Effective Compact Bindery Solutions

Hands down, the most popular piece of compact bindery equipment mentioned by in-plant managers in a recent, informal poll was the Duplo DC-645 slitter/cutter/creaser/folder.

“My Duplo 645 slitter/cutter/creaser/folder is a blessing,” praises Kenney Jacob, print manager of University of Wisconsin-Parkside Creative Services. “It’s not the fastest, but the speed is perfect for me, allowing me to do a number of other things while it’s running without babysitting it.”

The Duplo 645 eliminates toner cracking on fold lines, producing up to six slits, 15 cuts, and 10 creases in a single pass. It processes up to 26 spm, and handles sheets up to 350 gsm.

Jacob’s praise was echoed by, among others, Steven Dimond, managing director of M.I.T. Copytech, located in Cambridge, Mass.

“I have purchased many things over the years, but nothing compares to getting the Duplo 645,” he lauds. “It makes our business card service so much easier to run 20 cards up and have them all cut out exactly in one pass. For all other applications, it is a workhorse and integral to well finished pieces.”

Both sent their comments to IPI as part of a deluge of responses to an email asking managers to note their most useful piece of compact bindery equipment. The flood of suggestions included a mix of folders, stitchers, cutters, inserters, laminators, and many other small, handy devices in-plants are using to finish the jobs they print. Though less productive than the larger floor models, they are nonetheless invaluable to scores of in-plants — not to mention less expensive.

‘Everything We Needed’

Among the flood of suggestions managers offered for eliminating cracking on the folds was the Standard Horizon CRF-362 creaser/folder.

“We purchased the Horizon crease and folder CRF-362 from Standard about a year ago,” explains Steven Derderian, manager of Office Services at Rhode Island Hospital, in Providence. “With all the digital printing our department produces, we needed a solution that would eliminate the paper cracking and speed up our time. This machine delivered everything we needed.”

Capable of up to 10 crease lines on a sheet, the CRF-362 uses an impact scoring technology. The system can handle paper weights up to 400 gsm for creasing without folding (350 gsm with folding) and sheet sizes up to 14.33x34˝.

Similar to the Horizon CRF-362, Tim Miller, with Publishing & Distribution at the State of Oregon, praised the Morgana AutoCreaser Pro 33A for its efficient bindery and presentation capabilities.

“We have had the Morgana AutoCreaser Pro 33 for a few years now and have been using it many times per week to score jobs before they move onto their next finishing step,” Miller explains. “Before the AutoCreaser, it was a struggle to fold card stock on the folders or make saddle-stitched books that did not have severe cracking due to the nature of toner-driven printers. It has allowed many of my coworkers to finish jobs and feel great about the work they do.”

The AutoCreaser can run 8,500 A4 sph (11,000 A5 sph) and takes stock up to 400 gsm, with up to 16 creases per sheet. The device, efficient in working with conventionally printed cards, laminates, or cross-grained stocks, is fitted with a QuickBlade creasing blade that can be changed without needing any tools.

Another Morgana product cited by managers was the Digifold.

“We added a Morgana Digifold in September 2019 and we love it for folding/creasing pieces that are flooded with toner,” says Catherine Chambers, director of Print & Mail Services at Alfred State College, in Alfred, N.Y. “I don’t know how we operated without it, and I highly recommend it.”

Equipped with new SmartScreen touchscreen technology, the DigiFold can run at speeds of up to 6,000 sph, with a 27.5x15˝ sheet capacity.

‘Great for Small Folding Needs’

The Baumfolder Ultrafold 714XLT air-feed tabletop folder has received similar acclaim from in-plant managers.

“The Baum Ultrafold XLT tabletop folder is compact and offers several folding options,” highlights Mike Ford, Print Services manager at Kilgore College, in Kilgore, Texas. “It is great for small folding needs that are quick sets and short runs. The Baum has been in our shop for about eight years, and the only maintenance expense has been to replace deliver table belts. A great machine for a few bucks.”

The continuous-feeding tabletop folder reaches speeds of up to 35,000 sph and can accommodate sheets up to 14x20˝. The 714XLT is a bottom-feeding device that can handle heavily coated stocks. Its folding rollers are toner resistant and static dissipative.

Scott Hawco, print services mail manager at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, commended the Quadient (formerly Neopost) DS-75i folder/inserter for similar reasons.

“This compact tabletop machine takes the relatively small jobs off of our Bell and Howell 400, especially during peak times,” he notes. “The fact that it folds and inserts also keeps us from having to fold off-line on jobs right around the 1,000 to 5,000 pieces mark. We had even done projects in excess of 10,000 pieces while the Bell and Howell was running 200,000-piece projects.”

The DS-75i can fold and insert up to 3,800 envelopes per hour, and up to 40,000 envelopes per month. The high capacity vertical stacker reduces the frequency of unloading, freeing the operator to attend to other tasks. Once documents and envelopes are loaded, the DS-75i automatically measures the materials and sets itself up.

Space Saving Coil Binder

For coil binding, managers cited the Rhin-O-Tuff Coil Binding System 3000 for improving productivity while occupying minimal space.

“This machine has been a great space — and life — saver for me as a one-man shop,” says Walter Ryan, print shop foreman for the City of Bangor, Maine, Central Services Division. “I was using the old comb bind systems before this, and even that was a two-stage system. With this I was able to give a better product, with better quality that won’t fall apart on my customers when they fold their books back on themselves. All this while taking up half the space. Definitely a win-win for me.”

The Rhin-O-Tuff provides vertical punching, electric coil inserting, and electric crimping, and can punch up to 20 sheets of 20-lb. bond per lift. The device aligns jobs and inserts pages and covers using gravity, and can handle booklets with up to 440 sheets. The coil binder has a punching capacity of up to 20 sheets and a crimp capacity of up to 50mm diameter coils.

“Believe it or not, the most useful small and profitable piece of bindery equipment is an automated padding machine,” proclaims Martin James, manager of Graphic Communications at Deer Valley Unified School District in Phoenix. “The Standard Bind-Fast 5 allows us to pad and slice within seconds. We sell thousands of pads each year, and this 20-year-old machine is a tank.”

This tabletop padding and binding system has a maximum binding capacity of 600 sheets and is capable of handling materials up to 3˝ thick and 17.5˝ in length. The device can perform instant padding, wrap-around perfect book binding, and report binding.

For laminating documents, Daniel Romanello, director of Administrative Services at Columbia University in New York, lauded the GBG Foton 30 laminator.

“This is a great little machine,” he acclaims. “You simply put the sheets into the machine and walk away, and it runs on its own. Cartridges come in 3mm and 5mm packages. The cost per piece is a little more expensive than pouch pieces, but the time it saves is worth it when your operator doesn’t have to stand there and feed the pieces and can go onto another project and just pick up the finished pieces when the unit is done.”

The GBG Foton 30 auto-feeds up to 30 letter sheets at a time, and auto-detects film thickness. The laminator performs at speeds of up to 29.1˝ per minute, with an 11˝ maximum document width.

These are just some of the compact bindery solutions in-plants find invaluable in their quest to provide provide quick service in facilities that are often tight on space.