The $40 laminator that ate my lesson plans yesterday

My cheap laminator jammed on a stack of 25 phonics cards and melted two of them into a plastic mess. The heat roller seized up and the whole unit started smoking. I had to wait 20 minutes for it to cool, then pry the cards out with a butter knife. Turns out the manual says not to run thicker cardstock through it, which I missed completely. Now I'm stuck borrowing the school's industrial one until I find a replacement under $60. Has anyone else fried a budget machine by ignoring the weight limit?

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perez.thea2mo ago

Wait, did you actually read the manual before you plugged it in, or just skim it for the setup part? I made the same mistake with mine and found out the weight limit is more of a suggestion until you smell that burning plastic. Honestly, most of us learn this the hard way, so at least you know for next time to grab one rated for cardstock if you're gonna keep doing phonics cards.

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