I have the GBC Personal Laminator (9" size) that sells on ebay for $25 shipped - great little thing. I think this is the same laminator sold by Pulsar on their website - photos look exactly the same.
It is temperature controlled by two bi-metal switches for the low (3mil) and high (5mil) settings. These two settings provide temperature to able 325°F temperature. By jumpering the low setting the temperature now reaches well over 400°F so the heat is there.
I use a type "J" thermocouple wired to a mV meter to monitor the temperature. I sure would like a controller with LCD display, but now I just heat up, run the board thru 3 or 4 times while watching the temperature. if gets a bit hot, just switch to the 5mil setting while it cools off a bit. The deadband in the thermal switches is 40°F or more.
I'll watch this thread for good (cheap:) ideas.
73 de Ken H>
--- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, "bob_ledoux" <bobledoux@...> wrote:
>
> I have the GBC 9 inch laminator. It isn't hot enough for toner
> transfer so I just run the sandwich through multiple times. That's a
> lot less work than modifying the temperature controls.
>
> --- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, DJ Delorie <dj@> wrote:
> >
> >
> > Anyone hack digital temperature control into a laminator? My GBC 9"
> > laminator seems too cool for toner transfer and too hot for photofilm.
> >
> > I'm pondering adding something to mine to let me control and monitor
> > the temperature more accurately, using a K thermocouple where the old
> > temperature switch is and a triac to power the heater. Add an MCU,
> > LCD, potentiometer, and external enclosure...
> >
> > Anyway, anyone done this before? Any gotchas I should be aware of?
> >
>