3M Recalls 53,600 Scotch Laminators After Reports of Overheating and Fires

3M has recalled about 53,600 of its Scotch-brand thermal laminators after receiving 63 reports of units overheating, smoking or catching fire — the second time in four years the company has pulled a laminator from this product line over fire risk.

The recall, announced by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission on Oct. 15, covers the Scotch TL1302Z laminator, sold on Amazon from June 2024 through September of this year for between $44 and $56. The agency said the units "can overheat, posing a fire hazard."

Five Fires, No Injuries

Of the 63 incident reports 3M has received, five involved an actual fire and one caused minor property damage; no injuries have been reported. The laminator is a common sight in homes, schools, churches and small offices — a light gray, roughly 13-inch-wide machine with "Scotch" printed on the front, used to seal worksheets, posters, ID cards and other documents in plastic film. Affected units can be identified by the model number TL1302Z printed on a sticker on the machine's underside and on its retail packaging.

The CPSC's recall listing shows the laminator was one of six consumer-product recalls the agency posted the same day — a typical weekly batch covering an unrelated mix of products. The others included roughly 16,170 HatsanUSA Blitz air rifles recalled for a projectile hazard; about 600 Loving Thyself Rocks crystal glass cups recalled over ingestion and laceration risk; about 2,100 Primark "101 Dalmatians" faux-leather children's coin purses pulled over excessive phthalate levels; and two separate infant-sleep products — roughly 248 Papablic convertible bedside sleepers, sold on Amazon and papablic.com from April 2025 to July 2026 for about $190, and about 200 usOpal Xalirium portable bed rails — both recalled for entrapment, suffocation or fall risks after failing to meet mandatory federal safety standards. The laminator recall is by far the largest of the batch by unit count, and the only one tied to an active fire hazard rather than a chemical or structural defect.

A Repeat Problem

This is not the first time a Scotch laminator has been pulled over fire risk. In December 2022, 3M and the CPSC recalled roughly 516,500 units of an earlier generation of the same laminator line — model numbers TL1302, TL1302VP, TL1302EF and TL1302KIT — after nine reports of fires, including three involving property damage. No injuries were reported in that recall either. The current recall covers a different, redesigned model number introduced after that 2022 action, meaning a newer version of the product has gone on to generate a similar pattern of overheating complaints in a fraction of the time the older models were on the market.

3M has not issued a public statement beyond the CPSC notice, and no spokesperson quotes — from the company, the agency or an outside consumer-safety advocate — appear in the public record so far. That is typical for a routine recall that has produced no injuries, as opposed to the kind that follows a death or serious harm.

Who's Affected

Because the laminator was sold broadly on Amazon rather than through a narrower commercial channel, the affected population is wide: teachers laminating worksheets and classroom posters, small-business owners, crafters, churches and home offices are all among the likely owners. Anyone who bought the TL1302Z model in the roughly 15-month window it was on sale should check the unit regardless of whether it has shown any warning signs, since the recall is based on a pattern of incidents across a large population of otherwise-identical machines rather than a single visible defect — meaning a laminator that has worked perfectly well so far is not evidence it is safe to keep using.

3M's filing with the CPSC lists China as the country of manufacture, with 3M itself, based in St. Paul, Minnesota, as the importer and firm responsible for the recall. That corporate distance between where the product was made and where it is regulated is routine for CPSC recalls generally, which rely on the U.S.-based company to administer refunds regardless of where its supply chain sits.

What Owners Should Do

The CPSC is advising consumers to stop using the laminator immediately and unplug it. Owners should contact 3M at 800-772-4337 or through the "Recall Information" link at Scotch's own website, complete an online registration confirming their unit is covered, cut the power cord while the laminator is unplugged, photograph the cut cord as proof of destruction and upload the photo. 3M will then mail a refund check; consumers are told to dispose of the laminator according to local electronics-recycling rules rather than ordinary household trash.

Coverage of the recall was carried by Fox32 Chicago and sister stations including Fox29 Philadelphia, and by a Cox Media Group-syndicated report picked up by WFTV Orlando and other local stations nationwide, reflecting how widely the product circulated.

An Open Question for the Product Line

The recall remedy carries no stated expiration date, and the process is a voluntary one coordinated between 3M and the CPSC rather than a litigated enforcement action. But with two fire-related recalls of essentially the same laminator inside four years, the open question is whether 3M redesigns the line a second time or discontinues it; the company has given no public indication of its plans either way. In the meantime, consumer-safety advocates generally advise against using any recalled appliance, regardless of how it behaved before the recall, precisely because the hazard is defined by a design or manufacturing pattern rather than by whether a given unit has already shown a problem.