REVIEW – When the QFUN Laminator Machine came up for review I mentioned it to my wife who taught kindergarten for 32 years. Kate has laminated miles of educational items over her career. She was interested, and agreed to be the primary product tester for this review. To cut to the chase – she was impressed. I’ll show how she came to that conclusion.
What is it?
The QFUN is an electric laminator that seals paper items up to size 11 x 17 inches.
What’s included?
- QFun laminator machine
- Paper (and plastic) cutter with 1 spare blade
- Hole punch
- Corner rounder
- 3 binder rings
- Assorted sizes of laminating plastic
A6 – 9 pieces (4.1 x 5.8”)
A5 – 9 pieces (5.8 x 8.3”)
A4 – 9 pieces (8.3 x 11.7”)
A3 – 3 pieces (11.7 x 16.5”)
Tech specs
- Under 1 minute warm-up time
- Machine handles items up to 11 x 17”
- 13” maximum feed width
- Dual roller system
- Jam release button
- Hot or cold laminating capability (cold laminating sheets not included)
- 450mm / minute pull-through speed
- 30 day Amazon return policy
- 2 year ‘after sale service’
Design and features
30 total laminating plastic sheets in a variety of sizes are included with the QFUN Laminator. The tools and supplies that ship with the QFUN are stored in the top of the machine. The marketing statements at Amazon say “New Upgraded 9-in-1 Lamination Machine: Crafted with high-molecular construction materials for unparalleled durability…” I think most everything is made of lots of molecules so comments like this one don’t really instill confidence in the product. Thankfully it worked as advertised and appears to be a high quality product. The marketing lingo at Amazon says it ‘comes in cool colors’. It’s available in purple.
The QFUN laminator is ready to work in under a minute and the ‘pull though speed’ is 450mm / minute.
Assembly, Installation, Setup
There is no setup needed. Just turn on the machine and within one minute it is ready to use. The machine runs without removing the included tools in the top storage compartment.
The green LED on the top of the machine indicates it is ready to laminate.
Performance
We laminated over a dozen items and there were no failures. Some of the larger sheets are folded in half in the box, but are not creased. Even so, laminating did not eliminate the fold in the plastic.
You can see the fold mark in the laminate above. The paper was flat when it went into the machine. This isn’t a deal-breaker but was surprising.
The QFUN marketing description claims it laminates at high speed. My wife says it’s the same speed as her brand name laminator and she agrees it is fast. After all, the plastic needs exposure to the heating rollers to bond together so, I’m calling it fast too!
Speaking of heat – while the QFUN works fine with the included tools in the top compartment, that area gets quite warm during operation. Kate thought it wise to remove the paper cutter, hole punch and edge clipper before she laminated.
The QFUN can ‘cold laminate’ if you purchase self-adhesive laminating material. None is included with the machine so I was unable to test that function.
No laminate sheets are included for the U.S. letter size paper. The A4 plastic is closest but at 8.3 x 11.7”, there would be an inadequate plastic border on the finished item. Kate recommends users always leave at least ⅛” border of plastic around an item so that the material bonds to itself and doesn’t come open with handling of the item.
What I like about the QFun Laminator
- Laminator heats to ‘ready’, quickly
- Machine speed and performance is comparable to our Scotch brand laminator
- Completed laminate seems durable
- Other brands of 3 to 5 mil laminating plastic works in the QFUN machine
- The paper / plastic cutter was well designed.
What needs to be improved?
- US buyers must be aware of the provided laminate size variances vs. common U.S. sizes
- No laminate sheets included are specifically made for U.S. letter size paper
- The corner cutter can only take a very small ‘bite’
Final thoughts
In our testing the QFUN Laminating Machine operated perfectly and seems to be a quality machine from construction to operation. My favorite kindergarten teacher enthusiastically recommends it. She also suggests purchasing some Scotch brand laminating plastic on Amazon or your favorite source. She gets the size made for U.S. letter size paper.
Price: $59.99
Where to buy: Amazon
Source: The sample of this product was provided for free by QFun and the company did not have a final say on the review and did not preview the review before it was published.
