Comb Binding Demonstration from Lloyds of Indiana
A comb binding machine is one of the easiest, most economical ways to finish a document. Ever get that great document handed to you in a meeting? Do you look at it and think, nice? Or, do you simply expect it to be that way.
Ever wonder how it is done? Here is a demonstration on using a comb binding machine. This demonstration shows you how a print shop would do it. You can purchase either an manual or electric comb binding machine and do it in-house. It’s easy.
Lloyds of Indiana also carries a variety of multi-die binding punch machines including Rhin-O-Tuff, Akiles and Tamerica.
The binding machine we are using in our demonstration is a Rhin-O-Tuff Heavy Duty Punch available at our store.
Step one is we punch the document and the covers. Then, we put it all together using the comb binding machine.
It’s that simple.
Direct Mail Makes A Comeback With Help of UV Coating Systems
Filed under: Direct Mail, Small Biz Printing, UV Coating
UV Coating Systems are helping make direct mail production affordable again. Add UV Coating to new postal office rates, you can get back into the mailbox while everyone else has gone electronic. Small print shops can take advantage of a small UV Coating System like Tec Lighting’s XtraCoat system. It can also be used for business cards, inserts, brochures, as well.
How do you run direct mail today?
I don’t know about you, but my home mailbox is not as full anymore. All my bills are electronic. When I do get a marketing piece, it does stand out now as one of 5 pieces of mail. The really good ones are done on a uv coating system because they are nice cardboard with a shiny or matte gloss. If it had been delivered using email, it probably got trashed, spam filtered or undelivered. Why do I say this? Click through rates are relatively low today at 2%.
There are several changes happening that make direct mail more attractive.
1. Small UV Coating Systems
Tec Lighting has a small UV Coating machine that requires minimal ventilation like in the past. Now, don’t get me wrong. Today, the issue will be heat generated from the machine, so the room needs some ventilation. What is different is you don’t need to vent a room to ward off toxic fumes, as they were in the past. They are more economical today too with a small model running at $11,000.
At that amount, your break even is far shorter if you are maximizing its use. You can make your money back in months.
What does it do?
Basically, there is a gloss or matte coating you can use to finish a document. You can print your sheets, then feed them into the UV coating machine. The document is coated and processed through a heat lamp to dry. It is that simple.
The challenge is the UV Coating system needs to be cleaned after every use because the coating material can act as a glue on the parts. If they are not cleaned properly after use, you can find yourself spending a lot of money on spare parts.
2. Every Door Direct Mail from the USPS
The post office is making it easier for you to send direct mail. No longer do you need to go through a middle-man to reach consumers. You can request delivery of your direct mail piece by zip codes. So, if you are using a one-page card-stock, the mail just takes them around with him or her and delivers them on your behalf. Check out their USPS Every Door Direct page for details. Or, download their PDF on the Every Door Direct Mail program.
You can measure all these activities by directing your direct mail pieces to specific landing pages or phone numbers to know what your exact cost per engagement is. Most important, it is time to give direct mail another try.
Coil Binding Demonstration
Filed under: Binding, Binding Machiines, Binding Supplies, Rhin-O-Tuff
As we have discussed over the past few weeks, coil binding is an effective way to market as presentation material or proposals. Llloyds of Indiana has put together a coil binding demonstration to help you understand how easy it is to bind a document using your laser printer.
The coil binding machine we are using is a multi-die Rhin-O-Tuff machine that can punch coil, comb or wire for document binding. There are many coil binding machines available that can do multi-document finishing including coil, comb or wire. Finishing the document is simple as you will see.
Coil binding comb comes in many sizes and colors. You can match your marketing colors to both coil and covers. As the coil binding demonstration shows, it is very easy.
Our Binding Machines: Always Sized to Suit Your Specific Needs
Filed under: Binding, Binding Machiines, Binding Supplies
The different methods depending on if you use comb, coil, wire or unibind, can be a manual or electric punch for heavier projects. Below is a brief explanation of binding machines’ price points and how they’re used in a business setting.
Coil Binding Machines – You have your choice of electric or coil binding machines at Lloyds of Indiana. Electric coil binding machines
are obviously faster, but they offer you a professional look for variable binding volumes. Your office will realize a return on investment from having your binding machines in-house, available to meet your deadlines. The cost range for our coil binding machines ranges from $143 to $3779 and for details on our coil binding machines, here is a convenient link for you:
Comb Binding Systems and Machines – You will realize cost savings by completing your professional-looking books while shaving off 50% of the time required and thousands of dollars in outsourcing your projects, at a home office or in a larger organization. Our comb binding systems and machines enable you to make your trade paperbacks and hardcover books in-house easily and promptly. Lloyds of Indiana price points for comb binding systems and machines range from $140 to $1479. Here is a link for your convenience to our comb binding machines and systems:
Wire Binding Machines – Ideal for office environments where high-volume binding is the norm, wire binding machines use wire rather than coil and are mostly lightweight, manual machines, although you can get electric or automatic versions—Lloyds of Indiana offers you both versions–of the wire binding machine. Ideally, you’re using wire binding machines for calendars, recipe books, journals, notebooks and similar projects. These wire binding machines range in price from $239 to $1726. For your convenience, here is a link to Lloyds of Indiana wire binding machines:
Unibind Systems – Very easy to use. What makes the Unibind System so easy is it does not require any paper punching. You simply print out your presentation or document, place it into your binding cover, set on the heating element to bind. The heating element activates the binding glue which holds the document together. The covers come in multiple sizes and styles. There are plastic cover for smaller documents and hard cover for a very professional document. If you need to swap out a page, you simply reheat the bind and remove and replace the page or pages. Unibind prices out between $455 for small office to $4500 for a large production model.
If you have any questions deciding which works best for you, feel free to call the experts at Lloyds of Indiana. They can help you figure out the best solution based on how you will be using binding equipment. There is always a human to answer the phone.
Binding Machine Methods: Your Reference Primer
Filed under: Binding, Binding Machiines, Binding Supplies, Sales and Marketing, Supplies
With all of the various binding methods available to you, how do you know which one works best for you? Today we are going to explore comb binding, coil binding, wire binding and Unibind system, as well as accompanying items needed for these binding process, like the comb opener, the electric coil inserter, and the wire pincher.
Comb Binding is the more traditional, economical binding machine method often seen on cookbooks and manuals. You would usePVC plastic comb spines. You would place the plastic comb in a comb opener to spread the round rings apart, and then close the comb around a stack of paper, which binds the book. Standard 8.5″ x 11″ sheets use 19-ring combs. You can easily reopen these books to add or remove pages.
Coil Binding is where you see a continuous plastic coil spun through a series of closely spaced holes along the binding edge. This 
enables the pages to turn 360 degrees, so the books can lay flat. An electric spiral binding coil inserter is the ideal tool for fast turnaround. It also allows you to crimp off the excess coil by simply pressing a foot pedal.
Wire Binding is what you typically see on calendars and notebooks. Wire binding uses a continuous hinge of paired loops to bind books together. You would use a wire pincher to crimp off the excess wire binding. Like coil, wire allows the document to open wide with little problem on a flat surface, while offering a classy look to the document.
Unibind is a brand of thermal binding process you see on wrap-around book covers. The spine has a pre-applied, heat-activated adhesive. You place your loose pages into the thermal binding cover–which can be a hard cover or a soft cover–and place it into the binding machine. The weight of the document will activate the heating element. It has a preset time for operation. Once 
complete, you move the document to the cooling rack.
Which system to use will depend on the purpose for document binding machine. For marketing, coil, wire and the Unibind system provide the flexibility to conform to your brand marketing. If you are printing training manuals, a coil system would be best as it is rugged and flexible for readers. Comb systems make it easy to switch pages.
However you use it, document binding makes your organization look professional. If not being used for marketing, it still represents your brand in a positive way. The next step is figuring out which one works best for you.