What Is a Heat Shoe?

What Is a Heat Shoe?

A heat shoe (also called a "hot shoe") is a piece of teflon-coated metal that acts as the heating element in many models of thermal roll laminators. There are two heating elements present on each heat shoe laminator - one that heats the top layer of film and one that heats the bottom layer - and they are located immediately in front of the rollers. As the laminating film is pulled into the laminator, it first passes over the heating elements, which melt the adhesive layer on the laminating film. From there, the film progresses through the rollers, which apply gentle, uniform pressure to both sides of the film to adhere them together. As the document is drawn through the rollers, the two layers of film fuse to the front and back of the sheet to encapsulate it.

Because the film has to travel from the heating element to the rollers after the adhesive has been melted, hot shoe laminators are run at a higher operating temperature than heated roller laminators (which have heating elements located in the rollers themselves, so that the heat is applied simultaneously as the pressure). As a result, they generally use more electricity than heater roller machines. It is also common for small scratches to occur on the surface of the film as it is drawn across the heat shoes, which is caused by the friction between the film and the heat shoes themselves. Hot shoe laminators are less expensive to manufacture than heated roller laminators, so they usually are more affordable than comparable heated roller models.