Homebrew PCBs

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?
> >
>