and some laminating films. This I got for free from the school office. Next time I'll try with coloured paper and better quality papers and see how it'll turn out. 

AND THE RESULT!!!

One side of the paper looks ok while the other side is slightly creased. Guess I wasn't careful with the paper when I slid it in the machine. 

So tried using the slide cutter which has 3 cutting options. This was done using the straight cut function

Using the wave-cutter. Very pretty.

Cards with perforated holes for tearing. This is great for activity sheets with small sections. Kids can tear the cards themselves, you save time, and you minimize the risk of losing the small parts.

Advantages 

1. Very easy to use. Pretty straightforward. Just turn on the machine, choose either hot or cold function and wait for the machine to heat up sufficiently before using. 
2. Cutter is very convenient. Comes with ruling grid for measurement. 
3. Also love the three cutting options. 
4. Very time-saving. Whole process takes less than 15 minutes to make various cards out of four A4 sheets. 
5. Edge rounder is great for trimming away pointy edges. 
6. Small and portable. Easy to store away and doesn't take up much space. 

Disadvantages

1. Laminated cards came out slightly creased on one side. Maybe it's the way I handled the cards. 
2. Have to be very careful with the cutter else you'll end up with a sliced finger. Sadly this machine doesn't come with a safety bar to hold the card in place for cutting. 
3. Cutter sometimes does not cut well especially to get the crinkle cuts effect. 
4. Some parts of the machine are made of flimsy plastic. Comes off way too easily. 

Overall, this is a great buy. I really enjoyed making the flash cards and I think primary school teachers should get one. My school is involved with the Native Speaker programme and I was exposed to different methods of using flash cards to teach. I used to have flash cards during my practicum days. However, slowly the use for them died down because the ones I had were limited in number and they wear down so quickly. Now with this machine I can make different flash cards for different teaching purposes and I couldn't be more excited to try them. These blank cards especially are a must because I always do my lessons last minute and I can quickly write down a list of words to teach. Doesn't take more than five minutes and it can be wiped off easily for the next class. Maybe in my next post I'll share different ways of using flash cards especially for Year 2 phonics!